Bernie is the service improvement lead at the network and heads up a team of twelve service improvement facilitators and one administrator.

Bernie's began her career in perioperative nursing at the then Wolverhampton School of Nursing. 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. In 2003 she obtained the post of workforce development manager at the network before becoming the service improvement lead in 2006.

Email: bernie.county@nhs.net

Alison has worked for Pan Birmingham Cancer Network since December 2008, having previously completed a PCT-wide administration service review and redesign.

Recent service improvement achievements have included developing a nurse-led service for survivors of childhood cancers, redesigning services for colposcopy patients and significantly reducing turnaround for cervical screening test results.

Alison has utilised many service improvement tools and techniques in her work, including PDSA, demand & capacity, patient experience focus groups and lean methodology.

Sharon joined the NHS in 1985 and has worked chiefly in primary care, her most recent roles have been supporting service improvement within GP surgeries and PCTs across the West Midlands.  The main focus has been on improving patient care and patient experience in areas such as access and care of those with long term conditions, as well quality improvement and practice based commissioning.

Kelly has worked for Pan Birmingham Cancer Network since 2005, having previously had experience in service redesign work elsewhere within the region. Kelly has also spent time seconded as a commisoner for cancer services, she is a nurse by background and she likes the fact that the work that we do within service improvement at the cancer network has a direct impact on patients and that they are at the heart of all we do.

James has worked for the NHS in service improvement, facilitation and project management roles since 2003. James joined Pan Birmingham Cancer Network as a service improvement facilitator in 2009. He has a background in qualitative research, his enthusiasm for service improvement was nurtured whilst working on care pathway development for regional neurorehabilitation services. His move to the cancer network has provided him with a valuable opportunity to be involved in service improvement in a new area working with a diverse range of teams and services.

Richard has worked in the NHS for a number of years and in the service improvement team at the Pan Birmingham Cancer Network since 2005. During this time he has utilised a range of service redesign techniques across the health economy including capacity and demand, Lean methodology and PDSA. Richard feels that the opportunity to be involved in improving the care and experience for patients makes this a rewarding role. Recent work areas include chemotherapy, endoscopy and also the introduction of an early alert system for emergency admissions to hospital.

Adrian has worked in the NHS for many years in service reconfiguration, project management and service improvement and has many years similar experience in the private sector. Adrian has been involved in IT projects, site reconfiguration, operational process flows, managed a medical records department dealt with OJEC issues and has been heavily involved in streamlining operating theatres processes.

Marilyn joined the Pan Birmingham Cancer Network as a service improvement facilitator in 2007 and enjoys working with the various specialties within the network to share service improvement methodology to help teams to improve the quality of patient care and service delivery. Marilyn has worked for the NHS since 1999 and is passionate about driving improvements in patient care.

Elly has been with the Pan Birmingham Cancer Network service improvement team since January 2009. She previously worked for University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, specifically involved in various roles relating to improving cancer services since 2001. Elly enjoys the opportunity to work with several teams and services across the network who strive to improve the quality of their services for patients.

Lesley joined the Pan Birmingham Cancer Network in 2008. Prior to this she spent 8 years at the Birmingham Women’s Hospital as the cancer services manager which involved improving cancer services within the trust and maintaining government cancer targets. Lesley started working in the NHS in 1972 and is very committed to improving patients care and experience.

Sarah has worked at the Pan Birmingham Cancer Network since April 2005 and has been a service improvement facilitator since January 2009. Sarah has experience in admin processes, IT systems, mapping patient journeys, demand, capacity and audit work.

Cat joined the team in April 2007 from the programme management unit of the Welsh Assembly where she was involved in modernising diagnostic services throughout Wales. Since being in her post her focus has been on developing enhanced recovery programmes, initially supporting the testing of the principles at City Hospital as part of the national transforming inpatients programme and is now rolling them out across the network. 

Sarah has worked for the NHS since 2000 in various trusts; she has worked on developing new projects and been responsible for a PCT wide administrative staff review and redesign as a cost improvement initiative. She joined Pan Birmingham Cancer Network in September 2009 as a service improvement facilitator. Sarah is currently working on implementing enhanced recovery in gynaecology, and paediatric patients who undergo gastrostomy procedures she is also involved in developing a day care facility for teenage and young adults undergoing chemotherapy.

Kimberley joined the network as a temporary member of staff in November 2005. She has worked as an administration assistant in the peer review team, as well as personal/project assistant in the palliative care network. She also has many years experience in similar roles in the private sector both in the UK and overseas. Her current role is to provide administration support to the whole service improvement team.  The role is varied as it requires both personal assistant skills and general administration skills.