National clinical leads (NCLs)
National Clinical Leads have been appointed to strengthen clinical authority within the National Programme for IT.
They will ensure that all programmes have the appropriate clinical input, are fit for purpose, and deliver real benefits for both the NHS and patients.
GPs | Hospital doctors | Nurses | Midwives | Allied health professionals | Pathology | Public health | Medication management | Mental health | Paediatrics and child health | Diabetes | Ophthalmology
GPs
Dr Manpreet Pujara - NCL for GPs
Dr Manpreet Pujara practises at the Thorndike surgery in Rochester, Kent. He trained at Southampton University and became a GP in Carshalton, Surrey.
He became an EMIS user in 1990 and was elected to the National User Group (NUG) committee in 1994 and was NUG chair between 2001 and 2007.
During this time he represented EMIS Users at the Joint GP IT Committee (JGPITC), as well as the NHS Connecting for Health's GP Pan User (GPPUG) and GP System of Choice (GPSoC) groups.
In recent years, he has been involved in a number of issues including EPS, Choose & Book and GP2GP. He became an NCL in January 2008.
"Having worked on a number of NHS Connecting for Health issues relevant to GPs, as well as on GP Choice, I am pleased to have been appointed as one of the GP National Clinical Leads. There is a great potential to bring many benefits to both patients and primary care." - Dr Manpreet Pujara.
Dr Peter Short - NCL for GPs
Dr Peter Short practises at the Stewart Medical Centre, Buxton, Derbyshire. His GP training was carried out in Tipton, West Midlands, after he qualified from Birmingham Medical School in 1983.
Peter describes himself as carrying out the "traditional GP role", with additional work in community hospitals as a clinical assistant in elderly medicine, covering GP beds and a minor injury unit.
Until his new appointment as GPs' NCL for NHS CFH in January 2008, Peter was Deputy Chair of Derbyshire Local Medical Committee and NPfIT Clinical Lead for Derby City and County.
"As NCL for GPs, I hope to see and encourage more opportunities for colleagues from all clinical disciplines to contribute to current and future developments, on a local and national basis. My aim is to foster progression from engaging their interest to ensuring their participation and influence." - Dr Peter Short.
Hospital doctors
Dr Robert Pitcher - NCL for hospital doctors
Dr Pitcher, trained at Bristol University, qualifying in 1977 and then had house jobs in Hereford and Bristol before undertaking pathology training in Southmead Hospital, Bristol. Robert became an NCL for hospital doctors in March 2008.
In 1981 Robert moved to Newcastle as a senior registrar. After a year in Australia, Robert was appointed to a consultant post in histopathology at Treliske Hospital in Cornwall in 1987.
Robert said: "I have had an interest in medical management throughout my consultant career, initially as a Clinical Director, then as Assistant Medical Director and for the last three years, as Medical Director."
Robert is married to Sally, a lecturer in health studies at Cornwall College. They have two children, Kate, 24 and Faye, 20. They live between Truro and Falmouth in Cornwall. They also have an assorted menagerie of animals!
NCL for hospital doctors
Visit 'Connecting with hospital doctors'.
Nurses
Mike Jones - NCL Mental Health Nursing
Mike Jones is the Mental Health Product Manager at the London Programme for IT. Initially in this role he was responsible for the development of best practice for the mental health workstream in London. He has since become responsible for the end to end product process to support the mental health programme in London - ensuring effective processes are in place to capture and understand NHS requirements for the NHS Care Records Service.
Prior to this Mike managed a local initiative in Brighton for implementing an early system for electronic health records.
Mike said: "I am very excited to be taking on this challenging new role and look forward to working with my mental health colleagues across the NHS. As national clinical lead, I will be able to act as a point of contact for clinicians, professional bodies and royal colleges to voice their ideas and any concerns. This new role offers a great opportunity for me to work on their behalf to ensure their requirements are captured and fed into the National Programme so that it can continue to deliver safe, reliable and efficient systems and services."
Visit 'Connecting with nurses'.
Midwives
Julie Tindale - NCL for midwifery
Julie Tindale is Maternity Information System Manager at the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust and has worked for 28 years as a midwife.
She recently secured funding to pilot the use of mobile technology in her community, so that midwives can access whole Primary Care Trust systems, aiding early detection and referrals for problems.
Julie's previous roles have included being a member of the Clinical Engagement Team for the National Care Records Service in the Birmingham and Black Country areas.
In addition to her NHS role, she has worked in the Princess Mary’s Royal Air Force Nursing Service as a commissioned officer, with experience of working in Germany and also in the Middle East with the Saudi Arabian National Guard, in a large tertiary referral hospital.
Julie explained: "My role now is to talk to midwives and educators, to find out more about their needs and also how current good practice can be integrated with the new systems.
"It is vital that midwives are supported to make the most of the opportunities presented by NHS Connecting for Health. The programme can and will make a real difference to both midwives' and mothers' and babies' lives, improving the safety and quality of care."
Visit 'Connecting with midwives'.
Visit 'Making a positive difference', a joint article by Julie Tindale and Barbara Stuttle on engagement with nurses, midwives and AHPs.
Allied health professionals
Yvonne Pettigrew - NCL for allied health professionals
Yvonne Pettigrew is Associate Director for Allied Health Professionals and Head of Therapy Services at the University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHBFT).
Yvonne received a commendation from the Department of Health infection team for leading and shaping the AHP approach to management and control of infection in secondary care settings.
Yvonne's previous roles include directing the development of a database charting in and out-patient activity at UHBFT. In addition to her NHS role she has also worked as a senior occupational therapist in Saudi Arabia.
She commented: "In my role for NHS Connecting for Health, I will be engaging regularly with AHPs, helping to communicate the benefits of the programme and also to find out more about their professional needs.
"One of the ways I will be doing this is via a national conference later this year, as well as communicating with existing professional networks.
"Choose and Book is particularly beneficial for AHPs, and we need to ensure that we maximise the benefits for practitioners by using their feedback to help develop a system which both reflects their needs and enables better inter-professional working."
Visit 'Connecting with allied health professionals'.
Pathology
Dr Gifford Batstone - NCL for pathology
Dr Batstone, became an NCL for pathology in March 2008. He studied medicine at St Thomas'Hospital, London before training in pathology in Bristol and Southampton.
He was a consultant chemical pathologist in Salisbury and then undertook a number of educational roles including that of postgraduate dean. Gifford has now returned to laboratory work at Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals where he is also involved in teaching medical students.
Gifford has been involved in the implementation of Department of Health initiatives in clinical audit, medical education, and information technology. His wife is Chief Executive of Basingstoke and North Hampshire Foundation Trust.
Gifford commented: "Linking best evidence with laboratory requesting and reporting will increasingly enhance both the efficiency and effectiveness of pathology services."
Visit Gifford's pathology web page.
Public health
Miss Parul Desai - NCL for public health
Miss Desai became an NCL for public health in March 2008. Parul is presently Consultant in Ophthalmology and Public Health at Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in London, and Honorary Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Ophthalmology, University College, London.
She was Clinical Lead on the NHS Connecting for Health 'Do Once and Share' Glaucoma programme, between 2006 to 2007 and is the Clinical Lead on the 'Eyes & Vision Specialist Library' programme, National Library for Health.
Parul said: "As a Consultant Ophthalmologist, my clinical areas of interest lie in chronic diseases, such as retinal, surgical interventions for example for cataract and the interaction of these with systemic and other ocular diseases.
"As a Consultant in Public Health in an acute provider Trust, my epidemiological interests lie at the interface between community and hospital-based health services, principally in the areas of needs assessment, outcomes assessment, measurement and standardisation of clinical criteria, and clinical audit."
Medication management
Sharon Hart - NCL for medication management
Sharon, became an NCL for medication management in March 2008. Sharon qualified as a pharmacist in 1985 and focused early in her career on medicines management.
In 1990, Sharon became one of the first regional prescribing advisers to be appointed. She developed a programme of educational visits for practices in Oxford Regional Health Authority, which proved so popular with GPs the service was expanded.
She then moved on to Buckinghamshire Health Authority as the Pharmaceutical Adviser and worked on improving the communication on prescribing related issues across the primary and secondary care interface.
In 1998, Sharon was appointed Head of Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin Publications and developed new products and new markets for the publications.
For the last year Sharon has been working as a freelance healthcare management consultant. Some of her work has been in general practice. Here she has been leading the delivery of change required to help practices meet targets associated with medicines management.
Sharon lives in Oxfordshire and enjoys music, playing the piano, singing and sport including running in the local countryside. She is married with three children aged 5, 12 and 17 years old.
Paediatrics and child health
Dr David Low - NCL for Paediatrics and child health
Dr Low became the national clinical lead for paediatrics and child health in October 2008.
He has been a consultant paediatrician for 22 years at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, specialising as a Designated Doctor for Safeguarding for the last 15 years.
Dr Low is also a member of the NHS Connecting for Health Child Health Programme Board, which was set up to ensure child health systems under the National Programme for IT (NPfIT) were standardised and fit for purpose.
David has been involved in producing documentation that identifies the specific information needs of children in comparison to adults. He would like to use this for discussion with paediatricians and system providers as the basis for a unified child health record.
David is married to Carole, a clinical geneticist, and they have three grown up sons. When he is not safeguarding the health of children he keeps himself busy by gardening, supporting and listening to the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and rowing – he has been a cox for almost 40 years - and appreciating Victorian architecture.
Mental health
Dr Joe McDonald - NCL for mental health
Dr McDonald, is a consultant adolescent psychiatrist at South of Tyne and Wearside. He became an NCL for mental health in March 2008. Joe has a very special reason for deciding to become an NCL.
He explains: "Two weeks before our wedding, I got a telephone call from an accident and emergency department to say my wife Fiona had crashed her car into a lorry and was in a coma. I jumped in my car and drove the 20 miles to the hospital in record time.
"I arrived to find my wife awaiting neurosurgery. The staff were unaware that Fiona was an insulin-dependent diabetic and was merely suffering from hypoglycaemia and a bump on the head.
"After the administration of glucose she was perfectly well in 15 minutes. Electronic records strike me as a good idea.
"I am looking forward to the challenge of developing electronic care records in mental health, where every recent report into psychiatric disaster has pointed the finger at 'failure to communicate'."
Joe lives on Tyneside and claims to be an eternal optimist as a Newcastle United supporter! He trained at Nottingham Medical School.
Visit Joe's mental health web page.
Diabetes
Dr Adrian Scott - NCL for diabetes
Dr Scott became an NCL for diabetes in March 2008. He is Consultant Physician in diabetes and general medicine at the Diabetes Centre, Northern General Hospital, Sheffield.
Adrian has been a consultant since 1990 and has worked previously in Derby. He has experience working in several different parts of the world including Tanzania, Rwanda, Japan, New Zealand and Scotland.
He keeps fit by running and cycling and Adrian says he'd attempt a triathlon - if only he could swim! Adrian says he 'studies' New Zealand wines. He has three children Joanna, a documentary and fashion photographer, Tom a medical student and Julius an actor.
Visit Adrian's diabetes web page
Ophthalmology
John Sparrow - NCL for ophthalmology
John, became an NCL for ophthalmology in March 2008. He has been a Consultant Ophthalmologist at the Bristol Eye Hospital since 1992, where his specialist clinical and surgical practice is focused on glaucoma and cataract.
John trained in London, Oxford and Leicester and has research interests in ophthalmic epidemiology and health services research. He is an honorary senior lecturer at the International Centre for Eye Health based at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
John has worked on and had published a range of national benchmarking and audit projects, covering most of the common ophthalmological conditions, the most recent having been an analysis of Electronic Patient Record (EPR) cataract care data from 55,567 operations.
John's past and present professional roles include being Chair of the Management Board for the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) National Collaborating Centre for Acute Care based at the Royal College of Surgeons, Chair of the NICE Glaucoma Guideline Development Group, Audit and Clinical Effectiveness Lead for the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, and Lead Clinician for the Bristol Eye Hospital.
