Specialist Nurses
Specialist Nurses Team Managers
Ruth Davies
Christine Evans
Clinical Nurse Specialists
Josie Hussey
Nicky Gilday
Fiona King
The CF specialist nursing service provides support to patients whilst on the ward, in the outpatient clinic and in the community. This could include your home, place of work or college.
Our role is to ensure that you receive the highest level of nursing care. This includes providing specific advice support and education tailored to your needs. We can also give support to your family or carers.
The specialist nurses can be your first point of contact if you have any concerns or worries. We have a mobile phone which is on between the hours 8.30 am and 4.30 pm Mon - Friday.
Mobile number - 07971329933 (Monday - Friday 0800-1630) If you have any concerns outside these hours, contact Ward 26 on 0121 4242226 and speak to the nurse in charge.
Diabetes Nurse Specialist
Kirpal Marwa
Kirpal will provide education and support on: blood glucose monitoring, starting insulin, insulin regimens, how to adjust your insulin, diabetes and exercise, carbohydrate counting and many more diabetes related issues.
Telephone: 0121 424 3577
Ward Nurses
Matron: Sarah Carr-Cave
Sarah is the Matron for the Adult CF Centre and General Respiratory Medicine. She has worked at Birmingham Heartlands Hospital since December 2005 and prior to this worked in Intensive Care for 10 years. The Matron's office is situated on Ward 26.
Telephone: 0121 424 1342
Ward Managers
Joanne Hartland
Louise Wood
Joanne and Louise work on the Adult Cystic Fibrosis Ward (26) as well as the General Respiratory Ward (24). The Ward Manager's responsibilities include the day to day management of the clinical areas and staff management. Their working week consists of clinical care and management time shared between the two wards. They are available to deal with any concerns that the patients or their families may have. They have offices situated on both Ward 24 and Ward 26.
Telephone: 0121424 0224/2226
Gareth Ebbon
Gareth is a Senior Clinical Charge Nurse for the Adult CF Ward and General Respiratory Medicine Ward. His areas of responsibility include clinical care and staff education and training.
Telephone: 0121 424 2529/2226
Band 6 Sisters
Sam Walker
Kris Canal
The band 6 sisters are the clinical leads for the ward and provide leadership and role modelling to the nursing team by sharing their experience and knowledge on a day to day basis
Ward Nurses
There is a dedicated team of experienced nurses on Ward 26 who provide 24 hour care for the patients and their families. There is also a rotation system which enables nurses from ward 24 to work on the Unit and develop specialist skills.
CF Research Nurse
Sarah Harkworth
Hello! I joined the CF team in September 2008 to help with the recruiting and running of Clinical Trials and Research. My background is in Infection and Tropical medicine, where I had spent many years as a Clinical Nurse Specialist, also running various Clinical Trials and research projects. I work three days a week - Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, when you will see me in the clinics wearing a rather fetching black and red uniform!
We have a couple of Clinical Trials that we are recruiting to at the moment. One is looking at Heparin as an inhaled powder, and testing how well it is tolerated in patients with CF. It involves taking a dose of inhaled heparin, twice daily, for one month only
This is a blinded trial, so we will not know whether a person is on placebo or the real thing. This study involves 5 visits to the clinic over a 10-12 week period.
The other study involves the long acting bronchodilator Tiotropian. This is a drug currently used and prescribed for people with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), and the purpose of this study is to investigate its safety and efficacy in people with CF. This trial drug is taken over a 12 week period, and will involve 6 study visits over a 4 month period. This is also a placebo controlled study, meaning that some patients will get the real thing and some will not.
Both these studies have strict inclusion and exclusion criteria - this is for your protection as opposed to being obstructive. All the studies we do have to be conducted in line with Good Clinical Practice guidelines that ensure patient safety, and have been approved by our local Ethics Committee. Expenses are often reimbursed for petrol, parking, bus and taxi fares etc.
If you fit the inclusion criteria for any of our studies, one of the medical team may approach you about taking part. The decision to take part in any research within the CF unit is totally down to the patient, and if you decide that it is not for you, then that is perfectly fine. No one will be offended or upset if you say no, and it certainly will not affect the care that you receive.
If you want to know more about what studies we do, what happens in a clinical trial, please do ask any of the team and I will happily explain and answer any questions. I can be contacted via the clinic reception on 0121 424 1693.
