PCDS Committee election candidate biographies

Voting for available positions on the PCDS Committee is scheduled to take place at the 10th National PCDS Conference, in Birmingham on 20–21 November. Candidates’ biographies are presented below. (Asterisks [*] denote current Committee members standing for re-election.)

Pam Brown*
Pam has been a GP in Swansea for more than 30 years. Throughout that time she has had a special interest in diabetes and obesity and, together with the highly skilled practice and district nursing teams, she helps deliver diabetes care.

Pam is passionate about nutrition and lifestyle counselling in diabetes and cardiovascular disease prevention and treatment, underpinned by an MSc in Nutritional Medicine, and a Diploma in Sport and Exercise Medicine. Pam was a member of the working group on the NICE guidance on preventing type 2 diabetes, is a tutor on the University of Leicester global Diabetes Diploma, and is part of the working group for the Diabetic Retinopathy Screening Service for Wales. Pam plans and speaks at educational meetings and writes about diabetes, obesity and nutrition for primary care teams and the public, and has been part of the authoring group for some TREND-UK publications.

Su Down
Su has specialised in diabetes for 25 years and since 2005 has held the position of Diabetes Nurse Consultant in Somerset. She has played a key role in leading the service through a complete redesign and implementing a community-based team of diabetes specialist nurses and specialist dietitians.

Su’s particular interests are in elderly care, end-of-life care, insulin safety, injection technique, hypoglycaemia and pregnancy care. In her role as Clinical Lead for the intermediate service, she is responsible for the clinical supervision of the nursing team and the service is commissioned to deliver healthcare professional education to primary care, to the community nursing service and to care homes. The service also delivers group education to those with type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

Nationally, Su sits on the board of the Forum for Injection Technique and has developed diabetes modules for the social care sector in conjunction with Skills for Care. She is also on an international board looking to explore the challenges in early conversations between clinicians and people with diabetes. She presented this work at the recent EASD conference. She has had work published on topics including service redesign, the future role of specialist nurses, innovative commissioning, injection technique and hypoglycaemia unawareness.

Claire Holt*
Claire qualified as a Registered General Nurse in 1988 and is currently a Practice Nurse and Diabetes Lead in a practice in Coventry with a population of 11000. She was appointed as Secretary of the PCDS Committee in 2011 and Vice Chair in 2014.

Claire’s overarching aim is to improve the lives of those with diabetes and their families, both in her practice and nationally, by promoting good practice, the development of clinical guidelines and involvement in research as part of a multidisciplinary team. She was awarded her Master’s in Health Sciences (Diabetes) at the University of Warwick in 2011.

David Millar-Jones*
David is a full-time GP in Cwmbran and has established a successful intermediate care service within the locality. He is also an Associate Specialist in Diabetes and a Lecturer for Cardiff Medical School. This gives him a good working knowledge of secondary care and educational needs and standards. David is also an executive committee member for the Welsh Endocrine Society, whose aim is to direct the Welsh Assembly Government regarding endocrinology in Wales.

David stands for good standards of care, structure, education and support within primary care in order for this to be recognised as the principal arena for diabetes management. He has been Chair of the PCDS Committee since 2012.

Nicola Milne
Nicola qualified as a Registered General Nurse in 1988 and as a Midwife in 1991, moving into primary care in 2002, where she has since worked as a Practice Nurse. While retaining a generalist role, Nicola has a special interest in diabetes, with a key focus on ensuring effective, accessible care.

Valuing engagement and the sharing of good practice, Nicola has presented poster abstracts at the PCDS, Diabetes UK and EASD conferences. She has become increasingly involved in educational activities supporting community nurses and has published articles on her work in chronic kidney disease and diabetes and on projects involved in diabetes prevention. She is currently a member of the Professional Conference Organising Committee of Diabetes UK.

Nicola is committed to the value of the practice nurse as first point of contact and believes this role, in partnership with the multidisciplinary team, is crucial in supporting prevention, education and effective management of diabetes.