Committee Members
Clare Ecuyer
Chair
Lead Nurse Renal Transplant, Viral Hepatitis and NORS at The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Clare Ecuyer, RGN, has made significant contributions to the field of transplantation since graduating in Adult General Nursing from the University of Leeds in 2000. Her initial five years at the Transplant Unit, St. James’s University Hospital, Leeds, provided a strong clinical foundation for her subsequent 20 years in co-ordination roles encompassing live donation and renal recipient pathways.
In her current role as Lead Nurse for Renal Transplantation, Viral Hepatitis, and NORS at Leeds Teaching Hospitals (since 2021), Clare combines strategic leadership with ongoing clinical practice in paediatrics and participation in the on-call service. Her specialist knowledge in en bloc organ donation and renal transplantation has been crucial in the development of national guidelines.
Clare is an engaged member of the Organ Donor Committee and has dedicated over 15 years to educating future medical professionals through her leadership of the Renal Transplant Body Systems programme at the University of Leeds. Her commitment to the transplant nursing community is further demonstrated by her role as a Council member for the Chapter of Nurses, British Transplantation Society, since March 2024.
Lucy Dames
Co-chair
Lead Nurse –Organ Donation
London Organ Donation Services
NHS Blood & Transplant
Lucy qualified as an Adult Nurse from York University in 2006. Having working in critical care and trauma in London for several years she was exposed to caring for patients who went on to become organ donors and also for transplant patients on occasion. This led her to a career in organ donation and in 2011 she joined NHS Blood & Transplant as a Specialist Nurse in Organ donation (SNOD) in the South West of England. In 2016 she moved back to London as a SNOD and shortly afterwards took on the then newly formed role of Specialist Requester –focusing on the approach to families for consent to organ donation proceeding. Since 2020 Lucy has been one of the Team Managers for organ donation in London and is the lead for equality, diversity and inclusion.
Lucy has a keen interest in supporting nurses to instigate, evaluate and develop advancements in their practice. She is a strong advocate for the use of social media to network, peer review, educate and engage.
Sally Holmes
Professional Development Specialist, NHSBT
sally.holmes@nhsbt.nhs.uk
Sally qualified as a RGN in 1991 in the West Midlands spending the next 8 years in elderly care and female surgical before entering the world of Critical Care. In 2003 she completed her ENB 100 in Critical Care this is where she was first exposed to the world of Organ Donation and Transplantation. A Transplant Coordinator came and spoke on the ENB100 course and she was inspired.
In 2004 Sally moved to the West Country to continue her Critical Care career in a District General ITU where she was again involved with Organ Donation supporting the Transplant Coordinator in her Sister role. An opportunity arose in 2006 to join the Transplant Coordinators in the Bristol Renal Transplant Coordinators Team and her journey in the World of Organ Donation and Transplantation began. Since then she has worked within donation and transplantation.
Transferring her employment to NHSBT in 2009 allowed her focus to be more on Organ Donation and the support of the donor families, providing them with the best possible care whilst ensuring the transplant recipients receive a safe transplant.
In 2013 the new Education and Service Development Team was developed and Sally was appointed to be part of this new team. Reforming and taking forward Specialist Nurse for Organ Donation Education and development. Three years later the team has completely transformed the way we train our new SNOD’s and how we support our existing workforce.
Joanna James
Transplant Co-ordinator,
The Leeds Teaching Hospitals
joanna.james3@nhs.net
I completed my paediatric nurse training at Salford University in 1999. Over the past 25 years since qualification, I have worked in three different paediatric renal units across the UK; Pendlebury Childrens Hospital in Manchester, Evelina Childrens Hospital in London, and the Leeds Teaching Hospital. I also spent a brief period working at the Starship Childrens Hospital in New Zealand.
My experience to date covers working as a Staff Nurse then Sister on the renal inpatient wards and on the haemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis units.
I have also worked as a paediatric renal clinical nurse specialist within the Evelina Childrens Hospital and Leeds teaching Hospital with a primary role in post-transplant care.
In 2017 I joined the Renal Transplant Co-ordinator team as a live donor co-ordiantor. Within this role I take the lead for the paediatric caseload in Leeds for both the live donors and the paediatric recipients. I also participate in the on-call rota where I deal with transplantation in the acute setting.
This post has given me the opportunity to lead on several successful media campaigns for patients which required liaising with NHSBT and the trust communication team. I am confident in handling media enquiries and providing statements to interested stakeholders and local and national news co-operations. I am currently a member of a national working group that is currently looking at social media appeals to develop national guidlienes.
I am currently involved with meetings to look at the viability of service provision for paediatric renal patients overseas to travel to the United Kingdom for transplantation.
I am the nursing representation within Kidney Advisory Group Paediatric Subgroup.
I have recently been accepted by NHS England to be the nursing representative for paediatric renal transplant to assist in the design and implementation of a model of care to design and implement solutions around some of the challenges faced by services.
I have extensive experience in the field of live donation and paediatric transplantation and associated therapies and modalities.
Alison Smith
Transplant Nurse Practitioner,
Oxford Transplant Centre
I am a Transplant Nurse Practitioner, currently working at the Oxford Transplant Centre. I qualified in 1993 and moved into renal care and transferred to the world of transplantation in 1996. I help care for patients following solid organ abdominal transplant. This includes pancreas, kidney, islets, intestinal, abdominal wall, and any combination of the above. Working as an autonomous practitioner, I provide a nurse-led clinic and triage service in conjunction with my medical colleagues, for patients and primary care service providers.
My role is multi-faceted in providing an outreach service to our patients, managing the outpatient clinic flow, and assisting in providing 24-hour cover for the on-call recipient transplant service. I am team leader for the post-transplant Nurse Practitioners and currently working towards an Msc in Advanced Nursing Practice.
An area of interest for me is intestinal transplantation for the palliative treatment for pseudomyxoma peritonei patients, and their subsequent journey and challenges. The psychological and emotional roller-coaster journey this patient group travel is immense and being their support is both a challenge and an honour.
I am excited to be joining the Chapter of Nurses committee within the BTS and to be a voice for nurses working within transplantation and promote our research and development to a wider audience.
Bethan Thomas
NHS Blood and Transplant
Bethan qualified as a RN in 1996, from Bloomsbury College of Nursing and Midwifery. She has extensive experience within critical care since 1996, working in Cardiothoracic High Dependancy, Coronary Care, Intensive Care in UCLH and Intensive Care at St. Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney Australia. She returned to London and spent the next 9 years working at The Middlesex and UCH as a Staff Nurse and Senior Staff Nurse in Intensive Care, Critical Care Outreach and Patient Emergency Response and Resuscitation Team.
In 2009 Bethan moved to the South Coast and joined Cardiac Intensive Care Unit as a Sister where she spent the next three years.
In 2012 Bethan began working for NHS Blood and Transplant as a Specialist Nurse Organ Donation working within the South Central team, covering hospitals from the Isle of Wight up to Northampton. Bethan has held several lead roles within the organ donation team but has a particular interest in donor management and optimisation, enabling donors to give the best possible gift to recipients.
Bethan achieved a Bachelors of Science (Hons) degree from UCL and has presented at Conferences both in the UK and internationally, as well as teaching in hospitals, schools and both Portsmouth and Southampton Universities.
Joao Nunes
Donor Care Physiologist,
NORS Retrieval Team.
I qualified as a Nurse in 2018 in Porto, Portugal. Came over to the UK in the same year and started my journey at Royal Papworth Hospital as a Critical Care Nurse in 2019. In 2021, I have taken on the exciting role of Donor Care Physiologist, a key member of the NORS Retrieval Team.
I am very keen on developing the role further and participate in innovative programs and research studies to push the boundaries of transplantation in organ optimisation and utilisation.
I am currently doing my MSc in Advanced Practice and hope to share my knowledge at a local and national level with different job roles and continue to promote development and research in cardiothoracic transplantation.
