Janet Wootton - Deputy Clinical Nurse Specialist (Chair) Expand I’m a registered nurse and midwife and have worked for the NHS for 35 years. Working as a school health nurse enabled me to gain the relevant experience to become an enuresis specialist nurse. I was responsible for developing an integrated Paediatric Bowel & Bladder service for York NHS Trust. This service provides nurse-led clinics in York and the surrounding areas for children and young people with daytime and night time wetting, dysfunctional voiding and recurrent urinary tract infections and constipation. I have recently moved roles and now work as the Deputy Clinical Nurse Specialist – Paediatric Bladder Services at the Evelina Children’s Hospital in London (Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust). This is broadening my experience enormously due to the number and complexity of the issues faced on a daily basis. I enjoy singing, ballroom dancing, swimming and walking our dog Holly. My husband Chris and I have three grown up children and one grandchild.
Kate Blakeley - Consultant Paediatric Clinical Psychologist Expand I’m a consultant paediatric clinical psychologist and work with children and teenagers across a range of medical specialities but with a specific area of expertise in gastroenterology and related surgery. As well as working with individual children and teenagers and their families, I also liaise with schools and other agencies. This work has always been in a multidisciplinary context. My approach is holistic and I work from a variety of psychological models. I work at The Royal London Hospital for Children and live in North London.
Fiona Boorman - Paediatric Bladder & Bowel Specialist Nurse Expand I began my nursing career with two placements at Great Ormond Street Hospital (renal medicine and renal surgery) which sparked a lifelong interest in wee and poo and led to my role as a Clinical Nurse Specialist in paediatric bladder and bowel. Before nursing, I worked in special schools both day and residential, developing my interest in explaining bodily functions to those with challenging learning and behavioural needs. Having spent many years as a trainer at ERIC, teaching other health professionals, in 2020 I started to work on ERIC's Helpline, helping families directly with the continence challenges their children face. It's a gift to be able to steer people through the continence minefield, negotiating the barriers and difficulties that children present. I relish the challenge of thinking about different approaches to the standard, as difficulties arise, such as increasing issues with ‘wee holding’ in addition to poo holding. I also support ERIC's work as a member of its Professional Advisory Committee (PAC). I hope that my role within the PAC will allow me to flag up the needs of these youngsters, whose voices are often unheard. When I am not talking about these topics, I can be found knitting bowels (see my Wee and Poo knitting patterns!), making paper mache poo, enjoying many crafts and meddling in the lives of my large family. I've also produced a series of videos designed to educate school staff about bladder and bowel health: read more and view the videos here.
Fiona Cameron - Community Paediatrician Expand I’m an Associate Specialist in Community Paediatrics in Scotland. My interest in continence care started with my partner's stories about how his family reacted when he wet the bed and continued when my children also wet. Working in community care I have been involved in developing and participating in all aspects of the provision of continence services across Lanarkshire. We have nurse-led enuresis clinics and are hoping to appoint specialist nursing posts but at the moment the specialist continence clinics are mine alone. As a community paediatrician, I specialise in autism spectrum disorder, learning disability and behavioural management, so I am comfortable with the more complex continence cases. I coordinate local clinical meetings and was a founder member of the Scottish Continence Interest Group. I have three mostly grown-up children, two cats, three chickens and, as of recently, one husband, whom I met at a bedwetting conference in Malaga.
Joanna Clothier - Consultant in Paediatric Nephrology & Bladder Disorders Expand I am a consultant in the Nephro-Urology department at the Evelina London Children’s Hospital. I have a full time clinical consultant post and currently spend 50% of my time in paediatric nephrology looking after children with chronic kidney disease before and after kidney transplantation. The rest of my time I work in the paediatric bladder service. I am actively involved in seeing paediatric bladder referrals from across the South East of England in the secondary/tertiary care clinic at the Evelina. I am skilled in the investigation of bladder conditions through both non-invasive and invasive urodynamics. I have experience in anatomical, neurological and functional urinary incontinence. I also look after over 200 children with Posterior Urethral Valve (PUV) in a combined specialist clinic with Paediatric Urology. I am actively involved in teaching and research in relation to bladder disorders.
Andrea Jordan - Lead Clinical Nurse Specialist Expand I have 21 years’ experience as a children’s nurse, having qualified in 1996. In 2002 I commenced as a specialist nurse and subsequently completed my degree and Master’s degree and qualified as a Children’s Advanced Nurse Practitioner and Non-Medical Prescriber. Working at Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge, my role as Lead Clinical Nurse Specialist within the Paediatric Surgery/Urology department includes the provision of care, teaching and advice to children, their families and to their care team members. The children I meet have a diverse range of underlying diagnoses and problems including those involving their bladder and urinary system and/or their bowel. My team and I work closely with a range of specialist colleagues including the Paediatric Surgeons/Urologists and gastroenterologists and community-based staff including paediatricians and nurses. We also provide our own specialist nurse clinics for children and perform nurse-led investigations to aid diagnosis and assess progress.
Sammy Randall - Occupational Therapist Expand I am a Highly Specialist Occupational Therapist with 8 years of experience working with children, young people and families in mainstream and special schools, their homes and community settings. I have worked with children with a range of conditions and complex needs over the course of my career, and in particular with children with physical disability and neurological conditions. Whilst working for the NHS I set up an integrated continence service in collaboration with my nursing colleagues. This resulted in children achieving greater outcomes in relation to toileting independence. I am currently working in a charitable organisation delivering neuro-rehabilitation to children with Acquired Brain Injury. As an Occupational Therapist, I believe that what a child is able (or unable) to do has a direct impact on their health and wellbeing. Occupational Therapist’s have a role within the multidisciplinary team to support children to develop the functional skills necessary for achieving toileting independence. I continue to be inspired by the work of ERIC and their unwavering commitment to achieving best practice in continence care.
Debbie Loosemore - Parent Representative Expand I live in the north of England with my husband and 2 children aged 10 and 8, and my profession is that of a midwife, so I have a keen interest in all things medical. I was first introduced to ERIC by Janet Wootton, who we met in her previous role at York hospital. My eldest son has had bladder and bowel issues for over 7 years. I was always the parent with the several changes of clothes when we went anywhere. It was only when I potty trained my youngest that I realised my eldest had a problem and shouldn't be having accidents everyday, several times a day. It has been a long uphill struggle, with good days and not so good days, and we are now under the care of the Evelina hospital in London. I felt really alone when my son was first diagnosed. How would he cope when he started school? Would his new friends call him names? How would he manage a sleepover? It was however a huge surprise to know I was not alone and I discovered how many other children and parents were dealing with similar thoughts and issues. As a family we have learnt to adapt. Whenever we go anywhere new we always seek out where the nearest toilet is and look for places to stay with washing machines. I try not to shout as I know it is not his fault but there have been times when my frustration has got the better of me. Toilet talk is a common topic of conversation in our house!! We recently took part in a video for the latest ERIC conference. It was lovely to do something to help promote the ongoing work of the charity and help other parents and children in similar situations. I have an interest in spreading the word about how many children are living with bowel and bladder problems and the impact this has on their day to day lives, especially within the school setting.
Christina Cutler - Children's Continence Nurse Specialist Expand I started out my nursing journey by training at Kings College and qualified in 1999. This then led me in to a rotational post covering a variety of specialities including burns and plastics. A change in home circumstances I moved to Sheffield Childrens Hospital and worked for 5 years as a lead on the 0-5 year old ward. Then moving onto the nursing lead for research, medical daycare and outpatients. In 2015 I moved back south and picked up the reigns of my current job as a clinical nurse specialist in continence in Bedford and have worked in this role since. Within this role we have introduced continence champions through the 0-19 team that is able to provide timely support to the young person and their family in order to help minimise the chance of them needing specialist support in the community from our team or onward referrals to specialists at the hospital. I am extremely passionate about helping children and young people to enhance their quality of life, and have self belief that they can improve their condition and gain increased confidence. I will talk to poo and wee to anyone that is remotely interested and have been known to digress onto animal bowel habits! Outside of work I am married with 2 girls, 2 cats and a very energetic Labrador. I love nothing more than dragging the children along for a dog walk and being at home baking (or clearing up from my children baking!!)
Rachel Osborne - Specialist Nurse for Children in Care Expand I have been a nurse for 30 years and my background is in midwifery and school nursing. I currently work over two Trusts as a Specialist Nurse for children and young people in care and a Continence Nurse for Paediatrics. These are both very rewarding posts as I work every day with children and young people assessing their health needs and engaging them and their families/carers in a treatment plan they feel able to manage. I refer to the work of ERIC when planning a child’s care, this helps to underpin my continence advice and also supports the young person and the family following our contact. I have completed ERIC’s Train the Trainer course which was invaluable. As a continence team we provide training to the 0-19 service, local schools and are hoping to extend it to local GPs to improve knowledge, reduce any stigma around continence and improve outcomes. I love spending time with my family and long walks with the dog. I am a new beekeeper and spend increasing amounts of time in hive husbandry and tending to my bees.
Laura Ferguson - Senior Clinical Fellow in Community Paediatrics Expand I am a senior clinical fellow in community paediatrics at Sunshine House in SE London. Part of my role involves seeing children in the bladder and bowel clinic. Coming from an acute paediatric background I have some experience of how common bladder and bowel problems are and the impact they can have on families. I have found navigating this clinic and expanding my knowledge in this area really interesting and rewarding. I look forward to continuing to gain expertise in how to best assess, educate and help children and families being affected by bladder and bowel problems. I have two small children myself and am also really interested in contributing to the eduction of schools, teachers and GPs so that every child has access to the same, optimal care and advice they deserve.
Ellie Cox - Paediatric Bladder & Bowel Educator Expand I trained in early years education shortly after having my own children (over 25 years ago) which fuelled a passion in early years education. During my time as a Special Needs TA in a primary school I worked with children with toileting issues and have seen the impact it can have on the child, their families and the school. I joined my local Health Visiting Team primarily as an administrator but also assisting at our local parenting group and it was during this time that I was asked if I would offer assistance to the Paediatric Continence Team. I did and I was hooked! I now work as a Band 4 Paediatric Bladder & Bowel Educator, supporting children with their toileting plans, holding clinics in specialist education settings. We deliver training to Health Visitors and Assistant Practitioners and are hoping to gain access to mainstream primary schools very soon to offer support & training. Myself and my colleague share our knowledge with anyone in Somerset who will listen and are passionate about breaking down the stigma around wee & poo and to provide positive outcomes for children and their families. For those children who for medical reasons may not be able to toilet train we still keep in touch to promote healthy bladder & bowels and to ensure that they are receiving the appropriate products for their needs. Together with other Paediatric Continence Band 4’s we have recently set up a group to meet regularly to share our ideas and generally to discuss wee & poo!
