Principal Lecturer
I have over 30 years’ experience in healthcare and healthcare education. After qualifying as a Registered General Nurse, I specialised in working with older adults and neurorehabilitation introducing a number of patient-centred care initiatives into practice. I then developed my career in education and workforce development, working in a diverse range of settings in the NHS, charitable sector and Higher Education across the multi-professional workforce.
I am passionate about high-quality and engaging teaching and learning delivery which develops people and ultimately improves the patient experience. I have been involved in leading and supporting local, regional and national workforce and service development and education initiatives both in academic and senior management roles. This has included working with patients, carers and non NHS service providers.
In my current role at the University, I continue to work collaboratively and I'm currently involved in a number of local NHS innovation projects evaluating their impact on workforce education and development. These include carers and care home staff decision support, near patient testing pop-up clinics for people with learning disabilities and undergraduate student nurses’ leadership development.
Teaching and supervision
I am the Programme Leader for MSc Nursing and the PgCert in Quality Improvement and Patient Safety. I currently teach across a range of courses including BSc Nursing (Adult, Mental Health), BSc Biomedical Sciences and a range of Continuing Workforce Development courses.
My subject areas include leadership and management development, near patient testing, clinical skills and qualitative research.
Research interests for potential research students
- Nursing practice
- Education in healthcare
- Near patient testing
- Older adults nursing
- Workforce and organisational development
- Leadership
Research
Publications
Article
Akehurst, Joy, Stronge, Paul, Giles, Karen and Ling, Jonathan (2021) Making a difference: Workforce skills and capacity for integrated care. International Journal of Integrated Care. ISSN 1568-4156
McShea, Lynzee, Giles, Karen, Murphy, A and Ling, Jonathan (2021) An alternative approach for detecting hearing loss in adults with learning disabilities. British Journal of Learning Disabilities. ISSN 1354-4187
Moore, Heather L., Farnworth, Allison, Watson, Rose, Giles, Karen, Tomson, David and Thomson, Richard G. (2020) Inclusion of person-centred care in medical and nursing undergraduate curricula in the UK: Interviews and documentary analysis. Patient Education and Counseling. ISSN 0738-3991
Giles, Karen, Ling, Jonathan and Gordon, Isabel (2019) Can point‐of‐care testing improve access to diagnostic screening and testing for people with learning disabilities? Exploring perspectives to improve access and equity. British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 48 (1). pp. 28-36. ISSN 1354-4187
Conference or Workshop Item
Amiri, Rana, Giles, Karen and Ling, Jonathan (2023) The impact of the me, myself and autism programme on adult autism having access to the service, in terms of the benefits and challenges/issues they encounter. In: SSM Annual Scientific Meeting, 67th Annual Scientific Meeting, 06-08 Sep 2023, University of Newcastle.
Akehurst, Joy (2017) Using action research for workforce development and planning in integrated care. In: International Congress on Integrated Care 2016, 23-26 Nov 2016, Wellington, New Zealand.
Akehurst, Joy (2017) Building workforce capacity and capability for integrated working. In: International Congress of Integrated Care 2017, 8-10 May 2017, Dublin, Ireland.
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