Helena is passionate about empowering individuals living with a stoma to approach their care with confidence. In her current role as a Stoma Specialist Nurse, she delivers expert guidance, personalised education, and clinical support across diverse healthcare settings. With a commitment to person-centred care, Helena is driven by a desire to improve outcomes and enjoys using real-world case studies to share learning and inspire best practice.
Harriet Lowe Colorectal CNS, RN, BSc.
I am a dedicated and compassionate Registered Nurse with over 15 Years experience. I have studied at the university of Edge Hill, Sheffield Hallum and the University of Wolverhampton. For the past two and a half years I have worked as a Colorectal Clinical Nurse Specialist at the Royal Wolverhampton NHS trust, supporting patients with complex colorectal conditions. I have received a Nell Phoenix award within the trust, for providing excellence in patient care.
I began my career on a female surgical ward and then progressed to be a sister on the male general surgical ward. These roles laid the foundation for my current specialism in Colorectal Nursing. I have developed a particular interest in a collaborative project with the AKI CNS team in relation to the management of high output ileostomies and am passionate about empowering patients and promoting patient autonomy, improving patient outcomes and their quality of life.
Facility/Current Responsibilities
Gail is the Clinical Lead for Stoma Care Services in the East Kent area, based in the southeast of England. Since becoming a Stoma Care Nurse Specialist in 2009 and stepping into the Clinical Lead role in 2018, she has been instrumental in delivering a comprehensive, lifelong service for people living with stomas and their carers. Her leadership spans across acute, community, and long-term care, ensuring a seamless and patient-centered approach.
Qualifications
Gail qualified as a registered nurse in 1999 after completing her BSc in Nursing at Napier University, Edinburgh. She began her career in acute medicine at the Edinburgh Royal Hospital before moving to London, where she worked in the acute surgical and colorectal unit at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. In 2008, she took a career break to start her family and later transitioned into stoma care nursing upon relocating to East Kent in 2009.
Experience
Gail’s primary focus has always been to enhance patient-centered care, ensuring that individuals with stomas receive high-quality support closer to home. She is dedicated to fostering independence and promoting positive living for ostomates by developing accessible, responsive services. Working closely with local patient groups, she has co-created the current stoma care pathway, advocating for the integration of patient-facing services with clinical expertise. She firmly believes that this collaboration has the potential to establish some of the most effective and compassionate patient care models in healthcare today. Gail continues to drive innovation in stoma care, shaping services that empower both patients and healthcare professionals.
I qualified as a Nurse in 2002 from Oxford Brookes University and began my career at The John Radcliffe Hospital, remaining there for a number of years, discovering a love of caring for surgical patients. I moved to work at St Mark’s Hospital, where I developed a strong interest in colorectal surgery. That passion ultimately led me to specialize in stoma care. I’ve now been a Stoma Nurse for over 18 years, the past seven years at The Royal Surrey Hospital.
We care for a wide range of conditions including being a national centre for Cystectomy surgery. Working closely with patients and supporting them through life-changing procedures continues to be incredibly rewarding and even after all theses years there are still challenges faced and things to learn.
Experienced Stoma Care Nurse with 11 years experience. Dedicated to promote a collaborative and supportive approach to empower patients and their families to achieve the optimal outcome following stoma formation. Passionate about leading service development and innovations in Stoma Care.
Carolyn trained and qualified as a Registered Nurse in 1989 at the Royal Berkshire Hospital. Specialising in stoma care since 2004 she gained qualifications as a specialist practitioner (adult) in 2007 and independent prescriber in 2009.
Currently she works for Hollister limited and is a nurse prescriber within the Stockport Continence and Stoma Service. Carolyn is the current ASCN UK Honorary Secretary. She has been involved actively with ASCN UK and previously WCET UK since 2005. Carolyn has presented at both national and international conferences. In addition she has been published in nursing journals and contributed to the ASCN UK stoma care book.
Anne has been a qualified Registered General Nurse since 1995, gaining extensive experience across various clinical settings. As a Senior Clinical Specialist for Amcare, she holds a Specialist Stoma Nurse qualification and is deeply committed to delivering holistic patient care.
With an extensive background in community nursing, Anne is passionate about empowering individuals living with a stoma. She has a keen interest in pharmacology and is a qualified Non-Medical Independent and supplementary prescriber, enabling her to provide comprehensive support tailored to each patient’s needs.
Anne is dedicated to education, advocacy, and enhancing patient well-being through compassionate and evidence-based care.
Angie is currently the Acting Chair for ASCN UK. She was elected in 2016 as Vice Chairperson. Angie has over 25 years experience working within the specialist sphere of stoma/colorectal nursing. Has a keen interest in ileo-anal pouch reconstruction surgery and quality of life, that was the subject for her MSc thesis. Angie has previously been the Chairperson of WCET UK from 2003-2007. Angie is widely published in the specialist sphere of stoma care, as well as having written several of the ASCN UK Clinical Guidelines.
Collaboratively with Maddie White, Angie also edited a new book publication – Stoma Care Specialist Nursing: A Guide for Clinical Practice
Angie has worked for Salts Healthcare since 2012, she is currently Clinical Education Lead.
RGN (1989)
MSc Nurse Practitioner
BSc (Hons) (Colorectal)
Dip. N (Lond)
ENB 216 1995
Angela is a qualified Registered General Nurse with a wealth of clinical experience, having worked across various specialist areas since qualifying in 1994.
In her current role as a Stoma Specialist Nurse for ConvaTec, Angela is dedicated to empowering individuals living with a stoma, ensuring they receive comprehensive, holistic care tailored to their needs. She is passionate about enhancing patient confidence, well-being, and overall quality of life through her guidance and support.
Earlier this year, Angela further demonstrated her commitment to education by presenting at Gastro Week on their global webinar platform, sharing valuable insights into stoma care best practices and patient-centred approaches.
Her extensive experience, dedication to innovation, and passion for patient empowerment make her a valuable contributor to the healthcare community.
I have worked in the stoma care environment since 2004. My ethos is to support the generations of specialist nurses moving into the profession and those that are already established. I believe in elevating the specialist role and underpinning this with research and evidence-based knowledge. Demonstrating authority and value to our role, will not only benefit those with a stoma but increase the knowledge of those on the wider periphery making life changing decisions on behalf of those patients.
I believe in raising our voices in a way that has gravitas and expert opinion behind it. My passion for stoma care is evident; being a committee member of our National professional body, the ASCN UK, strengthens that voice and enables me to support the further development of educational offerings.
During my 8 years in my current role as lead nurse at the Royal Devon University HospitaI (RDUH), I have enhanced the educational offering in facilitating both internal and external study days, including the development of an annual stoma teaching programme for the F2’s across the South West Peninsular. My commitment to raise the awareness and profile of stoma care includes ensuring all members of the Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT), including medical students, dietitians, Tissue Viability Nurses (TVNs), Physios and members of the Health and Wellbeing team have 1-1 time with the stoma team including attending ward-based care.
As Co-lead of the bi-annual South West SCN nursing forum, co-ordinating a researched based educational agenda has been instrumental in providing an environment to learn, share and provide peer support. Presenting at WCET and ASCN UK events has been an important platform to share best practice, as well as facilitating team members to submit abstracts and gain confidence in presenting.
My roles in research include Associate Principle Investigator (API) for the UK cohort study to investigate the prevention of parastomal hernia (CIPHER), which included recruitment within the trust and presenting at roadshows across the country showcasing new research within the Colorectal sphere. The SUN study supported a new product development and being Principle Investigator (PI) for the PROPHER study (Patient Reported Outcomes after Parastomal Hernia Treatment) recently led me to presenting to the NIHR.
Being an integral member of the ASCN UK committee enables me to be part of the bigger picture within the stoma care environment and assist in establishing positive change within the profession.