Jackie Dean – Clinical Director
Jackie Dean is a registered Occupational Therapist since 1978. Since 1997, she worked exclusively in private consultancy work and as a Brain Injury Case Manager; assessing care needs and implementing care plans for brain injured adults, and in the running of training programmes. She has vast experience of clients suffering from neurological and neurosurgical problems. She has experience working with people suffering from traumatic and acquired brain injury and has worked as a part time consultant in the development of a post acute rehabilitation unit and managed and developed Occupational Therapy Departments in acute and post acute rehabilitation settings. She is an Advanced Member of the British Association of Brain Injury Case Managers and is a life member of Headway and also a member of the National Association of Neurological Occupational Therapists.

Jackie maintains her clinical input through the preparation of Personal Injury Litigation Care reports and also is an active case manager for a number of clients
Margaret Edwards –Business Manager – Client Co-Coordinator
Margaret trained originally as a nurse in a general hospital. After qualifying in 1980 she gained experience of working with many clients with varying conditions and difficulties as part of a multi-disciplinary team. She has particular experience of patients suffering from Multiple Sclerosis, Motor Neurone, Stroke and Paraplegia.

She started work as Office Manager in 1994 for a company of Occupational Therapists working in the private sector and in the preparation of care reports for Personal Injury Litigation. Since then she has gained an in depth knowledge of the legal process. She has increased her knowledge of office procedures, I.T. and personal communications and continues to develop her skills through many training courses in computer technology and business development in order to improve the service we offer our varied customer base.

She has a clinically based understanding of many of difficulties facing our clients enabling her to communicate with the both Client’s and Customers. She will always endeavour to ensure that N-Able Services Ltd provided an efficient service and positively encourages communication between the organisation and other parties.
Anne Riley (CQSW, MA (Econ), Social Administration and Social Work)
Anne Riley is a senior case manager and is a social worker by training.

Anne has worked in health related social work settings throughout her career. She has worked with children receiving treatment for cancer and leukaemia and their families and this lead to her interest in family therapy.

Anne previously worked in the independent sector as social worker to a new rehabilitation service for children with acquired brain injury. She established the organisation’s social work service and from that developed a case management practice. As well as working as a case manager with children, young people and their families over a number of years, Anne has undertaken shorter-term work on behalf of statutory agencies to implement and manage discharge plans. She has also acted as a resource to community services as they acquire knowledge about, and skills in working with acquired brain injury.

Recently, Anne has also worked for a voluntary children’s services provider setting up a rehabilitation service for children and managing its’ child protection service.

Working with N-Able Services Ltd, Anne hopes to extend her specialism in working with children, young people and their families and interest in setting up teams to deliver rehabilitation in real life settings around the child.

To support her case management practice, Anne is an advanced member of The British Association of Brain Injury Case Managers (BABICM) and a member of the committee and training sub-committee. She is a governor of a special school in Manchester and recently has become a trustee of The Child Brain Injury Trust (CBIT).
Debra Malkin MCSP SRP LCSP (Phys) – Case manager
Debbie is a Chartered and State Registered Physiotherapist and follows the professional guidelines of practice. She joined N-Able Services Ltd as a case manager in December 2003 and has since developed her skills and undertaken many relevant training courses.

She is an extremely valued member of the team and having successfully undertaken case management of a number of clients with complex difficulties many of these clients are seeing an improvement in their quality of life, are able to set goals and plan for the future. Debbie is also valued in the support she is able to provide to client’s families and has been involved in the identification of suitable support workers to work with specific clients and has been actively involved in running training days for support workers:- Understanding Brain Injury.

Debra has a vast experience of analyzing and assessing patient’s requirements, assisting in developing care plans, rehabilitation and preparing medico-legal reports.
Elizabeth Taylor RGN. – Case manager
Liz joined N-Able Services in Oct 2004.

Liz is a Registered General Nurse who qualified in 1988 at Brent and Harrow School of Nursing in London, and is registered with the NMC and is able to bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to this role.

Post qualification Liz worked for a short period in the NHS as a staff nurse. She then travelled to Australia for a year, during which time she nursed in general hospitals in the Outback as well as in a maximum security prison. During this time she was able to experience overseas nursing practises.

On her return to the UK in 1990 until 1996 her main nursing positions have been in Care of the Elderly homes within the private sector, where she held staff nurse and deputy matron positions with the responsibilities that those roles involved. Her experience has encompassed frail elderly clients with physical conditions and disabilities, clients with mental health problems, and clients with learning difficulties.

In 1996 Liz joined a Private Nursing and Domiciliary Care Agency as a Nurse Manager. The Agency supplied qualified Nurses and experienced care staff to NHS and private hospitals as well as to private sector nursing homes. Domiciliary packages for private individual clients with varying illnesses/disabilities were also managed and monitored.

This role involved all aspects of staff recruitment, assessing care requirements for new clients, implementing, co-ordinating/ managing care packages and contracts to clients, monitoring standards of practice of staff supplied, liaising with fellow members of the multi-disciplinary team and the Local Health Authority Inspectorate.

In 2003 Liz returned to the Care home setting to work as a Nursing Sister in a dual registered Care home, for residents with a wide range of chronic and acute illnesses, physical disabilities and mental health needs which included Alzheimer’s disease and challenging behaviour.

The extensive skills and experience that Liz has gained has enabled her to advance and progress, whilst maintaining her Continuing Professional Development.
Bronwen Davies RGN Dip Counselling – Case manager

 Bronwen joined our team of case managers in January 2005.

Bronwen qualified as a State Enrolled Nurse in 1986. In 2001 she gained a Diploma in Higher Education Nursing. She received a diploma in Counselling in 1996.

Bronwen has worked in a Younger Disabled Unit that catered for adults with a variety of neurological and neurosurgical problems, including acquired brain injury.
Since 1991 she worked in a regional Limb Centre providing pre and post prosthetic rehabilitation for patients who had undergone an amputation, or who were contemplating imminent surgery. She provided nursing care and input for patients as required as they progressed through their rehabilitation programmes.

After working closely with a Clinical Psychologist she helped to develop, and then subsequently ran, a counselling service for patients as they attempted to come to terms with their amputation and the impact that it had on their lives.
Working within our organisation is a team of highly qualified and experienced
occupational therapy expert consultants who prepare personal injury litigation care reports:-
Denise Ashworth DipCOT
Denise has worked as a Consultant Therapist preparing care reports as an expert witness since 1993. She has prepared in excess of 150 reports on the instructions of solicitors acting on behalf of both claimant and defendant. She has experience in attending case conference, preparing joint statements and giving evidence in Court. She is currently the Head Occupational Therapist for Wolverhampton Social Services. She is involved in service development in line with local and national directives and guidelines. She works with Housing Associations and local government departments to advise on housing design for people with physical disabilities.

She has previously worked in both hospital and community settings, working with a wide range of clients. She has worked for a Wheelchair Service, so have gained specialist knowledge of wheelchair and seating provision. She has also worked at a residential home for adults with severe physical disabilities and has setup and managed a Care at Home Service, providing home carers for people with physical disabilities.
Tracey Berresford BSc (Hons) DipCOT
Tracey is currently employed as a Head Occupational Therapist within Tameside & Glossop NHS Trust. Her role within this position is to operate and develop an effective, efficient high quality Occupational Therapy Service to acute medical, surgical, orthopaedic wards and stroke rehabilitation. Her caseload involves assessment and treatment of inpatient adults with orthopaedic and neurological conditions. Her experience includes assessment for discharge planning, prescription of equipment, housing adaptations, recommending social service care packages and identifying continued rehabilitation needs. She is experienced in attending case conferences, preparation of reports and liaison with hospital and community based services.

She is a member of the College of Occupational Therapists Specialist Section in Trauma and Orthopaedics and the National Association of Neurological Occupational Therapists.
Heather Roche DipCOT BSc(Hons)
At present Heather is a lecturer in Occupational Therapy at Salford University and is currently studying for her MSc in Occupational Therapy. Her role is to train undergraduate students to become occupational therapists. The main areas she teaches in are physical conditions, physiology, practical skills of occupational therapy, and specialist areas such as pain management, Clinical Governance and clinical reasoning. She also undertakes clinical work and is involved in research.

In addition, Heather works for North Staffordshire Combined Health Trust and has been involved developing a Weekend Service where Occupational Therapy Assessment and Treatment are provided to Elderly and Neurological patients in an acute in-patient setting. This has provided the opportunity to maintain her clinical skills and develop a service and promote Occupational Therapy in non traditional working practice.
Susan Perkins DipCOT
During her career, Susan, has worked in hospital and local authority settings and has also worked as an Information Officer providing information on equipment, adaptations, benefits and general services for disabled people.

She is currently employed as a Senior Occupational Therapist in the community. Her management duties involve the assessment of service users and their carers for the provision of care services, specialised equipment and adaptations to their homes.

Susan’s current professional interests include Moving and Handling issues. She has had training in counselling. She has had experience as an Expert Witness with N-Able Services and has given evidence in Court.
Kathryn Dixon Dip COT, BSc (HONS)
Kathryn currently works part-time in a Rehabilitation Hospital. In 15 years of working clinically with clients, she has gained a wide knowledge base and range of experience in clinical areas such as stroke rehabilitation, orthopaedics, rheumatology and other acute medical conditions. Since 1997, she has been the Lead OT clinician for inpatients following lower limb amputation, and has developed the clinical service initiating clinical protocols and service pathways, as well as developing links/liaison with the Regional Service for provision of Prosthetics and ongoing Therapy.

Kathryn’s experience includes holistic assessment, pre and post-prosthetic environmental assessments, initiation of individualised treatment programmes, provision of equipment, referral for specialist adaptations, risk assessments, multi-agency liaison and the organisation of care packages for discharge from hospital.

She is the O.T representative on a multi-disciplinary Tissue Viability Group, and has a special interest in seating. She has a range of experience in education and training and has been involved with lectures to qualified Doctors, Nurses, as well as offering fieldwork experience to OT Students, Nurses and Rehabilitation Assistants.

She is presently a member of the O.T Special Interest Group in Orthotics, Prosthetics and Wheelchairs.
Deon Bryan DipCOT
Deon presently works for North Kirklees Primary Care Trust (NHS) working for the Enabling Homecare Service. Her role involves carrying our home visits and assessments as appropriate, to accurately assess patients’ needs and then plan and implement individual treatment programmes. She has experience as a supervisor, training and supporting other occupational therapists and team members.

Since qualifying she has also worked and gained vast experience working within Wheelchair Services. She has also gained experience with client groups with various medical conditions and difficulties, cardiac rehabilitation and rheumatology and has worked with elderly psychiatric client groups both as inpatients and in a community setting.

She is experienced in accurately assessing for physical, psychiatric functional and environmental problems and difficulties. She has experience in fabricating and administration of splints for hand treatments.

She has prepared and presented information to student doctors, nurses and occupational therapists with regard to the role of the occupational therapist.
Anne-Louise Humphreys BSc DipCOT
Anne-Louise Humphreys is currently employed by Liverpool University in the School of Health Sciences as a lecturer in mental health, where she is involved in the undergraduate teaching programme of the professions allied to medicine. She has also held a contract with Wirral & West Cheshire Community NHS Trust, Psychology Department, as a Cognitive-Behavioural Therapist specialising in the treatment of clients with post-traumatic stress disorder. She holds honoury clinical posts with The Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust and Wirral Hospitals NHS Trust assisting clinicians caring for clients with physical injuries.

She is a UKCP and BABCP accredited Cognitive-Behavioural Therapist and is Level 2 trained eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapist. She is the past-chair for the local branch of the BABCP and is actively involved in the supervision and training of CBT therapists and regularly attends conferences, specialist courses and receives regular supervision to update her skills and knowledge. Anne-Louise also continues to run an independent clinical practice seeing clients with a range of psychological problems.

Anne-Louise Humphreys has previously carried out research projects into the treatment of anxiety interventions. She is currently completing a PhD research study on minimising the effects of road crashes for people attending hospital with their physical injuries. The project investigates risk factors for long term problems and the effect of early interventions.
TRAINING TEAM
Karen Baines & Carolyn Riding
With a combined experience of over 20 years in the field of brain injury rehabilitation, Karen and Carrie joined the N-Able team in the summer of 2004. They each have a sound understanding of the cognitive, emotional and behavioural difficulties associated with brain injury, coupled with a wealth of knowledge regarding the strategies available to help overcome or compensate for them.

For 7 years both Karen and Carrie held the role of Training Officer at the Transitional Rehabilitation Unit (TRU). They were responsible for providing comprehensive programmes for new and existing staff, professionals, families and their carers which were primarily developed and delivered by them.

Their role at N-Able is to offer a service that provides training and support for the specific individual and their support network in the community setting. In addition they offer a comprehensive training service for professionals and other bodies within the field of brain injury rehabilitation.

If you would like more information about the training offer please contact the training team direct for further information.