Philippa qualified as a registered nurse in 1994 and has specialised in Parkinson’s disease since 2008, initially in the pharmaceutical industry and then at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust regional neurosciences centre. With a caseload of 2000 patients she developed the service by expanding the team and integrating the hospital and community-based services. She is an independent prescriber with a special interest in advanced therapies.

She was part of the quality improvement collaborative across Leeds winning a national award raising awareness of PD by reducing the length of stay and improving the administration of time critical medications. Highlighting the need for early specialist intervention with masterclasses and intervention bundles for hospital and community healthcare professionals.

She has mentored specialist nurses across the region, submitted research and posters to the MDS (movement disorders society) and British Geriatric Society and developed policies prescribing in the acute nil by mouth phase and symptom management at the end of life.

She is an honorary lecturer at the University of Leeds, teaching student nurses and has taught at regional, national and international masterclasses, on webinars and most recently the Parkinson’s MOOC (massive online open courses) with the University of Tasmania with over 14,000 patients, carers and healthcare professionals enrolling from 151 countries.