Tony has an extensive clinical background in mental health and general nursing with experience in hospital and community settings as well as in teaching and research. Following experiences leading the development of community psychiatric nursing services in the UK he became inaugural Chair and Queens Nursing Institute Professor of Community Nursing at the University of Manchester in 1987 where he undertook original research into clinical supervision and psychosocial education for people with schizophrenia.

He led a Government review of mental health nursing in 1994 and became General Secretary for the Global network of WHO Collaborating Centres for Nursing in 1997.

Promoted to Dean of School to succeed the Baroness McFarlane of Llandaff, he later became Pro-Vice Chancellor for external affairs for the University of Manchester in 1998. During this time he was elected by his peers to be the first Chair of the Council of Deans of Health for the UK in 1997.

Tony moved back to the UK National Health Service as Workforce Development Confederation Chief Executive for Trent in 2001 eventually becoming Director of a Research Centre for Clinical and Academic Workforce Innovation at the University of Lincoln in 2005. He and his colleagues worked in particular on mental health workforce planning and led the United Kingdom Clinical Research Collaborative review of Clinical Academic Careers for Nursing. This work was completed in late 2007 and has led to significant funding to develop clinical academic careers for the non-medical health professions. He was elected to be first Chair of the Academy of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting Research (UK) in 2008.

His work has been recognised through Fellowships of the Academy of Medical Sciences, the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the Royal College of Nursing and the Queens Nursing Institute. He was recently awarded honorary Fellowship of the NHS Institute Faculty of Health Care Innovators.

His present work responsibilities include: Chair of the Academy of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting Research (UK); Non-Executive Director of the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement; Consultancy work through Trigger Innovations Ltd; Trustee to the Charity – Dementia UK and also the RCN Foundation and Visiting Professor to the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Maribor in Slovenia and the University of Western Sydney Australia.

He has supervised 23 students to the successful completion of their PhDs, authored or co-authored six text books and written extensively in peer reviewed journals and the professional press. He developed and led a post-graduate module on modernisation, patient safety and service improvement.