NENC – Primary Care Clinical Update (Newcastle)

I was always interested in women’s health as a medical student, I loved my obstetric attachment and started off pursuing a career in Obs and Gynae. I soon discovered that I needed uninterrupted sleep and so moved into GP training. I couldn’t shake off the interest in women’s health so in my spare time I did the FSRH diploma, learned to fit coils and implants, and passed the DRCOG. Alongside working as a GP in Durham I developed a love of training and as well as studying for the Bradford Postgrad diploma in Women’s health became a FSRH trainer.  I was part of the original team who set up the Primary Care Womens Health Society as a way to keep networking with other GPs who had an extended role in women’s health and my term as Chair has just been completed.I also own a business called Durham Gynae and through that deliver NHS commissioned clinics and training. I also learned the art of gynae ultrasound scanning and gained advanced menopause training.  I love great fiction and seeing the world.

Mr Michael Mather MBBS MRes MHPE MRCS (ENT) is an ENT surgeon and NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer in Otolaryngology at Newcastle University. He is the Otology Subspecialty Lead for the ENT Research North East Collaborative (ERNEST), with a specialist interest in diseases affecting hearing and balance. His clinical and academic work combines ENT practice, teaching and research, with particular research interests in recurrent and persistent inflammatory and infective disorders of the ear and nose.

Nadia Malik is a Practice Pharmacist and Independent Prescriber at Queens Park Medical Centre in Tees Valley, with a specialist clinical portfolio spanning scardiovascular-renal-metabolic (CVRM) disease, lipid management, type 2 diabetes and weight management. She serves as Lead Pharmacist for SPOT CKD with the Health Innovation Network, driving identification and optimisation of CKD care at scale. Nadia holds academic appointments at Teesside and Sunderland Universities and is Education Lead for Competency and Standards at the UK Clinical Pharmacy Association. She is co-founder of TeesValley Diabetes Interest Group, an education platform bridging the gap between evolving CVRM and frontline clinical practice.

Dr Vikki McKeever is a salaried GP and a GPwSI in ME/CFS working in 2 different NHS specialist ME/CFS services based in York and Leeds covering the majority of North and West Yorkshire. Vikki spent several years serving on the board of the British Association of Clinicians in ME/CFS (BACME). She has been involved in a variety of BACME projects including national conferences, 2 national services surveys and a recent project looking at tube feeding for people with severe ME/CFS. She has been involved in the recent Department of Health and Social Care Delivery Plan for ME/CFS and has contributed to various education resources about ME/CFS. Her passion is for identifying the physiological basis of symptoms through thorough history taking and translating the research advancements into meaningful explanations to help understand this complex and life changing condition.