Meet the South West Faculty

Consultant in Emergency Medicine at University Hospitals Bristol since 2005. Areas of special interest include: Postgraduate Medical/Health Education, Workforce planning & development, multi-disciplinary team development and Point of Care USS. Current Regional & National roles: Associate Postgraduate Dean for Workforce Transformation HEE SW, Clinical Lead Faculty of Advancing Practice HEE SW, SW NHSE/I Regional Clinical Adviser Urgent and Emergency Care & Vice President Royal College of Emergency Medicine.

Girish is the programme manager for the Advancing Practice Faculty, supporting the regional Faculty Lead to ensure successful implementation of the advancing practice portfolio at regional and sub-regional level. As well as a clinical background in hospital pharmacy, he has spent time as a management consultant, working for a range of healthcare organisations managing workforce, operational and financial programmes.

Lou Buckle is the Workforce Transformation Lead and will be working with systems and providers across the region to develop, embed and support Advanced Practice. Lou is a Registered Nurse and has a clinical background as an Advanced Practitioner working across a variety of Unscheduled Care settings, and more recently has been working on Workforce Planning, Quality & Safety at an Organisational Level.

Rachael is the Regional Advancing Practice Supervision and Assessment Lead for podiatry, speech and language therapy, dietetics and occupational therapy. Rachael is passionate about preventative therapies, the potential of allied health professionals (AHPs) and the power of joy in work as a tool to improve lives of colleagues and those we provide care for. As a registered dietitian Rachael has experience spanning the lifecycle across specialities and settings both clinically and as professional lead. Rachael is a connector with experience of working across the AHPs for example as AHP Faculty lead and Chair of the Cornwall AHP Council.

Simon is the Supervision and Assessment Lead for Advanced Practice in Primary Care (nursing/MSK/paramedics). His role will involve supporting the expansion of the supervision infrastructure and development of the AP workforce in Primary Care. His clinical role is as an FCP Clinical Lead and MSK Advanced Physiotherapy Practitioner so he will also support the wider MSK aspect of Advanced Practice.

Diane is the supervision and assessment lead for Neonatal & Maternal, Women’s Health and Paediatrics. The role supports the regional Faculty Lead to deliver HEE’s advancing practice agenda, by ensuring high-quality supervision in the workplace for multi-professional advanced practice learners. Diane is an Advanced Neonatal Nurse Practitioner with over 25 years clinical practice, she has considerable experience within clinical education pathways, and supporting learners across a variety of settings.

Valentino has joined the team as a Regional Advancing Practice Supervision and Assessment Lead for the South West Advancing Practice Faculty working with the team to implement the regional advancing practice portfolio for Acute Internal Medicine. Valentino has been nursing for 25 years and his clinical background includes acute medicine, intensive care and emergency cardiology. He is currently working as a Cardiac Advanced Clinical Practitioner in a busy Emergency Department in the South West and as a passion for education and acute medicine.

Carole is a Consultant Nurse / ACCP from the Royal Devon & Exeter NHS Foundation Trust. Care has been involved in the development of the ACCP role since its pilot for the New Ways of Working in Critical Care. Alongside practicing as an ACCP in her ICU Carole has been involved in developing the role nationally via the National Framework for Advanced Critical Care practitioners, the RCoA via the Allied profession related to anaesthesia and working with FICM to develop the core curriculum and syllabus for CCT for ACCPs. Carole is elected chair of the National Association of Advanced Critical Care Practitioners [NaACCP].

Martin is the supervision and assessment lead for Radiography, Oncology and End of Life Care. He is a registered Diagnostic Radiographer with over 30 years of experience in diagnostic imaging and reporting. He has held a variety of leadership roles, utilizing these opportunities for developing and expanding clinical practice. His current role is education lead for the Cardiac Ultrasound department at a tertiary unit, with an Advanced practice element, that he has held for the last 12 years. Working outside of the traditional Radiography environment has allowed him to work with other professional groups assisting them with their chosen areas of development. Martin is enthusiastic about communicating knowledge, seeing connections, and breaking down traditional barriers.

Sharon Wade is the Supervision and Assessment Lead for Anaesthesia and Surgery. She is a Consultant Nurse at Gloucestershire hospitals NHS Trust in trauma and Orthopaedics.

Steve is the Supervision and Assessment Lead for Nurses and Paramedics in Primary Care in the South West. He still works clinically within Primary Care as an Advanced Clinical Practitioner (ACP) (Nurse) and has experience of working as a Lead ACP and Work-Based Supervisor. During his 18 years in the NHS he has experience including Acute Secondary Clinical Care, Clinical Hospital Site Leadership in addition to more recent senior PCN leadership roles. Steve is also a founding member of the Devon Local Medical Committee for Advanced Practice and is passionate about standardizing, championing and supporting learners with their development which he sees as pivotal in supporting and enhancing Primary Care service provision in the South West and beyond.

Fiona is the Regional Advanced Practice Supervision & Assessment Lead for Mental Health, Learning Disability & Autism collaborating with partners across the South West to develop and support advanced practice in these fields. She is a registered nurse in both mental health and learning disabilities with extensive experience in rural and remote health care, leadership and management, multi-professional education and nursing regulation. She also has experience leading on Advanced Practice mental health programme design and delivery within HEI’s.

Jennifer is the joint Associate Workforce Transformation Lead for Allied Health Professions, along with her job share Luke Cunningham. She also continues to work as Professional Lead for Speech and Language Therapy across the Acute and Community Trusts in Cornwall. Jennifer’s clinical background as an SLT has been mainly within Adult Learning Disabilities and Adult Community services. Since moving into a professional leadership role, she has developed a passion for supporting and developing workforce, at an individual and a system level.

Luke Cunningham is a Workforce Transformation Associate and joined the Southwest Faculty of Advancing Practice in November 2021. Luke is passionate about helping to create exciting career opportunities for the non-medical workforce and for AHPs in particular. Luke is also a front-line clinician working as a Critical Care Dietitian at the Royal Cornwall Hospital, it was in this capacity that Luke was mentioned as part of the British Dietetic Association’s COVID-19 Community Heroes for his contribution to the Your COVID Recovery platform.

Jennifer is the Project Support Officer within the South West Advancing Practice Faculty. Her role consists of providing administrative support for a range of projects and initiatives linked to Quality Assurance in Advancing Practice. She brings seven years of HEE experience, three within the secondary care team where she was co-ordinating the training programme of five schools and managing the recruitment of Academic Clinical Fellows and Lecturers, and four years within the primary care team where she was responsible for the recruitment of GP trainees and co-ordinating the GP training programme.

Heather is the Project Support Officer for the South West Advancing Practice Faculty working with the team to implement the regional advancing practice portfolio. Heather joined the team in December 2020 as a Project Administrator and assists with a range of projects and tasks that support the day-to-day operations of the team. A skilled professional with an extensive experience in administrative roles Heather comes from a background in food marketing, office management and finance.