Amanda Smith, Renal Transplant Co-ordinator/Young Adult Support Nurse

As Renal Transplant Co-ordinator and Young Adult Support Nurse, Amanda's role includes providing support, patient education and telephone advice.

Amanda has an interest in transition services, and the young adult renal service aims to meet young people at their first adolescent clinic to begin building a trusting relationship with them and their parents/carer.

Tel: 07867 180 386

Aimee Williams, Advanced Practitioner in Renal Transplantation

Aimee is a Renal Transplant Nurse Specialist with an interest in the Young Adult Service.

Aimee’s role includes offering support, patient education and advice to those young adults who have received a kidney transplant. This may be in a face to face consultation or as a telephone/video consultation.

Tel: 07500 986 217

Mark Thompson, Youth Worker

Mark’s role is to support young people as they move from paediatric care into adult services. Youth work takes a holistic approach with young people, offering care and support in a hospital setting as well as helping young people in their everyday surroundings.

Tel: 07920 807 586

Dr Tanya Pankhurst, Consultant Nephrologist

Dr Pankhurst is a Consultant Kidney Specialist, Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Birmingham, Lead for the Young Adult Renal Service and Deputy Director of Digital Healthcare at the Trust.

Her research interests include renal transplantation, young adults with renal diseases, digital healthcare, digital healthcare datasets, population health and the design of electronic health records.

Dr Pankhurst also has an interest in young adult health and holistic care. In collaboration with Birmingham Children's Hospital and colleagues in adult settings, she is interested in how to provide care during the transition between child and adult services and how to meet the needs of young adults in adult services.

Dr Graham Lipkin, Consultant Nephrologist

Consultant Kidney Specialist, Honorary Senior Lecturer UoB. Lead for Rare Diseases & Centre for Rare Diseases at QEHB. National Lead for Cystinosis. Member of Rare Disease Working Groups: Gittleman, Primary Hyperoxaluria, Cysinuria, Pregnancy in CKD. Member of Department of Health Rare Disease Stakeholder Group. Vice President of Renal Association, Lead for Live Donor Renal Transplantation at QEHB NHSFT.

Research Interests: Metabolic Kidney Disease, Renal Transplantation, Pregnancy in Women with CKD, Combined kidney and Liver Transplantation.

Positions: President of QE Kidney Patients Association, Chairman of Metchley park Medical Society Charity. Trustee of Transplant Links Community Charity.

Saehara khan Renal Pharmacist

The role of the pharmacist in young adult clinics is a fairly new concept nationally, and aims to discuss the importance of any medication being taken by the young adult, providing a face-to-face opportunity to discuss concerns, changes or improvements in therapy.

 

During a typical visit, the pharmacist will determine what medication is being taken (if any), confirm intended doses to optimise timing/frequencies and then proceed to discuss how well the young adult feels they are comply with their intended therapy.

 

If there are any concerns, the pharmacist will formulate a plan to try and overcome these in an independent fashion and set goals for the following appointment. This can often include using family/friends to be involved in improvement strategies and also considering technology (e.g. phone apps) to improve compliance. On many occasions, there are opportunities to congratulate the young adult on their attainment to treatment, thus allowing for a positive end to the consultation and an optimistic view on their transition to adult care.