Meet our nursing team

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Meet our Clinical Nurse team

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Deanna Lane, Senior Regional Clinical Lead

Deanna has worked as a nurse for over 35 years, spending her early years training at Southmead Hospital in Bristol and learning her trade on the intensive care unit and specialising in tracheostomy and ventilator care. Once qualified, she worked on a surgical ward for vascular and bowel operations, gaining experience in post-surgical and stoma care. She then went on to become a midwife for seven years, returning to nursing and then moving on to working in a care home.

Deanna has worked in a variety of different care homes as the registered nursing manager, supporting people with spinal injuries, tracheostomies, stomas, PEG feeding tubes and those who required assistance with bowel and bladder management. She also has extensive experience in training others in nursing practices such as moving and handling, health and safety, safeguarding, first aid, infection control, fire training and governance. She was also the training lead for the Gloucestershire Care Home Support team, giving her a county-wide forum to cascade training initiatives.

Deanna’s qualifications include a masters in Management, professional courses such as Mental Capacity Act, Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards and National Examination Board in Health and Safety (NEBOSH). She is also registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

As well has her extensive nursing experience, Deanna has won various awards during her time working in care homes, including Care Home Manager of the Year 2012 at the Great South West Care Awards. She has also featured in a video by the Social Care Institute of Excellence (SCIE) on dementia and end-of-life care.

See Deanna’s profile here.

 

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Carole Kerton-Church, Regional Clinical Lead for London & Essex

Carole has lived and worked in the London and Essex area her entire life and has over 20 years’ experience caring for adults, beginning her career as a Healthcare Assistant. She has since worked her way up in both private and public health and care organisations, and is now the Regional Clinical Lead for her local area.

Carole is a Registered Nurse and joined the Nursing and Midwifery Council in 2007, acquiring her Nursing Diploma at at Anglia Ruskin University. Since then, she has worked in acute hospitals, as a Community Nurse and as  GP Nurse.

She has supported people with a variety of different conditions, including multiple sclerosis, cancer and motor neurone disease, and has a keen interest in palliative care and elderly care.

Carole says: ” I am passionate about proactive care and health education and I have been lucky enough not only to look after, but also work alongside so many different people – I’ve heard so many amazing and often inspiring stories. Working for Helping Hands enables me and my colleagues to support people in their own home – the place where most people want to stay for as long as they can. It’s so important and extremely rewarding.”

See Carole’s profile here.

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Kerry Feltwell, Regional Clinical Lead for the South East

Kerry has over 37 years’ experience in nursing, having trained at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, London between 1983 and 1986. She initally worked on the regional ophthalmic unit dealing with inpatients post eye-surgery and running busy clinics. She then continued to work in a surgical bowel unit, where she developed her skills with stoma placement and post-operative care

She continued to consolidate her learning in an assortment of specialities at Basingstoke & North Hampshire Hospital until she moved into intensive care in 1989. She developed her knowledge of both invasive and non-invasive ventilation, tracheostomies, PEG feeding and bladder & bowel management.

For over 10 years, Kerry was the clinical lead for the National Bowel Cancer Screening Programme at Basingstoke & North Hampshire Hospital. She managed the patient pathway from the initial clinic visit to the investigations and up to discharge, providing one-to-one care throughout.

Kerry is a Registered Nurse with the Nursing and Midwifery Council. She has also gained a Level 7 qualification in Specialist Bowel Cancer Screening Programme at Liverpool John Moores University.

See Kerry’s profile here.

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Karen Swanson, Regional Clinical Lead for the North

Karen works as the Regional Clinical Lead for the North region. She joined Helping Hands in June 2020 and is enjoying using the skills she has developed in her nursing career over the past 35 years in a variety of different settings.

“I enjoy meeting customers and carers from all walks of life, with no two being the same. Having worked in a hospital environment throughout my career I decided to move away from hospital work and moved to Helping Hands and my work here has exceeded my expectations. The work I undertake to support carers and ensure that we provide the highest standards of care at all times is very rewarding and I am enjoying the teaching element of this work as well. My role in Helping Hands is very different from any hospital role I have had, and it enables me to offer a different way of providing care and support, which I thoroughly enjoy.”

Karen undertook the integrated registered nurse training course at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, completing the adult component at Poole General Hospital in Dorset and she qualified as an adult and sick children’s registered nurse (SRN/RSCN) in 1984. She then worked in the respiratory unit at Great Ormond Street caring for children with a wide range of respiratory conditions including cystic fibrosis, asthma and children with genetic conditions. Karen also spent time abroad in Central America with VSO (voluntary services overseas) and then moved to Canada where she was the founder member of the ADHD Parents Support Group in Prince Edward Island whilst running an online book business, selling resources to schools and parents relating to ADHD.

See Karen’s profile here.

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Kathryn Mahon, Regional Clinical Lead for Central

Kathryn is the Regional Clinical Lead for the Central region. She joined Helping Hands in May 2021 and is loving being part of a strong, cohesive and knowledgeable team.

“I am from a family of nurses and as a teenager my parents owned and ran a Residential Home for the Elderly in which I had my first job. The standards of care that they gave the residents provided me with a solid focus on how care should be delivered.
I am really proud to be part of a team of dedicated carers and indeed all our colleagues, whilst always remaining focussed that the wheel of success would not turn without everyone’s valuable contribution.
Initially Helping Hands approached me and encouraged me to apply for this role; I’m so very pleased they did as this is the role I have been looking for. My main objectives within this role are to be a valuable member of the Clinical Team and deliver sound training and support to carers and colleagues to continue the high standards of care. I love the variety of being able to work from home but also getting out and about around the region and I really am looking forward to meeting more of my colleagues and our customers.”

Kathryn started working towards her Diploma in Adult Nursing in 1992 and qualified in 1996. In 2005, she obtained her BSc (Hons) in Specialist Community Public Health and then worked as a Health Visitor until 2015. She also has diploma modules in teaching, asthma management and health promotion.

Whilst at college in 1988, Kathryn began working part-time in a Nursing home; then had a variety of care roles until she qualified as a Nurse in 1996, including as a live-in carer. As well as being a Health Visitor, she has worked for NHS Direct as a Quality and Audit Nurse, the ambulance service, GP practices, GP out of hours as a Triage Nurse and held deputy manager posts in care homes. Kathryn firmly believe there is always scope to learn and enhance skills and loves that she is able to do this on a daily basis.

See Kathryn’s profile here.

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