Regional Directors

Region 1 - John Walker BSc RGN PgC OHA Community Health

John is co-owner and Managing Director of Business Health Advisers Ltd and is currently in his final year (part-time) of a Post Grad Health & Safety Course at Glasgow Caledonian University. He has experience of occupational health in manufacturing and corporate environments and was instrumental in setting up a health promotion campaign at Motorola which received a national commendation from Personnel Today awards in 2000.

John also contributed to the Securing Health Together Strategy by setting up a holistic sickness absence management package within the financial sector in Edinburgh. This can be accessed on web page www.ohstrategy.net for those of you who would like to see it. He has written articles for OH nursing magazines including one on the role of the OH nurse adviser.

John is dedicated to occupational health and has good business acumen. He hopes to undertake the duties of Regional Director for the Association and use my skills to promote OH, network and increase the membership within Scotland.

Region 3 - Diane Kermode RGN OHND BIOH M23 Ergonomic Essentials
Diane recently joined the Automobile Association following a spell as Senior Occupational Health Adviser at Aventis Pharmaceuticals in Holmes Chapel, Cheshire. HerOccupational Health career started in 1989 and her first post from an Intensive Care background was with a Chemical Company where sheworked with a professional Occupational Health team on a 24/7 shift basis. An excellent introduction to OH as they had two full time OH Physicians and covered such a huge range of screenings in addition to the mandatory ones required for those working with lead, mercury and many other substances. Screenings ranged from the basic blood pressure to audiometry, blood and urine analysis and even chest X-rays.

In 1993 Diane moved to the Pharmaceutical industry and has remained there, albeit with different companies within that sphere, until late 2004. Diane gained OH qualifications at Manchester University 1992; National General Certificate Occupational Health and Safety 1994; 5 of 7 modules of the Nottingham Trent University Health and Safety Diploma 1999 and British Institute of Occupational Hygienists (BIOH) M203 Ergonomic Essentials.

She is a member of two RCN Society of Occupational Nurse Groups, Merseyside and Wirral, and Greater Manchester. Specific areas of interest include sickness absence, rehabilitation which leads naturally to the legal and ethical issues of sickness absence management. The ergonomic insight supports the rehabilitation aspect of assisting people back in to the work environment at an earlier stage of their recovery. Policy writing to support human resources, security and the safety teams has been an expanding area also.

Diane has seen many changes within the speciality over the last few years, significantly the reduction in numbers of institutes providing for the OH qualification diminishing. Aspects of the profession she enjoys are the networking and opportunity to 'make things better' and not just patching up when needed. There are many excellent OH nurses - we can support each other by sharing our ideas and good practice to lead the way in Occupational Health and Safety.

Diane would like to see more sharing, planning, discussion and believe forums are an ideal medium for more rapid progress.

Region 4 - Teresa Harrison RGN, BSc (Hons) Community Health, Specialist Practitioner (OH), NEBOSH
Teresa started her Occupational Health career in 1994 in the NHS after meeting Gail Cotton (past President of the Association) two years previously on a training course and, as for most of us who have met Gail, there was no looking back! Teresa had the OH bug. From there on her interest in occupational health began.

Region 5 - Alison Persson BSc (Hons), OHND, RGN, Cert Management
In 1979 Alison took off for London to start nurse training at Guy's Hospital and to sample the nightlife. On qualifying Alison moved to Solihull where she worked as a staff nurse on a surgical ward. Getting itchy feet she moved to Bristol where she worked as a staff nurse on medical wards before becoming a ward sister. The travel bug hit and Alison was off for Australia via Singapore and Malaysia. On her travels she worked on sheep and fruit farms and also took time off to sleep under the stars and swim with dolphins. Time to settle down for a bit and Alison turned to the UK to work on a medical work in St. Albans before moving on to gain accident and emergency experience at Kingston Hospital. Alison's occupational health career started off in October 1988 when she went to work at British Gas in Staines and began her occupational health diploma. Alison then soon added a certificate in management to her qualifications plus a degree in Health Studies.

1995 and time for more change when Alison set up as a self-employed consultant in occupational health. Alison is now a Director of Catalyst which provides occupational health and safety advisory services and training. Alison works with a team of occupational health practitioners, safety practitioners and a change management coach and thrives on the challenges of working in a multi-disciplinary team managing a growing business. Alison's work passions include manual handling, writing, speaking at conferences and being involved with practical research projects. Alison enjoys the demands of running a business and working with businesses to help them to embrace occupational health and safety and make a difference to their organisation. Alison is an active member of the Chamber of Commerce, Elmbridge Women in Business and the Institute of Directors. Alison has been a deputy director within the Association and now welcomes the opportunity of being a director and working closely with the members within the Region.

Region 6 - Kim Boggins RGN OHND
Kim has been working in Occupational Health since 1992, starting out with The Atomic Energy Authority in Dorset. She undertook herOH Diploma at Bristol University 1993 and then herNEBOSH certificate in 1994. She moved to Kent in 1997 to take up a post with Pfizer (a Pharmaceutical company) and then made the big decision to branch out on herown in 2000. Kimnow provides a wide variety of services including hands on screening to consultancy advice to small medium size companies and organisations like the NHS and Education.

Working on my own encourages Kim to actively network with other Practitioners in OH and AOHNP provides a good forum for this. Becoming a Director hopefully will allow her to build the network up in the South East and provide other members with a similar opportunity.

Region 7 - Karen Cuthbert OHND
Karen has been a member of the Association since 1999 and was deputy director for Somerset for 2 years supporting Sally Mottram's role as Director.

She set up the Occupational Health nurse-led service for the local Further Education College and has worked in OH in both Kettering and Leicester. Having worked for Somerset Occupational Health Service for 4 years as the lead nurse for the east of the county providing a service for NHS Trusts, GPs and local businesses, Karen has recently joined Clarkes Shoes at Street.

Karen is keen to take over the role of Regional Director to carry on and develop further the work that Sally Mottram has put in place. She wants to be part of the future development of the Association and in particular the South West region, encouraging OH nurses in the area to make the best use of our professional Association.

Region 8 - Don John Buckland RDN STN RN DMT SRCh FRSH PhD Register for Nurse Prescribing
Don-John (DJ) undertook his medical training in Royal Navy in the early 70s and continued medical-nursing training in America after leaving the Royal Navy. While in the service he undertook many roles including Squadron Petty Officer (medical) to that of Instructor. Moving into the oil industry in 1986, DJ completed his HSE approved Offshore Medic Certificate course and then worked for various multi-national oil companies taking on responsibility for the hygiene, safety and medical health of the offshore and onshore personnel.