APM Board

Who represents you?: Dr Iain Lawrie, President 

Iain was elected to the role of the APM President in March 2019 having served a two-year term of office as Vice-President. But who is he and what does he do for the APM and its members?

Personal / Career

Iain is a 50-year old Consultant and Honorary Clinical Senior Lecture in Palliative Medicine at The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust in Manchester / University of Manchester. Initially a Physiotherapist, Iain entered Palliative Medicine through General Practice to (the, then) CCST. He is actively involved in undergraduate education, publishing and palliative care research. He is interested in opportunities for growth of the APM, its visibility in the UK and its governance. Iain is a member of the European Journal of Cancer Care Editorial Board and advises external partners on a variety of issues related to supportive, palliative and end of life care such as the House of Lords and Living and Dying Well, among others. He lives in Davenport with his husband, Mark, and their two cats, Ethel and Archie.

APM role

The role of the President of the APM is a busy and key role in the functioning of the organisation. There are obvious duties one would expect, such as deputising for the President at both internal and external meetings and during leave, but there are also a wide range of other responsibilities.

Iain is always ready to respond to (usually sudden, last-minute and at evenings / weekends!) media requests for comment from print, radio and screen media, coordinate letters to the press in response to articles in national newspapers and maintain constant vigilance of these media outlets for topics related to Palliative Medicine.

The APM has a myriad of links with other organisations, and Iain represents the APM on the national Ambitions for End of Life Care Board (and Partnership), the Social Finance End of Life Care Incubator project and at external expert consultations such as those of the British Lung Foundation and Royal College of General Practitioners.

He has been instrumental in shaping future strategy of the Association.  Iain has been particularly keen to reform the internal committee structure of the APM in order to make it more efficient and effective, as well as actively raising the APM’s public profile. Iain (in partnership with Amy Proffitt, Vice President) during his time as VP presented options and a draft proposal for reform to the APM Executive Committee which he now hopes to implement in his first few months as President.

The President, as a member of the APM Executive Committee and a Trustee of the organisation, is also actively involved in virtually every decision affecting us. This involves dealing with many e-mails every week, as well as helping prepare agendas, review minutes, monitor action plans and take forward APM policy in all manner of ways. While this may seem burdensome, Iain always says this is what we need to do to make Palliative Medicine more visible to the public, the NHS and government.

Kirsten is the Honorary Secretary and an Officer of the Association for Palliative Medicine. She was appointed to this role in March 2019.

As a Consultant in Palliative Medicine working in Wigan, Greater Manchester, Kirsten’s time is split 50:50 between the acute Trust and the Hospice where she is responsible for in-patients, and particularly enjoys her role as Clinical Supervisor for trainees.

As a trainee herself she spent five years as Specialty Advisory Committee (SAC) representative on the APM Trainees’ Committee.  She relishes this aspect of her training, giving valuable insight into the role and remit of the SAC as well as the wider APM.  It also helped her to develop the key skills required for committee work and the opportunity to learn from more experienced colleagues.

Having been settled in her Consultant post for a couple of years now, she was again keen to broaden her experience and become more active in the APM which makes her suited to the role of honorary secretary having exceptional organisational skills, a keen eye for detail and the natural ability to have a comprehensive overview of committee work – a characteristic ‘completer-finisher’!

In her personal life she has 3 young children so when not working she enjoys running around after them and trying to achieve the ever elusive uninterrupted sleep!

Amy is the Vice President and Officer of the Association for Palliative Medicine. She was appointed to this role in March 2019 after serving two years as the APM Honorary Secretary.

After graduating from Oxford University, Amy trained initially in Haematology before finding her passion for Palliative Medicine . Moving to the East midlands during the MTAS saga in 2007, she worked with some inspiring Consultants who remain a big influence on her. Having experienced the challenge of a career change and alterations in the training system for junior doctors, Amy was able to devote time to supporting other Trainees. She took on the role of Chair of the APM Trainees Committee for two years. In this role she led an incredible group of Trainees and junior colleagues, all devoted to aiding the 220 Trainees in our speciality across the UK.

Simultaneously, Amy was the Secretary to the Trainees Committee of the Royal College of Physicians (London). This was through the challenging time of the negotiations around the new junior doctors Contract (even coming face to face with Mr Hunt!). She worked hard to disseminate information, provide support and ensure that the workforce issues created by the new contract would not impact the vulnerable dying that we care for.

During this difficult time, Amy became aware of the low morale of junior doctors and medical students. Seeking to be in a position to help address this, she enrolled in a Masters in Medical Education at Nottingham University with a particular interest in coaching , mentoring and supervision and performance enhancement.

She continued her links with the RCP with roles in the Strategy and Communication Committee and a newly developed Flexibility and Wellbeing Committee as well as being a Trainee representative on the JRCPTB working group on Shape of Training.

Having spent countless hours on East Midlands Trains commuting back and forth (the staff at St Pancras Station knew Amy well and would always have a latte ready for her arrival!), she moved to London to take up a Consultant post at Bartshealth, working across St Bartholomew’s Hospital, The Royal London Hospital and St Joseph’s Hospice.

Her current vision is to see the APM evolve, grow, and be at the forefront of palliative and end of life care not only in the UK but worldwide.

One of the key ways to drive this forward is building strong working relationships with other organisations. Amy has maintained links with the RCP in advising on Assisted Dying and Gosport and is the Quality Improvement and Professional Standards Representative on the Joint Specialty Committee of the RCP/APM.

She is the RCP Ambitions for End of Life Care representative and a representative for the NHS England End of Life Programme Board working closely with both NHSE and NHSI. She has spoken at “All Parliamentary Groups” regarding commissioning to palliative care and works with Baroness Finley on the Access to Palliative Care Bill. She is a member of the Clinical Advisory Committee of Hospice UK and speaks often at national conferences. She has also actively participated in media work with interviews on BBC radio regarding Gosport, the Alfie Evans case, end of life care and the use of opiates.

Having read to this point, you will see that Amy has given up sleep to make to most of a 25 hour working day!  During her valued time off she can be found at a West End musical with her 7 year old daughter, reading a classic novel or cooking up a gourmet three course meal for a friend.

She hopes to continue to represent the APM membership with drive and enthusiasm – and (possibly) some sleep!

Derek is a proud Co. Durham lad. He went to Birmingham University too many years ago and qualified with an Honours degree. Initially wanting to be a Diabetologist, Derek did a medical rotation in East Birmingham and became a member of the Royal College of Physicians. He landed up in a Junior Macmillan post and whilst doing Oncology worked in a hospice and found his niche. Having gained his General Practice qualification, Derek started on a palliative medicine rotation in the West Midlands. He found that it was the wrong time for him to go into palliative medicine full time, so became a GP in Birmingham City Centre- working in Balsall Heath and Edgbaston. He was part of the practice that looked after the Birmingham Royal Ballet and the local MOD staff. Derek also gained a Masters in Health Care Ethics at this point and was an Honorary lecturer in the Department of General Practice at the University of Birmingham. He also became a Graduate Entry Moderator and helped to write and teach the Graduate Entry Medicine Course at Birmingham University.

Derek and his family lived in New Zealand for 2 years where Derek worked at Mercy Hospice in Auckland as well as being a GP in West Auckland (where the film The Piano was filmed!) and also looked after the national basketball team, the Breakers. He enjoyed coming back to palliative care so, on returning to the UK and the homeland of Durham, Derek trained for Consultant status via the CESR route. At the same time, he gained a Postgraduate Diploma in Medical Education.

Derek is now Medical Director at Severn Hospice which serves Shropshire and mid Wales. Derek is also Visiting Professor in Palliative Medicine and Bioethics at Chester University. Derek’s interests include palliative care for adults with neuromuscular conditions for which he is helping write the national NICE guidelines, community palliative care and bioethics. For the APM,Derek was Chair of the 2012 PCC and has been on the Education committee and the Ethics Committee. He helped run the annual APM Ethics course. He is now APM Treasurer.

In his spare time Derek loves treading the board (he won a best Actor award for a play called Bouncers), knows how to ballroom dance and loves hitting the gym – though not at the same time. He is pleased to be on the exec especially at a really exciting time for the APM and its future.