Greater Manchester and Eastern Cheshire Strategic Clinical Networks (GMEC SCNs) were established in April 2016 to provide clinical leadership and advice to improve health and care services.

The clinical leads listed below play an important role in this achieving this aim, working with our support teams to create and implement changes.

Led by a director and a clinical director, with strong involvement from patients, carers and members of the public, the SCNs connect commissioners, providers and professionals across condition/disease pathways of care to develop best practice and innovation, measure and benchmark quality and outcomes and drive quality improvement.

Clinical director

Dr Peter Elton

Peter was in public health for many years and a director of public health for 18 years and was regional lead for offender health. He was a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.  He has a long-standing interest in smoking, having set up a smoking cessation service in North Manchester in 1984 and was the Greater Manchester public health lead on smoking. He has had management experience, having been director of community services in North Manchester for seven years. He has chaired Outreach Community and Residential Services (for people with learning disability or chronic mental health) and has had more than 50 papers published in peer-reviewed journals.

Cardiovascular Network

Professor Farzin Fath-Ordoubadi

Professor Fath-Ordoubadi is a consultant interventional cardiologist, based at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust. He did his medical school training at St. Mary’s Hospital, London, and Cambridge University, and his cardiology training at Hammersmith, St. Marys and Brompton Hospital. This clinical lead role adds to existing roles of clinical director of Manchester Heart Centre (CMFT) and British Cardiac Society/Royal College of Physicians Network advisor.

Children and Young People Network

James Bruce

James is Consultant Paediatric and Neonatal Surgeon at The Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, Clinical Head of the Children’s Division and acting Medical Director till 2018. He was appointed to his consultant post in 1992. Since 1992 he has been a Consultant Surgeon at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital and has been Clinical Director of Surgical Services since 1995 to 2000. He was Clinical Lead for Surgery up to November 2004 and again from September 2006 to 2009. He has been involved in strategic planning for Greater Manchester and the Northwest Region from the inception of planning for the new Children’s Hospital, through Making it Better, Healthier Together and other projects.

Julia Birchall-Searle

Julia is director of nursing at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital. She is an experienced children’s nurse and has a clinical background in paediatric intensive care and has worked in workforce development, and change and transformation roles.

Diabetes Network

Dr Naresh Kanumilli

A GP in Northenden Group Practice and Clinical Lead for Diabetes in the SCN. Naresh is involved in a number of pieces of work that include a Diabetes Prevention Programme aiming to address prevention on three levels: onset; progression and complications. Specific outputs to achieve this ambition will be the formulation of Care Plans for Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and also the development of a Patient Care Plan that can be adapted and personalised.

Frailty Network

Professor Martin Vernon

Prof Vernon is a consultant geriatrician and was previously associate medical director for Manchester Primary Care Trust, Clinical Champion Frail Older People and Integrated Care Greater Manchester, British Geriatrics Society Champion for End of Life Care and standing member of the NICE Indicators Committee. He is widely published in medical law and ethics and contributor to several major textbooks on ageing and end of life care.

He holds honorary academic posts at Manchester and Salford Universities and has been visiting professor in care of older people at the University of Chester since 2016.

Maternity Network

Eileen Stringer

Eileen is the midwifery clinical lead. She is a registered nurse and midwife with 35 years’ experience working in the NHS and has held a variety of senior clinical and managerial midwifery roles. Eileen was a consultant midwife at Pennine Acute hospitals Trust, leading on all aspects of public health within the maternity service, until her retirement. Eileen’s work has focused on improving outcomes in many aspects of maternity care for all families, including access to care, antenatal care and screening, perinatal mental health, smoking cessation, infant feeding, care of younger parents and the implementation of the NHSE Saving Babies’ Lives Care Bundle. She is an honorary senior lecturer at the University of Manchester and has published nationally and internationally about the challenges midwives face in improving health and outcomes for vulnerable families.

Ghazia Saleemi

Dr Saleemi is obstetric clinical lead for our maternity neonatal safety improvement programme. She was appointed as a consultant at Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester in 2016 and is now labour ward lead. She has a special interest in pre-term labour and set up this service at Wythenshawe.  She also has a specialist interest in multiple pregnancies and runs specialist clinics and also sees other high-risk pregnancies in her obstetric clinic.

Dr Akila Anbazhagan

Dr Anbazhagan is the clinical lead for the black, asian and mixed ethnic background advisory committee. She is a consultant obstetrician at St Mary’s Hospital, Wythenshawe, and worked as a consultant in Belfast for 3 years before moving to Wythenshawe hospital in 2015.

Neurorehabilitation and Integrated Stroke Delivery Network

Dr Shivakumar Krishnamoorthy (clinical director)

Christine Hyde (clinical lead for community, neurorehabilitation)

Dr Janice Mackenzie (clinical lead for psychology)

Dr Aseem Mishra (clinical lead for cardiovascular disease prevention)

Fatema Mullamitha (clinical lead for community, stroke)

Palliative and End of Life Care Network

Dr Dave Waterman

Dr Dave Waterman is the SCN Clinical Lead for Greater Manchester and Eastern Cheshire. He is a Consultant Physician in Palliative Medicine working within Stockport NHS Foundation Trust, Stockport Community and St Ann’s Hospice since 2005. He graduated at Newcastle University in 1995 and undertook specialist training in Palliative Medicine in the North West Deanery.

His clinical role allows the delivery of specialist palliative care to patients and their families in their own homes, as well as within an out-patient environment or an in-patients setting, either within Stockport NHS Foundation Trust or St. Ann’s Hospice.

Dr Liam Hosie – Palliative and end of life care GP primary care lead

Dr Hosie is the GP primary care lead. He graduated from Manchester University in 2000 and has been a GP partner in Wigan since 2004. He is also Wigan’s clinical lead for cancer and end of life care, and joined the SCNs in 2018. His interest in palliative care has developed from being lead GP in his own surgery for palliative care, to then becoming involved in a variety of local projects. His practice covers an area of considerable deprivation, and also has a large number of nursing and care homes, and as a result is often involved in day to day management of palliative cases.

Respiratory Network

Dr Jennifer Hoyle

Dr Hoyle is a Consultant Respiratory Physician and Occupational Lung Disease Lead at Pennine Acute NHS Trust, based at North Manchester General Hospital. She has run a busy Occupational Lung Disease department there since 2004, is a member of GORDS UK (Group of Occupational Respiratory Disease Specialists) and the British Thoracic Society SAG. Dr Hoyle is an Honorary Lecturer at Manchester University and is a member of the SWORD Committee there. Dr Hoyle has numerous publications in Occupational Lung Disease including Interstitial Occupational Diseases. Jennifer has been the Clinical Lead for Respiratory at the Greater Manchester and Eastern Cheshire Strategic Clinical Network since June 2018.

Dr Murugesan Raja – Clinical lead for respiratory disease in primary care

Dr Murugesan Raja became our clinical advisor in June 2018. He is a General Practitioner with a special interest in respiratory medicine. Dr Raja works as the Lead GP for Hope Citadel at John Street Medical Practice, and Hawthorne Medical Centre. He has been the Clinical Lead for Respiratory Medicine for Central Manchester CCG since 2014 and in 2017 the role became citywide. He is currently also Clinical Lead for Quality and Performance and a GP Governing Board Member (Central) for Manchester Health and Care Commissioning. His other roles include GP Trainer, Speaker, Member of Health and Wellbeing Board for Manchester and on the GP Reference Panel for National Institute of Clinical Excellence.