Don has been Medical Director of the Pan Birmingham Cancer Network since 2001. His role  is to provide high level medical leadership across all the network’s activities. He is particularly interested in streamlining cancer care to deliver the best quality as efficiently as possible and has also strongly supported the Cancer Research Network. At present he is also chair of the Cancer Drug Fund for the West Midlands.

Don qualified from Leeds in 1975 and has been a consultant haematologist since 1986. Over the last 25 years, and with the help of others, he has established the haematology department at Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust which has a national reputation for delivering high-quality clinical haematology services. His clinical interests are cancer of the blood and stem cell transplantation.  He is currently Chair of the National Cancer Research Institute Clinical Studies Group for Haematology (the main clinical trial group in the UK) and has published widely in the field of stem cell transplantation and leukaemia.

Karen is responsible for leading the network team and ensuring the network supports primary care trusts to commission high quality, clinically effective and safe cancer services. Karen does this by ensuring there is appropriate engagement between commissioners, clinicians and patient representatives at all levels of the network and that we have an agreed programme of work that will deliver services to national and local standards.

Karen trained as a physiotherapist before becoming a general manager in two large acute hospitals in Birmingham which included responsibility for managing cancer services. In 2000, Karen moved to the health authority as lead for cancer and palliative care, then transferred to the Pan Birmingham Cancer Network as service development manager prior to becoming the network director in 2005.

Ben is responsible for leading on the implementation of key areas of national cancer policy such as the NICE Improving Outcomes Guidance series and Peer Review. He is also the network executive team lead for the Network Site Specific Groups (NSSGs) for which he provides management support and works closely with the group clinical chairs. He has a responsibility to ensure that each NSSG agrees an annual work programme which encompasses audit, research and service improvement, and that progress on these areas is routinely monitored and regularly reported to the network board.

As the the network lead for Peer Review, Ben is responsible for ensuring that the network adheres to the national programme and for making sure that each NSSG is compliant with the measures. He also has line management responsibility for several members of the network team.

Ben began his NHS career via the national graduate management training scheme. He joined the network in 2010 having previously worked as a performance manager at West Midlands Strategic Health Authority. He has also worked in secondary care operational management and as a PCT commissioner.

As deputy director of nursing, Lara is responsible for supporting and directing the implementation of various areas of policy, including those around the Supportive and Palliative Care Improving Outcome Guidance and guidelines development. 

Lara qualified as a nurse in 1990 and subsequently completed a BSc.(hons) in cancer nursing at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London.  She has worked at a clinical nurse specialist, a trust lead cancer nurse and in consultancy.  In 2000 she completed a masters degree in public sector management at Aston University with a distinction.

Alan joined the Network in December 2003 working as Urology Project Manager responsible for prostate and bladder cancer service redesign, in addition to non cancer diseases such as continence care and erectile dysfunction within primary and secondary care.

Alan is currently involved in overseeing a portfolio of programmes which includes National Awareness and Early Diagnosis Initiative (NAEDI) Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) cancer issues and specific urology projects.

He has worked in the private sector, firstly in Tube Investments engineering group as an industrial chemist and technical sales coordinator. This was followed by 20 years in the pharmacuetical industry where he held a variety of roles such as sales representaive and trainer, product manager and regional urology development specialist. He also has a masters in business administration.

Caroline is responsible for engaging with and involving cancer patients and carers in all the work that we do, ensuring their views, opinions and experiences help shape the cancer services we deliver. She does this by using a variety of involvement approaches from facilitating the network user group to drop in coffee sessions on a hospital ward through to taking part in a cancer health promotion road show in a local market. The most important element to all these approaches is working together with all key stake holders across all sectors.

Previous to joining the NHS in 2006, Caroline worked as a health and fitness advisor on the GP referral exercise on prescription scheme. Before joining the cancer network, Caroline worked for local primary care trusts in public health as a community public health development facilitator and then in primary care as a community development specialist, both roles involved her working with the local population to implement health development initiatives

The Pan Birmingham Cancer Research Network manager is responsible for leading, managing and developing the strategy for the research network, in conjunction with the clinical lead, to ensure that our constituent organisations have the appropriate resources and systems in place to meet the aims of the NCRN and the NHS operating framework.

Bernie's early career (1981) was in perioperative nursing at the then Wolverhampton School of Nursing, where she also held a number of posts specifically in the field of otorhinolaryngology. She then moved in to the area of practice development following successfully obtaining a first class honours degree in nursing in 1998.

In 2000 she joined the team that was designing and opening the Heart and Lung centre in Wolverhampton. Her role was to develop the workforce required for the 60 million pound unit. This work looked at expanding the cardiac workforce so that the opening of the unit did not diminish the ability of the other units in the region to function effectively.

In 2003 she obtained the post of Workforce Development Manager at Pan Birmingham Cancer Network. It was during this experience that she was exposed to the opportunities that service improvement could provide for patients. In 2006 she became the service improvement lead at the network and now heads up a team of twelve service improvement facilitators and one administrator.

The team has extensive experience of testing the possibilities for redesigning patient pathways. They are able to spread the learning across the network by utilising a variety of tools and techniques which enables sustained achievement to be delivered.

The team is also linked to NHS Improvements via the Midlands eastern zone. These links enable the team to distribute the learning from successfully implemented changes to a national audience.

Alison coordinates a number of programmes aimed at providing stakeholders with reliable information about the quality of cancer services and outcomes of treatment for cancer patients.  Alison works with clinical teams to develop clinical audits and coordinates the audit processes from set up to evaluation. She works with other organisations to develop, assure and share information in response to national policy requirements and to meet local needs.

Alison began her NHS career at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust just as the Cancer plan had been published and cancer waiting times targets had been introduced. Following the successful development of a cancer information system in the Nottingham hospitals Alison joined the Pan Birmingham Cancer Network where her first project was to implement an information system to be used by cancer services teams in seven trusts.

Kay is the Macmillan lead allied health professional (AHP) for the network. She is responsible for implementing the requirements of the peer review measures for rehabilitation services, and chairs the network rehabilitation group. The group acts as a primary resource for commissioners, clinicians, patients and families on issues around rehabilitation across the region. The group is involved in the formulation of national cancer rehabilitation pathways, mapping and forecasting the AHP workforce, and developing a national training and education strategy.

Before her secondment to the network, Kay was a specialist occupational therapist in oncology and palliative care and acting team lead at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Kay was responsible for developing the occupational therapy service at Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice, and later to the Birmingham Women’s Hospital. She was also lead tutor for the BTEC course for therapy support staff and contributes to training courses for AHPs and nursing staff across the region.

Andrew is responsible for advising the cancer network about cancer drug treatments. His work particularly focuses on the network formulary and its commissioning which ensures that chemotherapy services across the network provide a high quality, clinically safe and patient focused service.

Andrew is also an oncology pharmacist in active practice. His role is currently divided between a consultant practice in chemotherapy at City Hospital and his academic and research responsibilities.

Rachel is responsible for collecting and auditing data around high cost cancer drug use, maintaining the network formulary and overseeing the network patient survey programme. She does this by collecting, processing and analysing financial and pharmaceutical data from trusts across the network. She also coordinates and analyses the patient survey responses to produce reports to trusts, network groups and other stakeholders.

Rachel’s background in the NHS is in clinical audit. She started work at Birmingham Children’s Hospital in 2003 as an audit facilitator before commencing her role at the network in 2005.

Marion joined the network in 2003 as PA to the network manager.  Her current role is to facilitate the network site specific groups in delivering their various tasks.

Marion has 16 years administration experience within the NHS originally working as team secretary for learning disabilities services in South Birmingham.

Mandy joined the network in 2001 as PA to the service development manager and nurse director. Her current role is to provide administrative support to various network groups to assist members in delivering their various tasks.

Mandy has 16 years administrative experience within the NHS and originally began work in South Birmingham for a local geriatric hospital.