Executive Committee

I began my career as a staff nurse in a 14 bedded HIV unit thirty years ago and progressed to the role of clinical nurse specialist. I am currently Charge Nurse of the Infectious Diseases department and manage the clinic nurses, the HIV CNS and the Mental Health specialist nurses. Clinically I support a cohort of people living with HIV in our nurse-led service. I am passionate about nurses using their expert skills to look after people living with HIV and feel strongly that we provide best holistic care. I was part of a group of nurses who developed a best practice guide to carry out Annual Reviews to assess the physical, mental and sexual health of our patients and would like to see all clinics around the UK ensuring that patients see a nurse at least annually for a comprehensive check. I have served on the Executive since 2013 and was Treasurer from 2015. I am honoured to take on the role of Chair and look forward to working with an amazing group of people on the Executive to ensure we support education and research for our members and most importantly continue to fight to eradicate stigma for everyone living with HIV.

I am the lead HIV clinical specialist nurse at The Hathersage Centre in Manchester. Over the past 13 years, I have progressed in my role from a band 5 rotational nurse between sexual health, health advisors and HIV to my current position. I was drawn to HIV care as I found it challenging but ultimately the most rewarding job I have ever done, as we can use our skills as specialist nurses to help our patients to achieve the best possible health and social care outcomes whilst providing ongoing psychological support through their journey. I am chair of the north west HIV nursing alliance, of which I am honoured to be part. I am very excited to join the NHIVNA executive committee and I hope I can extend my passion for bringing nurses together to improve outcomes for people living with HIV at national level.

I am an HIV Clinical Nurse Specialist in Wolverhampton having recently passed my Non-Medical Prescribing qualification. Prior to this I worked for 8 years as an Integrated Sexual Health Nurse in Shropshire, working across sexual health and HIV services. I have a passion for working within HIV services, making positive changes within my clinical area to improve the provision of care for vulnerable patients, addressing stigmas that are often associated with HIV by utilising the knowledge gained from NHIVNA, international conferences and my working experiences. As a member of the NIVNHA Committee I aim to provide support, encouragement and mentorship to those new to the area of HIV nursing, ensuring that as healthcare professionals we promote the benefits and rewarding opportunities that HIV services have to offer.

I qualified as a nurse in 1997. I have a total of 26 years of HIV experience, firstly within an inpatient setting and, for the past 22 years, as a clinical nurse specialist and a nurse consultant. I have a Masters degree in nursing. I currently lead three HIV services, both clinically and managerially. I have a particular interest in extended roles for nurses and new ways of working and was instrumental in setting up nurse-led clinics within my setting. I believe that specialist nurses are key to delivering high quality, patient centred care.

I have been working within the field of sexual health and HIV for 14 years. I am currently working as a HIV Clinical Nurse Specialist for the Lancashire HIV service. In conjunction with a team of consultants, I manage the care for a cohort of around 400 people living with HIV. This focuses on providing care clinically and holistically. I am very proud that I was asked by Gilead to participate in ‘Whose role is it anyway?’ at both BHIVA and NHIVNA. I have also presented a poster and oral presentation at NHIVNA around the opt-out BBV testing in ED. I was also engaged to facilitate a workshop at the NHSE National Conference on opt-out BBV testing in ED on two occasions in London. I am a very hard-working, self-motivated and enthusiastic individual who feels passionate about improving the care of people living with and those at risk of HIV. I am quietly competitive and thrive within new challenges.

I have worked for seven years as an HIV CNS at Nottingham University Hospital and have an extensive background as a sexual health nurse. My responsibilities extend across both outpatients and inpatients on the ID ward. After completing the NHIVNA STIF core competency, I was able to provide skilled nursing care to people living with HIV and support staff from an educational role. I enjoy supporting women throughout pregnancy in our positive care clinic and have an interest in mental health. I hope to bring a fresh perspective to the committee from the evolving role as an HIV nurse.

Having qualified in 1996 (yes, that long ago!), I have worked continuously in medical nursing, covering specialities including neurology, brain injuries and stroke (including thrombolysis), discharge/ nurse-led services, elderly care, rheumatology and dermatology. Most relevantly, I worked in sexual health for three years and as the infectious diseases ward manager in Leicester for five years. Since 2015, I have been working passionately as a clinical nurse specialist in HIV in Birmingham and now lead the HIV nursing team (CNS and health advisors) at Birmingham Heartlands HIV service. HIV has been my long-term passion from handing out red ribbons and leaflets on the streets of York as a teenage volunteer in the early 90’s to leading an amazing HIV nursing team today. I would like to be able to offer some of this passion to NHIVNA and HIV nursing nationally by becoming a trustee.

I am Charge Nurse at the Sussex Beacon, where I have worked since 1995. I have witnessed the unfolding challenges of HIV care. An independent charity, the Sussex Beacon maintains collaborative links with the wider network of HIV agencies, and I maintain close working relationships with colleagues beyond the Sussex Beacon. As a clinician, I am interested in complex case management and the impact of new diagnoses of HIV amongst older people. I am committed to governance and audit and view these as opportunities to learn. Having achieved a master’s degree in psychology, I retain an interest in research. Andy served as the NHIVNA Honorary Secretary from 2017 to March 2022.

I started my nurse training in 2011 in Liverpool and quickly became very interested in HIV and stirred by the injustices people with HIV face. My interest was emboldened by being part of the LGBTQ+ community and having faced discrimination of my own as a result. I tailored my training around HIV wherever I could and have been caring for people with HIV since qualifying in 2014. I worked on an infectious diseases unit in Liverpool for four years before becoming an HIV CNS, which provided the opportunity to move down to Brighton in 2021.

I have worked in the area of HIV for over 20 years in various positions. I am currently a Clinical Trials Programme Manager at the University of Liverpool, with previous nursing positions as a clinical research nurse and HIV specialist nurse in infectious diseases and sexual health. My areas of research are in pharmacology, drug-drug interactions and pregnancy both in the UK and sub-Saharan Africa. I am currently chair of the Research Subcommittee and I would like to continue bringing my expertise in HIV clinical research to the subcommittee. I wish to make research accessible to everyone through an updated research strategy, providing research focused sessions at conference and building a research resource for NHIVNA members.

Currently, I am a HIV Network Lead Nurse for Barts Health NHS Trust. I have worked in HIV care for 25 years. My passion is to create a safe clinical environment for people living with HIV by ensuring that we have the right workforce with relevant clinical skills and knowledge. I am a co-opted member of NHIVNA Executive Committee and currently representing NHIVNA in the HIV Clinical Reference Group. I am an active member of the NHIVNA Research Subcommittee. I have been instrumental in the development of the NHIVNA Person-Centred Model of HIV Nursing Care and am keen to support its implementation into practice to be usable tool to benefits our HIV services development and planning. I will really welcome your support for me to continue to support NHIVNA in achieving its goals.

I have worked as an HIV nurse for over 20 years in a variety of roles, including clinical research, a community HIV CNS and more recently in HIV outpatients, first in a busy London hospital and now in a smaller unit where I am the only HIV specialist nurse within a GUM service supporting three specialist consultants and a cohort of 3-400 patients. I would bring a variety of skills and experience and insight into the differing needs of nurses working in smaller centres, as well as an understanding of the role of community and clinic-based nurses.

I qualified as a midwife in 2008, and from the very beginning of my training, I became acutely aware of the stigma faced by people living with HIV, particularly within healthcare settings. During my elective placement, I had the opportunity to work alongside a specialist HIV midwife, and that experience confirmed my aspiration to one day take on that role myself. In 2016, I became the Specialist HIV Midwife in Central Manchester, a role I continue to be passionate about. Since then, I’ve worked hard to challenge stigma in clinical environments, focusing on educating staff about the impact their attitudes, behaviours, and language can have on those living with HIV. I also teach student midwives at local universities, placing a strong emphasis on person-centred care and the importance of understanding and dismantling stigma. My approach to midwifery is rooted in compassion, empowerment, and respect. I believe that pregnancy should be a positive and empowering journey for every woman – and for those living with HIV. It’s essential that their care is centred around them as individuals, not defined by their diagnosis. Being a member of the NHIVNA Executive Committee will enhance my work in this field and provide a valuable platform to contribute to national conversations. It also allows me to support NHIVNA in developing resources and improving care for women birthing with HIV, ensuring their needs are recognised, understood, and met across all maternity settings.

UK-CAB and University Hospitals of North Midlands