Introducing the Team

Sanjay Patel (National Programme Lead)

Sanjay is a consultant in paediatric infectious diseases working at Southampton Children’s Hospital. He is keen to improve the way that care is delivered to children with infections and to improve the way that antibiotics are used (antibiotic stewardship). He runs educational courses across the country on diagnosing and managing serious infections in children. He is also involved in delivering integrated children's services across Hampshire. His passion for service improvement stems from the time he spent working in South Africa, where he graphically saw the impact of systems failures on childhood outcomes. These have been his main drivers in setting up the Healthier Together initiative.

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Susan Dinsdale (South East Wales Programme Lead)

Susan is the Assistant Divisional Nurse for the Family and Therapies Division at Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, South East Wales.  Susan has experience across the whole urgent care pathway for children and young people.  Having specialised in Paediatric Intensive Care Nursing, later developed an interest in the care of children with complex health needs and long-term dependency on artificial airways and mechanical ventilation.  Susan has led on many service improvement initiatives that focus on the support and care of children out of hospital.  A common theme across initiatives is the development of innovative roles, and processes of safe care delivery that transcend the traditional organisational boundary lines of health, education, social care and partner organisations, and it is this that drew her to the Healthier Together Initiative.  Susan was presented the Queens Nurse Award from the Queens Nursing Institute in 2019 in recognition of efforts to improve community and specialist nursing services for children and young people.

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Marion Schmidt (Paediatric Medical Lead South East Wales Programme)

Marion is a Consultant Paediatrician, who works as part of the  General Paediatric Team with an  interest in Paediatric Cardiology. She has worked for the Aneurin Bevan Health Board for more than 15 years and enjoys the challenges and variety of working in a busy paediatric unit as part of a multidisplinary team.   Marion has an interest in teaching , training and guideline development,she has taken a lead on Paediatric Clinical Pathways within the trust for over 10 years ​​​and looks forward to further improve care across teams as part of the Healthier together initiative .

 

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Sian Thomas (Paediatric Nurse Consultant Lead South East Wales Programme)

Sian is a Consultant Nurse in Child Health and her focus is primarily on all elements of Community Children’s Nursing Service which includes the development of Care Closer to Home for children. She is a Florence Nightingale Foundation Digital Leadership Scholar and her project is developing a digital handover from hospital to community to influence the national standards for paediatric documentation. Her clinical and research interests focus on the administration of blended diet via enteral tube and has conducted research and published in this area. Sian champions the children’s rights and participation agenda within ABUHB and works actively with partners to ensure that this is central to service development. She is a Trustee of Ty Hafan Children’s Hospice.