Meet the assessors
Assessors are the face of the accreditation programme, acting as ambassadors and upholding its reputation. Assessors support IQAS by promoting and championing good practice and continuous improvement. They have a critical role in assessing services for accreditation, providing a fair, comprehensive and transparent assessment and providing clear instruction for service improvement. Our assessors are consultants and nurses in the service and we also have lay assessors, who represent the patient voice. If you are interested in applying for the role of assessor, please email the team to express an interest: askiqas@rcp.ac.uk.
Medical assessors:
Dr Nasreen Khan
University Hospitals Leicester NHS Foundation Trust
Dr Sadia Noorani
Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Dr Sadia Noorani is a consultant immunologist and service lead for the immunology services at Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust. Her department in addition to immunodeficiency has a large allergy service. She works closely with patients and patient groups for the improvement of the services. She is involved in teaching different healthcare professionals including primary care physicians to improve diagnosis and management of allergic & immunological diseases. Her voluntary roles include the membership of the NICE adoption & impact reference panel and UKPIPS medical advisory panel.
Dr Ravishankar Sargur
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Ravi is a clinical lead for the laboratory Immunology services and Protein Reference unit in Sheffield Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Ravi is currently the chair of the JRCPTB Speciality Advisory committee ( Immunology). He also represents Immunology on the UKAS Professional Advisory committee. He has a keen interest in quality control and quality assurance. He developed the Sheffield Laboratory Atlas of Variation with Sheffield CCG to help optimise laboratory test utilisation in primary care.
Nurse assessors:
Kathryn Powrie
Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust
Kathryn is the allergy nurse specialist at Mid Essex Hospitals NHS PlTrust in Chelmsford and has been working in the speciality for 17 years. Over 14 years at St Mary’s Hospital, London shelled and developed clinical services, running nurse-led clinics for immunotherapy, local anaesthetic testing, rhinitis and asthma and, working with colleagues, helped establish the transition service. Since moving to Broomfield Hospital she has established nurse led allergy and asthma services including new-patient clinics, in-patient reviews, day case food and drug challenge sessions and supports the long established immunotherapy service. Enthusiastic about the role of allergy nurses she is a member of the BSACI Nurses in Allergy committee and ANSWER (Allergy Nurses Working in the Eastern Region) helping to support and develop nursing services.
Dorothea Grosse-Kreul
King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Dorothea has been a senior specialist nurse for allergy and clinical immunology at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London since 2002. She completed her general nurse training at St. Marien Hospital, Botrrop, Germany in 1989. She studied for her post-graduate qualifications in London, where she completed a Good Clinical Practice Course, BSc and a Post Graduate Diploma. She is currently the Treasurer of the International Nursing Group for Immunodeficiencies. She has co-authored a number of peer-reviewed articles on the role of immunoglobulins in allergies, including replacement therapy.
Christine Symons
Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust
Christine is a consultant nurse for immunology and allergy at Derriford Hospital, Plymouth where she was among the wave of new Immunology and Allergy Specialist nurses in the UK 20 or so years ago. She set up the home therapy service for Devon and Cornwall and now oversees the expanded nurses’ team. In 2009, after previously achieving a PGCE in adult education, she completed her MSc in Allergy and is a non-medical prescriber, routinely prescribing for an increasing cohort of immune deficiency and allergy patients. She sits on the Medical Advisory Boards of HAEUK and UKPIPS and has acted as Chair for HAE-INO, (the international nurses’ organisation for HAE), and for SWWING, (the regional Immunology nurses’ group). Christine is an honorary university fellow with University of Plymouth Peninsula school of medicine and dentistry and has been involved in a number of published research projects, clinical trials and audits.
Benite Tshilenga
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Benite is a dedicated and compassionate Allergy and Immunology Nurse with a diverse educational background and a passion for providing quality care to patients. With a foundation in Social Anthropology, she brings a unique perspective to the healthcare field. Building upon her foundational knowledge, she has pursued a Master's degree in Adult Nursing, further honing her clinical expertise and expanding her understanding of healthcare delivery. With a focus on allergy and immunology, she is committed to staying abreast of the latest developments and best practices in the field, ensuring that patients receive the best and effective treatments and care.