Sara has worked in surgical roles since 2004, starting as a scrub nurse within the operating theatres. She has worked in a number of roles and in a number of specialities across the surgical division. She is a qualified surgical first assistant (SFA), advanced nurse practitioner and surgical care practitioner (SCP).
Sara also worked for several years as an associate lecturer at Edge Hill University where she co-wrote and lectured on the SFA degree modules and SCP Masters programme accredited by the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS). Sara was on the working party with the RCS which wrote the SCP national curriculum, and she has co-authored a Rapid series perioperative textbook.
In 2014 Sara received a Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship to travel to the US to review their ‘middle grade’ system looking at both the Physician Associate and Nurse Practitioner roles in both clinical practice and education to disseminate lessons learnt across the UK.
Sara has been a member of both the Extended Surgical Team Expert Reference Group and the working group for the Improving Surgical Training service and wider workforce. She has been a member of the HEE Surgical Advanced Clinical Practitioner Development Group which has written the SACP curriculum. Sara was on the Perioperative Care Guideline Committee for the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, which was published in August 2020. She is currently a member of the Editorial panel of the journal Surgery.
