Hello, my name is Annette Hand and I am a Professor of Nursing and Clinical Academic working jointly between the Newcastle Hospitals and Northumbria University.
I was appointed to this role – one of the first of its kind in England – in 2021, providing an exciting opportunity to shape and drive the nursing agenda further forward in the North East with two organisations that are absolutely committed to working together in research, education and clinical practice to improve patient care and outcomes.
Importantly for me, it allows me to divide my time between clinical practice, research, and education – everything I am passionate about.
I began my nursing career in 1991 studying at the Northumbria School of Nursing. After qualifying I worked across various clinical specialties and settings including orthopaedics, community nursing and palliative care.
Real ‘awakening’ in my nursing career
One day whilst working on a ward I met a patient who was involved in drug challenge involving a now well known medication for Parkinson’s – the response to that was amazing and a real ‘awakening’ experience for me.
I soon got a post as a Parkinson’s research nurse before becoming a Parkinson’s nurse specialist. That was over 25 years ago and I have remained passionate about Parkinson’s ever since.
I progressed to the role of Nurse Consultant in 2004 at Northumbria Healthcare coordinating the Parkinson’s service, supporting patients and their families, and managing a team of Parkinson’s specialist nurses.
As my academic and research interests grew I found myself, by 2018, managing three different roles:
- Working 2.5 days a week in my clinical role as a Nurse Consultant;
- Teaching and conducting research 2 days a week on a secondment as Associate Professor at Northumbria University; and
- Providing a strong nursing voice and leadership nationally on Parkinson’s nursing having been appointed as Clinical Lead for Nursing with the Parkinson’s Excellence Network for 0.5 days a week
Sadly, we continue to seek better treatments and ultimately a cure for Parkinson’s which is a life-altering, progressive neuro-degenerative illness. Research has always been integral to my work and I feel lucky to have been able to continue an active research role, with involvement in multiple research studies at a local, national and international level.
A drive to improve patient care, outcomes and quality of life
The impact of my research has been to improve the care, outcomes and quality of life for people with Parkinson’s, and their families. My research has been published in multiple articles and I have presented results at both national and international level.
I currently lead a team of researchers in Northumbria and am Chief Investigator for a two-year nationwide research project – The USP project – which aims to gain a better understanding of the role of specialist nurses who support patients with Parkinson’s disease.
Ensuring we future proof the next generation of nurses who will continue this important work is also very important. Educationally, I have taught in Higher Education since 2004 and I currently teach on several post graduate courses for the university with particular interests including non-medical prescribing, Parkinson’s, clinical research, and research impact.
Delivering a vision for improving health and wider economy
Finally, I am an active member of Newcastle Health Innovation Partners working to build strong partnerships regionally, nationally and internationally to deliver a vision of improving health and growing the economy across the North East and Cumbria through research and innovation.
Collectively my various roles allow me to remain at the forefront of my chosen specialty clinically, academically and strategically. I’ve been working towards this over the last 20 years of my clinical practice and, more recently, as a clinical academic and can say that this is definitely the pinnacle of my career offering fantastic, incomparable opportunities.
