About the Education Sub-Committee
The BAHT Education Sub Committee is run by qualified occupational therapists and physiotherapists who all have a special interest in hand therapy education and in promoting the BAHT education system and Accredited Hand Therapist award. They give their time voluntarily and each member takes responsibility for a different aspect of the committees' role.
Any information you may wish to submit to the committee should be received by the administrative secretary no less than 2 weeks prior to the meeting date.
The Current Education Sub-Committee
Debbie Miles (BAHT ESC Chair)
Debbie is a Physiotherapist and Accredited Hand Therapist who has been on the education committee since 2012. She started her hand therapy career at St George’s Hospital in London in 2008, before moving to a role setting up a new hand therapy service at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust in 2015. Debbie was involved in organising and running a BAHT level I course whilst at St George’s and has since developed level II courses in acupuncture, paediatric hand therapy and splinting independently. Having always had a keen interest in education, Debbie moved into a full-time academic role at the University of Essex in 2018 whilst continuing some clinical hand therapy work alongside this for Ramsay Healthcare.
Contact: baht.escchair@gmail.com
Nikki Burr APL Coordinator)
Nikki has extensive experience within Hand Therapy clinical practice mainly working at Royal Free London and Mount Vernon Hospitals London. She gained her Accredited Hand Therapist (BAHT) award in 2002 and MSc in Advancing Practice in 2005. She has been involved in many research projects over the years with different colleagues and is still very interested in this field. In 2015 she became an independent prescriber to enhance her clinical practice. She was privileged more recently to be awarded the BAHT Natalie Barr award for her work on the BAHT education sub committee. She continues to work as a Consultant Hand Therapist within the large North London hand trauma service.
Contact: baht.apl@gmail.com
Matthew Allen (Level 1 Co-Ordinator)
Matt has worked in the hand therapy team at the Royal Cornwall Hospital since 2012.
During his time with the team, Matt has had the opportunity to develop his hand therapy
knowledge and skills thanks to the support of colleagues and the education framework
developed by BAHT. His main clinical interests include the assessment and management of
acute hand trauma, fracture and tendon rehabilitation and hand therapy education.
Matt joined the Education Sub-Committee in 2020, taking on the role of Advanced Clinical
Practice (ACP) link for the BAHT ACP Network. More recently, he has taken over as the Level
I co-ordinator.
Contact: baht.level1@gmail.com
Nicole Glassey & Sarah Golding (Level 2 Co-ordinator)
Nicole Glassey and Sarah Golding share responsibility for the busy role of level II co-ordinators.
Nicole is a Physiotherapist and both a British and European Accredited Hand Therapist. Nicole qualified in 1991 and has spent most of her career working in Nottingham where she has recently gained the post of Consultant Physiotherapist. In addition to this Nicole is an associate lecturer and module leader for the MSc in Hand Therapy at the University of Derby. Nicole has published many research papers, book chapters and her own book. She has also validated and run her own BAHT Level II course so understands the challenges this involves. Nicole enjoys the combination of clinical and academic practice and looks forward to utilising her experience in supporting the provision of quality education to hand therapists.
Sarah is a Physiotherapist and Accredited Hand Therapist working within the NHS and higher education. Sarah trained at the University of Hertfordshire qualifying in 2002 and started her NHS career in Southend Hospital. Currently Sarah is part of a dynamic NHS team in Essex working in primary care as a first contact physiotherapist seeing hand conditions and injuries presenting at the earliest point! In addition to this, Sarah works within higher education as a postgraduate lecturer at the University of Essex, providing various masters modules and pathways for clinicians advancing their practice. Completion of her own postgraduate MSc and publication of her dissertation was a huge challenge but has been instrumental in advancing her career. Sarah enjoys supporting clinicians to utilise research evidence to inform and impact their clinical practice, her strong clinical background and continued clinical work facilitates this! Having completed various BAHT validated courses over the years which played an important part of her development, Sarah is very happy to support others through her role in the education committee.
Contact: baht.level2@gmail.com
Ella Donnison (Level III Co-ordinator)
Ella has been on the committee since 2006 and took on the Level III co-ordinator role in 2007. She is an Occupational Therapist, based at the Pulvertaft Hand Unit in Derby. Areas of interest include hand and upper limb therapy education and training and therapy within amateur and high performance sport.
Contact: baht.level3@gmail.com
Penny Harper (ESC Finance/Website Co-ordinator)
Penny is the lead for the Brighton and Sussex University Hospital Hand Service. Penny has worked extensively within the specialist area of Hand Therapy since qualifying in 1997. She has worked throughout the UK, Scotland and abroad. Clinical experience has focused on plastic surgery and orthopaedic hand surgery patients with hand and upper limb injuries, rheumatological conditions, within the specialist areas of performing arts medicine, and the neurological impaired upper limb. More recently one of Penny’s main achievements has been the setting up of one of the first Virtual Hand Fracture Clinics in the UK and is currently working with NHSi in the development of educational exercise videos which will be rolled out nationally.
Penny thoroughly enjoys the field of hand therapy, the complexity and intricate anatomy of the upper limb and the impact that this specialist area of work can have upon people’s lives. Her aim is to maximise the resources we have available, to provide first class hand therapy of all patients with hand and upper limb conditions.
Penny enjoys spending time with her partner and two young children. She likes baking cakes with her children, whilst listening to music, and loves to go for a run, especially when her daughter tags along too!
Contact: baht.escfinance@gmail.com
Pascalle Smith - Hand Therapist (AHT Co-ordinator)
Pascalle is an accredited hand therapist and has worked as a specialist hand therapist for 19 years, following graduation as an Occupational Therapist from Southampton University. After graduation she worked at the Wessex Rehabilitation Unit at Salisbury Hospital and enjoyed focusing on long term rehabilitation in hand therapy. Where she gained specialist knowledge in assessment of chronic hand conditions and rehabilitation of the upper limb. She has also worked in the NHS at Queen Victoria Hospital East Grinstead gaining specialised experience and skills in hand trauma and plastic reconstruction. Since having family in 2009 Pascalle has worked in independent practise in private clinics in Sussex and Kent and as an Extended Scope Practitioner in a MSK service. She has taken part in clinical research to promote and develop patient care and reviewing treatment effectiveness. Pascalle is enthusiastic about education and has been fortunate to teach overseas.
Pascalle was previously Treasure for the British Association of Hand Therapists and is looking forward to returning to join the BAHT committee. She is keen to promote the specialist profession, encouraging new developments, research and ensuring best clinical treatments are available for patients.
Contact: baht.aht@gmail.com
Chloe Kirk - Education Committee Support
Chloë graduated in 2004 and specialised in the treatment of musculoskeletal and hands since 2007. She has worked at the Pulvertaft hand centre for the last 10 years and also has specialised in addition in Rheumatology for the last 5 years. She has previously held roles as a clinical educator to the medical students in both hands and Rheumatology and has a passion for teaching, learning and education. She has taught on BAHT level 1 courses and at local universities on undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Her specialist interests are wrist conditions, hypermobility, inflammatory arthritides and tendon injuries. She completed her postgraduate MSc in 2017 and became an accredited Hand Therapist in 2018 when she joined the Education committee as BAHT level 1 co-ordinator until 2022 (due to maternity leave) and now supports marking and validation of courses.
Contact: baht.escadditional1@gmail.com
Anne Alexander - Advanced Practice Network (APN) co-ordinator
Anne has 15 years hand therapy experience as a clinical specialist Physiotherapist in the NHS at the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, within the Oxford Hand Therapy Unit. She treats complex trauma and orthopaedic hand injuries in the NHS, and within private practice she has a special interest in the management of thoracic outlet syndrome, and in treating musicians. She gained an MSc in Advanced Physiotherapy in 2007, and became an accredited hand therapist (AHT) from the British Association of Hand Therapists in 2020. She has presented at National and International Conferences, with a combination of primary research (reliability of goniometry in video assessment, IFSHT 2022; transverse movement of the median nerve in upper limb tension test positions, IFSHT 2010) and as an invited speaker (on panel discussion about nerve injuries and rehabilitation , BAHT conference 2009; rehabilitation after tendon transfers for radial nerve palsy, BAHT / BSSH scientific meeting 2013)
Anne is currently starting cohort 2 of the ACP Portfolio (Supported) route, and as such has a keen interest in forging links via the ACP network. Anne became a member of the ESC in 2022 and took over the role of ACP network co-ordinator at the start of 2023.
Contact: baht.acp@gmail.com
2023 ESC Meeting Dates:
- 20th July
- 20th September
- 22nd November
How to Join the BAHT Education Sub-Committee
If you are interested in becoming involved with the BAHT Education Sub Committee, please contact us as we are often looking for:
- New members
- Supervisors for level III and APL applicants
- Assessors for level III and APL applicants
- Course external representatives