Welcome and introduction by Chair

Rebecca is the Macmillan Lymphoedema Advanced Nurse Practitioner at the University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust. She completed an Msc in Lymphoedema in 2012 and is a Leduc and Casley-Smith trained therapist. The service has a paediatric lymphoedema clinic held in Staffordshire Children’s Hospital, a community based service  and in 2013 she opened the UKs only Red Legs clinic for patients with leg redness from a cause other than acute cellulitis. This has led to increased awareness of red legs and reduced hospital admissions. The Red legs pathway has been adopted by the British Lymphology Society (BLS) and endorsed by the National Legs Matter campaign.

She is a proud trustee of the BLS and their annual conference organizer (an event which attracts over 400 delegates). Rebecca has authored, developed and published the Society’s first 2 position papers for the application of compression in the absence of ABPI which has been used to underpin the lower limb recommendations of the National Wound Care Strategy and the management of lymphoedema in the presence of Deep Vein Thrombosis.  She is also a member of the BLS’ Scientific Committee and the Children with Lymphoedema Special Interest group (BLSCLSIG) as well as being on the editorial board of the Journal of Lymphoedema and the British Journal of Community Nursing’s Chronic Oedema supplement.

Rebecca has won a number of awards including Chronic Oedema Nurse of the Year and BLS awards for innovation and raising awareness of lymphoedema amongst health care professionals.