Tribute to Janet M Roberts (17th October 1945 – 29th December 2025), Chair of the Infection Control Nurses Association 1991-1994.
On 29th December, my dear friend and former colleague died following a short illness, stoically and bravely endured.
Born and bred in Glan Conway, North Wales, at 18 she travelled to the Royal Southern Hospital, Liverpool, where she completed her SRN training. Soon after qualifying, she became a night sister on A/E.
She married Dan, her childhood sweetheart and moved to the Wirral where she worked part time at Clatterbridge General Hospital whilst raising her family.
In 1985 she became Infection Control Nurse , based at Clatterbridge, covering all Wirral hospitals. She quickly became a regular visitor to the wards, promoting good infection control practices. I first met her when she was giving a lecture to post registered nurses in the late 80’s. Her enthusiasm, clarity and ease of promoting good practice was infectious.
Janet was elected Chair of the ICNA in 1991, a position she relished and in which she thrived. She enjoyed chairing national and international meetings and collaborating with multi-disciplinary organisations, being well respected by her peers. Her practice was firmly grounded, establishing research and education as cornerstones of good practice, supporting new colleagues whilst they navigated their new roles. She secured Wirral Hospitals as participants in the 1993-94 National Audit Nosocomial Infection Study.
I joined the infection control team at Clatterbridge in 1993, a very junior member of the team. She was pragmatic in her approach, ensuring I had a firm educational base for my practice. In those days, Infection Control was not high profile, rather a Cinderella service but Janet raised the profile to ensure our voice was heard. Each year prior to our “sell out” nurses study day “The Daring Bugs of May,” she cajoled the support of many eminent speakers whom she had collaborated with as ICNA chair, to give inspiration lectures to our staff.
Janet was outspoken, intelligent and fiercely protective of her role, never losing her humour, confidence and forthrightness. She retired in 2001 to spend more time with her husband and family. Until recently, she was a competitive badminton player and held offices in her local W.I. She died peacefully at home surrounded by her family, Dan having predeceased her.
Carmel Edwards,
7th January 2026
