People

Amanda has two children who have eczema. In babyhood this was quite severe but as teenagers they are now only mildly affected. Amanda has had moderate eczema all her life. She was a patient carer representative on the committee which prepared the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) Guidelines for Childhood Eczema. Links to these guidelines can be found on our Information Leaflets page. Amanda has been involved in the support group now for many years and should you wish to contact us, she is the person that will respond in the first instance. She also has direct access to Professor Williams and Sandra Lawton if she needs to get expert opinion.

Last autumn as a member of the Centre for Evidence Based Dermatology patient panel Amanda was asked if she might want to be on the Steering Panel of the UK Dermatology Clinical Trials Network (UK DCTN) since their patient representatives were standing down. Amanda has been a patient representative on several committees and groups (the NICE Guideline for children with eczema, the East Midlands Research for Patient Benefit panel, HTA Clinical Evaluation and Trials Prioritisation Group and Asthma patient research panel), so it seemed appropriate for her to volunteer. She has also been accepted for the patient representative position on the Nice Guideline for food allergy in children. This is great because it means that the NSGCCE as a Stakeholder Organisation will also be at the table during the discussions that will be the basis of the guideline.

Please note that Amanda cannot make appointments on your behalf nor can she pass on specific medical advice as she is not medically qualified to do so. As a sufferer herself and as a mother of children with eczema, the experience she has gained over the years will enable her to help you get to the treatment your child needs. Our web site and other services DO NOT replace the normal GP route for treatment. 

Colin has three daughters who suffer from eczema. His eldest suffered very badly from eczema in the early months of her life and after a traumatic 15 months of taking on the system his eldest daughter was finally seen by Professor Hywel Williams in 1996. Three days after that appointment Colin and his wife had the eczema under control. 

Sandra is Nurse Consultant Dermatology, The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust and Past Chair of BDNG (British Dermatological Nursing Group) 1998-2000. She is also a specialist advisor for CQC. She qualified as a general nurse in 1981 and as a children’s nurse in 2001. She started her nursing career in 1975 prior to her general training at Nottingham Eye Hospital and gained the Ophthalmic Nursing Diploma. Sandra has worked in dermatology for over 30 years previously at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and developed the role of dermatology liaison sister in 1990, the first post of its kind in the UK. Her areas of interest include paediatric dermatology, care of children and their families with atopic eczema, nurse led services and vulval skin conditions. She has contributed to the field of dermatology through her publications, presentations and research at national and international level.

She was awarded Public Servant of the Year in 2003, the title of Queen’s Nurse in 2007, Fellow of Queen’s Nursing Institute in 2012, OBE in 2014 for services to nursing and named one of The Most Inspirational People in Nottinghamshire in 2015.

On hearing of Sandra's Queen’s Nurse award, Professor Hywel Williams said:

"I am very happy indeed to hear of this recognition of Sandra' terrific contribution to dermatology. I am so proud of Sandra and the many things that she does for our patients and us. It has been, and is, such a pleasure working with such an enthusiastic, caring, hard-working person who still has a sense of humour at the end of the day. And long may it continue".

Sandra was a founder member of the Nottingham Support Group for Carers of Children with Eczema in 1995. Sandra was instrumental in the NSGCCE being presented with the National Eczema Society Local Support Group award. In2005 Sandra was again the prime mover in the NSGCCE being awarded the British Journal of Nursing Clinical Practice Award.” She has also been involved with the production of the Patient Information Leaflets (PIL's) both as lead author and major contributor and continues to do so.

As a member of the NICE guideline group she was part of the team that produced the CG57 Guideline - Atopic Eczema in Children and has been a trustee of the National Eczema Society. She is passionate about eczema research and works closely with the Centre of Evidence Based Dermatology and other research teams nationally.

Her outstanding list of achievements was further enhanced when she won the prestigious Stone Award in 2010 presented by the British Dermatological Nursing Group, and the 2011 Alumni Laureate Award from The University of Nottingham, recognising her contribution to dermatology nursing in the UK.

Jane Ravenscroft is a Consultant Dermatologist at Nottingham’s Queen’s Medical Centre and at the King’s Mill Hospital Mansfield in Nottinghamshire.

She studied Medicine at Leeds University and qualified as a doctor in 1988, winning the Gold Medal for the highest grades of the year. After working in general medicine Jane qualified as a Member of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United Kingdom (MRCP(UK)) in 1991 and as a Member of the Royal College of General Practitioners (MRCGP) in 1993. She also spent 7 years training as a part time registrar, first at Leeds and then at Nottingham, whilst her three children were young.

Jane decided that children’s skin disease was the area of dermatology that she found most fascinating. Since becoming a full time consultant in 2004, she has specialised in this area. Dr Ravenscroft has published research papers and case reports in many subjects including atopic eczema, antibiotic resistance in eczema and acne, fungal infections and head lice infections. She has contributed chapters to books on paediatric dermatology and atopic eczema.

She is very committed to training medical students, other dermatologists and general practitioners in management of skin disorders. Jane believes this to be essential to improve standards of dermatology care in the UK.

As the lead doctor for paediatric dermatology at Queens, she has worked hard with her two colleagues to develop services for children. Jane works only for the NHS and has worked hard to develop the paediatric dermatology department within Queens Medical Centre – building close links with the other children’s services at the hospital.

Hywel Williams, MSc (Epidemiol), PhD, FRCP, was appointed Foundation Professor of Dermato-Epidemiology at the University of Nottingham in April 1998. He trained in dermatology at St John’s Dermatology Centre and in epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. His main research interest is in health technology assessment, especially in relation to childhood eczema.

Hywel currently directs the Centre for Evidence-Based Dermatology at Nottingham and is co-ordinating editor of the Cochrane Skin Group. As a published author, Hywel has written over 200 peer-reviewed articles and three books. In 1998 Hywel was appointed Director of Research & Development at the Queen’s Medical Centre NHS Trust at Nottingham. A position he held until 2001. He also became Director of the Nottingham Unit of the Trent Institute for Health Services Research 2000-2004. Hywel then directed the Clinical Trials Unit at the University of Nottingham from 2005 to 2008. In November 2009, he became the new chair of the National Institute of Health Research, Health Technology Assessment (NIHR HTA) Commissioning Board. The HTA Board considers the scientific merit of research applications to promote health, prevent and treat disease and improve rehabilitation and long term care.

Hywel cares passionately about the promotion of high quality and clinically relevant health services research and he enjoys working with patient groups and in promoting international collaborations across health care boundaries and across professional groups. Hywel is also a clinical dermatologist, and together with Nurse Consultant Sandra Lawton and Dr. Jane Ravenscroft, founded the Nottingham Special Eczema Clinic in 1996. He and his team are committed to providing high quality care and unbiased, evidence-based information to eczema sufferers and their families.