I am currently the Programme Lead for the Community Specialist Practice Qualification (SPQ) covering the four fields of District Nursing, General Practice Nursing, Adult Social Care Nursing and Community Childrens Nursing. I am also the Programme Lead for the current Higher Apprenticeship Specialist Practice in District Nursing (HA-SPDN) PG/Dip and MSc, and teach across a range of pre-registration modules. I also have a pre-registration Personal Tutor (PT) group, that commenced their training in September 2025.

I am an external examiner at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). In 2023, I was awarded the title of Queens Nurse from the QNI, reflecting my ongoing commitment and dedication to supporting and improving community nursing services.

I am currently undertaking my PhD at Northumbria, focusing on lone working in district nursing and understanding perceptions. My teaching and research interests include community nursing, the education and development of community specialist practitioners and improving staff safety and wellbeing, especially relevant to lone working.

I qualified in April 2009 as a registered nurse, working in Gateshead as a community staff nurse. I joined Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals (NUTH) in 2013 to undertake the District Nursing Specialist Practitioner Qualification (DNSPQ). I qualified as a Specialist Practice Teacher (CPT/SPT) in 2016, working in Newcastle District Nursing Services before joining Northumbria on secondment in 2018.

I returned to frontline clinical practice in April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic as a District Nursing Specialist Practice Teacher. I then later returned to the University in a substantive post in February 2021. I still hold a clinical contract and continue to work as a District Nurse in Newcastle, often in out of hours services. I have also gained my Non-Medical Prescribing qualification (V300), where my prescribing interests predominantly lie in palliative care, anticipatory prescribing and managing long-term conditions, including acute exacerbations.

Outside of usual working hours, I greatly enjoy spending time with my children and occasionally enjoy riding the highs and lows of being a Newcastle United supporter.

Lone working in community nursing settings

Perception of risk in community nursing settings

Pre-registration nursing students and lone working