Meet the team
Our courses are delivered by an experienced, multidisciplinary faculty drawn from Martin House Children’s Hospice.
Martin House Education Team
Our courses are delivered by an experienced, multidisciplinary faculty drawn from Martin House Children’s Hospice.
The team includes consultants in paediatric palliative medicine, clinical nurse specialists and practice educators, all with extensive experience supporting children, young people and families with complex needs.Â
Our educators bring real‑world insight, compassion and clinical excellence to every course, creating supportive learning environments grounded in best practice.Â
Mandy Thorpe
Mandy is a paediatric nurse with more than 20 years clinical experience, working in a variety of settings, including oncology, neurology, neonates and general paediatrics. With a PGCE for health care professionals, she has worked in an education role within the NHS and, since 2020, at Martin House. Â
Mandy has co-authored multiple posters for national and international conferences on the innovative palliative care simulation work pioneered by Martin House, and presented at the Together for Short Lives 2025 conference. She has also developed a ten-session Paediatric Palliative Care module, delivered in collaboration with the hospice’s specialist paediatric palliative care team.Â
Jen Knell
Jen is a practice educator at Martin House, having joined the organisation in 2022, moving into the educator role in 2023. A paediatric nurse with a background in critical care, she has worked across three paediatric critical care units, including one overseas.
With experience in both critical and paediatric palliative care, Jen supports staff and students through simulation-based and clinical skills training, helping to build confidence and competence in delivering compassionate, child and family-centred care.Â
Annie Duckitt-Reid
Annie joined Martin House in 2019, working on the clinical team before moving into the education team in 2020. With a background in general paediatrics, cardiology, and high dependency care, she brings varied clinical insight to her educator role. Annie is passionate about paediatric palliative care and believes that empowering staff through developing their skills and knowledge is key to improving paediatric palliative care. She works closely with the internal care team to enhance their confidence and capability, and also contributes to external teaching, including simulation-based education.Â
Our education team is supported by a faculty of doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals at the hospice, including our three consultants in paediatric palliative care medicine and team of five clinical nurse specialists.
Dr Ross Smith
Ross Smith is a Consultant in Paediatric Palliative Medicine. He was appointed as a consultant at Martin House in 2020, having also completed his specialist paediatric palliative care training there.
His specialist interest is advance care planning, with a focus on creating and using holistic, inclusive and personalised plans for the future care and management of babies, children and young adults. He co-leads the Child and Young Person’s Advance Care Plan (CYPACP) Collaborative, which oversees the most widely used advance care plan for children and young people in the UK. He is also the paediatric representative for the national ReSPECT (Recommended Summary Plan for Emergency Care and Treatment) process, run by the Resuscitation Council UK.
Ross has also written a chapter for the national Advanced Paediatric Life Support (APLS) course, introducing palliative care and the consideration of advance care planning and escalation limitations. He continues to work with and educate a range of professional groups, including ambulance and emergency services, to support appropriate advocacy and care for babies, children and young people with palliative care needs.
Catherine Martin
Catherine is an experienced paediatric nurse with a background in paediatric oncology, neonatal care and general paediatrics. She moved into children’s palliative care in 2013, working in a children’s hospice as a Care Team Nurse before becoming a Care Coordinator.
After qualifying as an Independent Non-Medical Prescriber in 2018, she joined Martin House in 2019, where she worked alongside two colleagues to establish the Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) team. Passionate about delivering individualised, high-quality palliative care, Catherine has played a key role in developing the CNS service and strengthening engagement with teams across West, North and East Yorkshire.
Catherine is committed to ensuring Martin House remains at the forefront of perinatal, paediatric and young adult palliative care. She has a particular interest in research and is an active member of the hospice research panel, championing evidence-based practice, innovation and service development.
Dr Michelle Hills
Michelle Hills is a Consultant in Paediatric Palliative Medicine and Chief Medical Officer at Martin House, as well as the author of The Wrong Order of Things, a book sharing stories about children’s palliative care with the public.
Michelle has a particular interest in paediatric palliative care education for health professionals and the public. She has served as Chair of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health Palliative Medicine Specialty Advisory Committee and contributed to the Association of Paediatric Palliative Medicine executive committee.
She has contributed to national palliative medicine curriculum design and the training and assessment of doctors undertaking sub-specialist palliative care training. Michelle has also contributed to multiple research studies, posters and papers and is building a growing social media presence around her work in palliative care.
Dr Naomi Taylor
Dr Naomi Taylor is a consultant in paediatric palliative medicine and has been part of the medical team at Martin House Children’s Hospice since September 2020. She initially joined Martin House to complete her specialist training in paediatric palliative medicine before becoming a consultant in September 2023.
Naomi has a particular interest in simulation-based education in paediatric palliative care. Working closely with the Martin House Education team, she has helped to develop training courses in this area and has presented and published on the subject nationally and internationally.
She is also passionate about strengthening the evidence base for paediatric palliative care. Naomi has contributed to national projects, including the development of guidelines for the Association of Paediatric Palliative Medicine (APPM), and is Chair of the Martin House Research Panel, leading the hospice’s research activity.
Helen Storton
Helen is an experienced paediatric nurse with a background spanning neurology, safeguarding and community nursing, as well as more than 10 years’ experience as a children’s palliative care nurse specialist. She also holds a non-medical prescribing qualification.
Helen joined Martin House Children’s Hospice in 2019, when the Clinical Nurse Specialist roles were first introduced. Since then, she has worked alongside colleagues to shape and develop the service, ensuring it continues to meet the evolving needs of children living with life-shortening conditions and their families.
Driven by a strong belief that every child and family should have equitable access to high-quality palliative care, Helen is passionate about supporting the wider workforce through education and collaboration. She is committed to building knowledge and confidence among professionals to help achieve the best possible outcomes for children and their families.
Charlotte Walker
Charlotte is an experienced paediatric nurse with a background in general paediatrics and cardiology, and more than 24 years’ experience at Martin House Children’s Hospice.
She joined the clinical team as a paediatric nurse before progressing to the role of Care Team Leader. For more than five years, Charlotte has worked as Deputy Director of Clinical Services, where she has played a key role in developing the Clinical Nurse Specialist Team and Martin House’s education provision.
Charlotte brings extensive clinical experience and strong leadership to her role, alongside a particular passion for education, professional development and improving palliative care practice. She is committed to supporting the workforce to continually develop its knowledge and skills, helping ensure children, young people and their families receive the highest quality specialist palliative care.
