Rebecca Thomas

My name is Rebecca Thomas, and I am the lead consultant for Cystic Fibrosis (CF) services in York. I was appointed in 2007 to replace Dr Hunter, and I am responsible for the medical care of adult patients with CF in York hospital.

We run outpatient and inpatient services here in York. I work as part of the multidisciplinary team (MDT) to manage the care delivered to people with CF who access our service. The MDT includes a specialist CF nurse, dietician and physiotherapist, as well as psychology and social work input and associated non-respiratory medical team members. I also work closely with the Leeds CF team, and an adult CF consultant comes from Leeds to the York clinic twice a year. As an adult service, we work hard with the local paediatric services to try and make transition as smooth as possible for young adults living with CF.

In my background, I qualified in Bristol and then spent my early years getting a good grounding in the NHS in Bristol, Birmingham and Norwich. Next I began my registrar training in Leicester, where I completed my research degree (Doctor of Medicine or MD) with funding from the University of Leicester and the Wellcome Trust, and worked as part of the respiratory and cystic fibrosis teams there. I moved up to Yorkshire in 2003 and completed my training in a number of Yorkshire Hospitals, including Leeds and York.

I think Yorkshire is a fantastic place to live and work and I love being here for many reasons - I've tried to celebrate a few with some photos on the front page and look forward to seeing yours too!

My aim is to continually improve the service we offer to you and to give you the best local service we can.

Tracey Daniels

Hi I'm Tracey your specialist physio. I thought I'd use this webpage to give you some useful information about physio for people with CF (see the downloads and links on the right side of this page) and to let you know who I am and what the CF team hope to do with your physio service.

I qualified as a physio in 1999 and, while doing my junior physio job, worked for a few months at the adult CF centre at Wythenshawe. I decided that this was something I wanted to do in the longer term and so got a job at the Royal Brompton hospital in London where I spent a few years rotating around different respiratory areas including lots of work with children and adults with CF. I then moved to a senior physio job at the Leeds adult CF unit for seven years. During my time at Leeds I completed a masters degree in the management of long term health conditions and did some research about how well people manage to take nebulised treatment. I also started lecturing at Leeds Metropolitan university; teaching physios in training about oxygen, nebulisers, etc.

I moved to York in October 2010 to lead the adult CF physio service here. I am chair of the ACPCF which is a group of physios who all work in CF. I lecture at different meetings about CF physio and about the research I have published. I have also been involved in creating guidelines about physio for people with CF. I have been back at university and have completed a course in non-medical prescribing; this means that I can prescribe some of the treatment which you are on or starting. The CF team hope that, by more of us being able to prescribe your treatment, you will have fewer delays in starting or getting treatment and that you will have more members of the team to go to for medication advice.

Katy Lee

Hi I’m Katy. I qualified as a physiotherapist 14 years ago. I started working in respiratory care in 2009 and for the last 6 years specialised in the care of children and adults with Cystic Fibrosis working with two fantastic multi-disciplinary teams.

In February 2018 an opportunity arose to apply for a secondment researching adherence to nebulised therapy in adults with CF. I applied and was successful. ‘CF Healthhub’ is a tool designed to enable people with CF to manage their nebuliser treatment. I have been enjoying the challenges and different ways of working with people with cystic fibrosis that the role has brought and I’m looking forward to seeing how CF Healthhub continues to develop in the future to benefit the care we give to our patients.

Kirsteen Hasney

Hi I’m Kirsteen, one of the Specialist Physiotherapists in the York Hull CF Centre. I qualified in 1991 from Queen Margaret College in Edinburgh as a Physiotherapist.  Whilst training I got the bug for Respiratory Physio and this was further built on in my Junior Rotations and led me to specialise into Respiratory Care; working at Hull Royal Infirmary, Castle Hill Hospital, Wythenshawe Hospital (Manchester) and also within the East Riding Community .  I have worked in a variety of Specialities within Respiratory Care including Intensive Care, General Surgery, Medical, Cardiology, Paediatrics, Cardiothoracics, Cystic Fibrosis and Cardiac & Pulmonary Rehabilitation gaining valuable experience. This has allowed me to provide a variety of approaches to treatment and develop services that are patient centred.  I completed my Masters’ Degree in 2006 in Cardio-Respiratory Rehabilitation which included research regarding the outcome of an exercise programme for people with Respiratory conditions. I am also a Non-Medical Prescriber which means I can aid in treatment decisions around medication.  I have also completed a number of other Respiratory Courses as I believe we have to keep learning to ensure best possible care is always provided.  I regularly provide teaching sessions for GP practices, other health care providers/professionals and universities.

I joined the York Hull CF Team in January 2019 and I am based at Castle Hill Hospital, but do work across all sites, so I may pop up when you least expect me! I have a particular interest in inhalers and also exercise, as getting this right helps boost our treatment regimens and wellbeing for all.

Although I only intended on being ‘down south’ for 6 months, I have now been south of the border for 28years. I have lived mainly in the Hull and East Yorkshire area in this time and love the people and the area (although I do still miss home).  I love to get out in the great outdoors and enjoy hiking from day walks to several weeks.  I like a challenge and have taken part in Muddy Obstacle courses ranging from 5km to 12km raising money for various Charities.

Julie Ackerley

My name is Julie and I am the new Cystic Fibrosis specialist nurse at York Teaching Hospital. I trained at Sheffield university, qualifying in 1999. I've got a degree in nursing studies, have a teaching certificate and am curently doing a palliative care course. I've worked on ward 34 as a deputy sister for the last 8 years and have always been interested in Cystic Fibrosis so am very excited to now be working as part of the CF team here in York.  

Please feel free to contact either of us via phone or e-mail.

Debbie Ingram

Hello my name is Debbie, I joined the Hull Cystic Fibrosis team as a nurse specialist in January 2013.

I completed the ‘Managing the Care of Children and Adults with cystic fibrosis’ course in October 2016. I continue to develop my knowledge of Cystic Fibrosis every day.  I have attended a number of CF conferences in support of my role.

I came to the CF team from Ward 5 /rhdu respiratory ward (previously ward 21 at Castle hill) in 2013 after being there for 5 years. In this role I gained a keen interest in the cystic fibrosis patients and their treatments. I also worked in the respiratory high dependency unit with NIV (non-invasive ventilation) which expanded my level two care experience. I bring a wide range of medical and respiratory experience to the team.

Prior to this I worked at Bridlington District hospital on an acute medical admissions unit with long and short stay patients of various medical conditions. This is where I began my nursing career in 2003 when I joined Kent ward as a staff nurse and progressed to a senior band five. I have over 15 years nursing experience.