Introducing the members of the TuningFork Study team!

(Please hover the mouse over a picture to view the team members biography)

Anne Welling, Lead Investigator:
Qualified as RGN in 1986. After a spell on a trauma and orthopaedic ward, and theatres I starting working in A&E in 1989 at the North Devon District Hospital in Barnstaple, North Devon. I took a short career break between 1984 and 2000 to travel abroad before returning to complete a Return to Practice course at Hull University, securing a post in the A&E at the Diana Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby, North Lincolnshire on completion. Here I was able to complete my Registered Children's Nursing course before securing a post as an Emergency Nurse Practitioner at the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth, Hampshire where I not only completed my minor ENP training but also an in-house training course to enable me to assess and manage patients within the majors area of the ED. I was able to complete my MSc in Nursing Studies with the University of Portsmouth at this time. In January 2007 I was lucky to get offered a place on a fully funded 4-year consultant practitioner training programme with NHS Education South central (formerly known as Wessex Deanery). This course taught me the fundamentals of the consultant nurse role and I commenced a substantive consultant nurse post with Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust in December 2008. I am currently undertaking my Professional Doctorate in Nursing with the University of Portsmouth and became a nurse prescriber in 2008. I have a keen interest in research and currently lead a research group within the department. Sarah Cooke, Research Nurse:
I have been working in the Queen Alexendra Hospital emergency department for nearly two years as a staff nurse. Before joining the team, I worked in intensive care in Southampton and before that in the medical assessment unit and Basingstoke hospital. I have been a qualified nurse for nearly four years and enjoy my work immensely. In my spare time my passion is horse riding. Mark Archer, Project Support Worker:
I have been working in the emergency department for 5 years as part of the reception / admin team. Before that I worked for the drug services as an out reach worker and for four years I was an ambulance technician with Hampshire ambulance service who are now south central ambulance service and for 10 years I was in the Royal Navy. In my spare time I enjoy gardening in my little garden. My other passion is my pets Billie and Millie who are our brother and sister rescue cats. Linda Cooper, Principle Investigator at QAH:
I qualified as a RN in 1986 in Middlesbrough, and initially worked in an eye unit before getting a staff nurse post in A&E. I moved to Portsmouth in 1990 and worked as staff nurse in A&E at QAH. I got offered a job as an emergency nurse practitioner in 2000 and completed my ENP training later that year. In 2004 I studied for my BSC (hons) Nurse Practitioner at Bournemouth University, and completed my independant nurse prescribing in 2009. I have a keen interest in minor injuries, and work in both the MINOR INJURIES UNIT IN GOSPORT and at ED AT QAH. Jason Burton, Lead Nurse at Gosport Minor injuries walk in centre:
I qualified as a RGN in 1992 and have been part of two previous studies within the Emergency department. I currently work as an Emergency Nurse practitioner seeing and treating patients autonomously at both the walk in centre in gosport and the main accident and emergency departement in QAH. Ruth Buckly - Principle Investigator at Winchester Emergency Department:
Bio coming soon.
Dr Anne Dewey RGN, BSc (Hons), Pg Cert Research & Development, MSc Health Psychology PhD:
I gained my PhD, having successfully completed a systematic review for the Pain, Palliative and Supportive Care Group of the Cochrane Collaboration on the use of the omega-3 fatty acid EPA to treat weight loss in advanced cancer patients. As a skilled qualitative researcher, I have worked with many vulnerable groups including: advanced cancer patients, severely disabled multiple sclerosis patients and mental health patients. I was also involved in the development and teaching of the Postgraduate Certificate in Evidence-Based Practice at the University of Portsmouth, the development of the first pilot of Putting Evidence into Practice (or PeP) Course and an interactive on-line training material development grant which aims to support review authors of The Cochrane Collaboration. In my role as senior lecturer at the School of Health Sciences & Social Work at the University of Portsmouth, I'm responsible for the Nursing Pathway of the Professional Doctorate course as well as teaching and supporting other postgraduate and PhD students. Dr George "Sandy" Carrs - Medical Director:
A&E consultant at Queen alexandra hospital since 1984 Bernard "Bernie " Higgins - Project Statistician:
I assist in transferring the data gathered in the project from raw-data into formal statisitics, in order to gauge the effectiveness of the Tuning Fork project. I am on the steering committee for the project in an advisory role. I qualified in 1978 with a BSc(hons) in statistics from (what was at the time) Portsmouth Polytechnic and went on to gain a PgD in applied statistics at the University of Southampton. As well as being a published author in mulitiple research journals, I am a lecturer in statistics at the University of Portsmouths mathematics department. Kate Greenwood - Research and Development Manager:
I am part of the Research and Development team within the hospital. I oversee all the research projects going on, help the teams to gain what ever they need - be it ethical approval or money for their studys and advice them when they need us. I attend the 3 monthly study steering committee meetings for the Tuning Fork project to ensure it is all going well, and ensure that the data is being uploaded to the national sites correctly. Robert Good - Principle Investigator at the Emergency Dept of the North Hampshire NHS Foundation Trust Hospital Basingstoke:
Bio coming soon