Meet the team

Nat Ruscoe is the Regional ACP Faculty Lead for NE&Y. Nat previously worked as the Deputy Centre Lead and Lead for Programme Accreditation at the Centre for Advancing Practice.  Nat is a nurse by profession and before joining HEE/NHSE she worked clinically as an advanced practitioner in an Emergency Department but also worked within an academic role as a programme lead for advanced practice. She lives with her husband and their pets, whose names are Chewbacca, Tony, Harry and Ron. 

Kirsty qualified as an adult nurse in 2004 where she began her career working in medical admissions and coronary care. She then progressed to be one of the first critical care outreach sisters within the trust, and this is where she embarked on her MSc in Advanced Practice. This role combined with the knowledge and skills from her MSc fuelled her enthusiasm, drive, and capability to ensure patients receive high quality care and interventions in a timely manner. Kirsty successfully secured her first ACP post in 2012.

Kirsty has gained a breadth of experience within medical disciplines, including Hospital out of hours, Acute medicine/ambulatory care, Frailty, Gastroenterology, Cardiology, Community rehabilitation and Respiratory.

Kirsty now specialises within respiratory medicine, where she has established an ACP led pleural outpatient service and has a passion for pleural disease. Alongside this she is highly motivated to deliver quality improvement projects, is an active mentor of trainee ACPs, and is an enthusiastic member of both the pleural society and the respiratory ACP network. She values collaborative multi-professional working to develop and improve quality of services delivered to our patients.

Max is the Regional Programme Manager for the NE&Y Faculty supporting the Regional Faculty leads. Prior to this role Max was the Project Lead for New Roles across South Yorkshire & Bassetlaw ICS where he was responsible for the implementation of new roles such as Trainee Nursing Associates across Health and Social care organisations. Max has always been interested in workforce development across Health and Social Care and supporting other to develop their careers.

Eliza joined the North East & Yorkshire Advancing Practice Faculty in August 2022 as part of the HEE Graduate and Student Placement Scheme. Prior to this, Eliza completed her BSc in Psychology and MSc in Psychological Approaches to Health at the University of Leeds. She is passionate about working in health and social care and workforce development.

– MCP ACCP (mFICM), BSc (Hons) RN, PCGAHP, NMP (V300) FHEA

– Regional Advancing Practice Supervision & Assessment Lead (HEE NE&Y)

– Advanced Critical Care Practitioner (ACCP member FICM) – Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals

– Assistant Professor in Advanced Critical Care Practice (Fellow – HEA) & Lead for Advanced Clinical Practice Programmes – Northumbria University

– PhD Candidate (‘ImpACCPt’ Study) – Northumbria University

– Intensive Care Society (ICS): Council Member, Education Committee Member & Chair Advanced Practitioners in Critical Care (APCC) Professional Advisory Group (PAG)

Sadie qualified as an adult nurse in 2008 and has since worked in various critical care departments. During this time, she progressed to her current advanced practice roles. Sadie has always had a great passion for teaching and academia which compliments her clinical work. She has developed an extensive teaching portfolio which spans multiple disciplines within postgraduate healthcare education, making a wide range of contributions on local and international levels. Her dual role has afforded her the opportunity to participate in and/or lead multiple education and research projects with Health Education England, the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine, NHS Blood & Transplant services and the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine. Sadie has various national links and responsibilities within the field of advanced practice and has most recently begun work with Wiley publishing to develop a suite of advanced practice textbooks.

Sadie also sits on the Intensive Care Society (ICS) and North East Intensive Care Society (NEICS) committees and is chair for the ICS Advanced Practitioners in Critical Care Professional Advisory Group. Her key areas of interest are post-graduate healthcare education, acute, emergency, and critical care, physiology and pharmacology, advanced level practice and simulation and virtual reality education modalities.

Haley Whelpton is the specialist advisor for learning disability and autism for the Regional Advanced Practice Faculty for North-East and Yorkshire. She is a registered occupational therapist and chair of the Royal College of Occupational Therapy Northern & Yorkshire Regional Group. 

Haley worked in various areas as an occupational therapist her last full time clinical role as a specialist occupational therapist for people with complex physical disabilities, often with learning/intellectual disability.  For the last 8 years she has worked for Health Education England and the North East & North Cumbria Integrated Care System in various roles including quality, implementation of the Nursing Associate role and latterly as a workforce development manager in the learning disability and autism workstream.  This work provides an underpinning foundation to understand the relevance of advanced practitioners in the learning disability and autism workforce, and the potential impact they can have for people with a learning disability and autistic people, both in specialist and mainstream services. You can contact Haley via email on H.Whelpton@shu.ac.uk

Sarah Fisher qualified as a nurse with a BSc in Nursing studies followed by an MSc in Advanced Professional practice and has worked across various acute specialities including general surgery, gynaecology and a nurse led medical unit. She has spent the last 15 years working in primary care covering NHS Direct, GP out of hours, walk in centres and latterly GP Practice. Sarah is a Queens Nurse and has won awards for leadership in primary care including Nursing in Practice – Nurse of the Year for her contribution to primary care services. Sarah joined the South Yorkshire Faculty of Advanced Practice in 2000 as the primary care lead, being becoming Professional Lead in 2021.

I am a primary care clinical ACP (nurse) in Sheffield. I am also the NMP development lead for the South Yorkshire workforce hub and the primary care training programme director (advanced practice) for NHSE in South Yorkshire. When I am not at work I enjoy running and walking in the peak district and growing flowers in my garden. I am an avid reader and love exploring how creativity shapes both our clinical practice and leadership.

– Training Programme Director – Primary Care (West Yorkshire) 

– Advanced Adult Nursing Diploma 

– MSc Specialist Community Public Health Nurse 

– Advancing Professional Practice PG

– Independent Prescriber 

Sherrie qualified as an Adult Nurse in 2006 from Leeds University and has since studied at multiple Higher Education Establishments across Yorkshire. Sherrie has over 27 years’ experience in the NHS and currently works as a Community Matron having spent all of her career in Primary/Community Care. Sherrie is passionate about supporting workforce development and professional growth and is part of the Advanced Practice forum within Bradford District Care Trust. Additionally, Sherrie leads the social media account networking and sharing information. Sherrie has a specialist interest in advanced care planning and dementia support.  Sherrie joined the Regional Faculty team in September 2022 as the Primary Care Training Programme Director covering West Yorkshire region.

Sam qualified as a GP in 2012, after completing her medical degree in 2007 at Nottingham University followed by GP training in the West Midlands.

Sam worked as a full time salaried GP for 4 years, before joining Warwick Medical School as a Clinical Teaching Fellow, dividing her time between this role and her GP role. In 2021, Sam moved back to the North East where she is a GP in Northumberland, and HEE Clinical Educator for Advanced Clinical Practitioners and Physician Associates, as well as Clinical Lead for the Primary Care Training Hub in the North of the Tyne and Gateshead Integrated Care Provider (ICP). In 2022, Sam was appointed as the Specialty Advisor for Advanced Practice in Primary Care in the north east and north Cumbria.  She also works as a GP Lecturer for Newcastle University.

– NEY Regional Faculty: Advanced Practice Training Programme Director – Mental Health (2 days)

– Sheffield Hallam: Senior Lecturer in Leadership and Advancing Practice (3 days)

– Occupational Therapist / MSc Occupational Therapy

– Clinical specialisms – mental health and chronic pain

– Evaluation lead – national AP-MH Network

– Education provider representative – national AP-MH steering group

– RCOT pain forum lead / member of national executive committee

Before joining the NHS, Tim worked as a Software Tester in industry having qualified from Newcastle with a Degree in IT. He then started with the NHS where he has worked for over 23 years. Initially, he worked as a New Born Baby Hearing Screener before joining the Yorkshire Ambulance Service. 

Tim qualified as a Paramedic in 2005, progressing to Paramedic Tutor before gaining his MSc in Professional Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) from Huddersfield University in 2011. With this, he became a lecturer in Paramedic Practice working in Higher Education and the private sector. He then travelled extensively working as an international repatriation medic before joining the Minor Injuries Unit at the Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust (LTHT), where he first became interested in Ophthalmology. Tim then gained the Advanced Practice MSc, being one of the first Paramedics to qualify as an Independent Prescribing from the University of Leeds and has worked as an ACP in Ophthalmology at LTHT for several years now.