About Us

Barbara Binder

CNS - Breast Care Nurse

Barbara qualified as a nurse in 1979 at Oldchurch Hospital in Essex and has been at London Bridge Hospital since 2008.

Prior to joining London Bridge Hospital Barbara worked as a district nurse and school nurse in both primary and secondary schools, and has also done health promotion for her local council before developing her interest in Breast Cancer Care. Barbara worked for eight years at Bupa Roding Hospital as a Breast Care Specialist Nurse in symptomatic clinics and at Whipps Cross University Hospital as the Breast Screening Nurse in the Breast Screening Unit.  

Barbara has gained qualifications in Breast Cancer Care, Cancer Nursing and as an Advanced Practitioner in Breast Cancer Care. 

Barbara sees patients all the way through their journey pathway, and she is a point of contact throughout their treatment. Barbara also liaises with members of the multidisciplinary team at Guy's Hospital, and other departments within London Bridge Hospital to give best practice of care for our patients.

Claire Chitty BSc, RN BHF

CNS - Arrhythmia 

Claire qualified as a nurse in 1994 and started as a Cardiac Nurse in 1995. She developed a special interest in ablations and devices. Claire was an Electrophysiology (EP) research nurse from 1999-2001 and moved to London Bridge Hospital in 2001.

London Bridge Hospital performs over 400 ablations a year, many for AF. Claire contacts all patients prior to admission for support, education and specific information, such as what drugs to start or stop and what to do about anticoagulation.

Claire refers patients to anticoagulation services as necessary – both private and NHS – and supports patients and their families before, during and after admission. She provides information to GPs and referring doctors about the procedures.

She is a member of the British Cardiac Society, Heart Rhythm UK and Heart Rhythm Society. Claire teaches on in-house and external Electrophysiology courses and presents at sessions for GPs and other healthcare professionals.

Claire also collects audit data on all of our EP patients for the national EP database and works closely with the whole EP team to improve quality and service.

Edna Dwyer

CNS - Urology

Edna qualified as a staff nurse in 1998 from Thames Valley University. Her first post was on an Acute Vascular Ward at Northwick Park Hospital. Over the years she has worked in many different specialties such as Acute Medicine at St Thomas’s Hospital and a Neurosciences High Dependency Unit in Sydney, Australia.

Edna’s interest has always been in urological nursing. Before taking on her current role as Urology Nurse Specialist at London Bridge Hospital in 2008, Edna was posted as a Urology Ward Sister at Guy’s Hospital.

Edna sees patients throughout their journey from the time of diagnosis to treatment and follow-up. This enables her to provide emotional support, information and advice to these patients, for whom she is the main point of contact after treatment.

Farida Edzla

CNS - Cardiology

Farida Edzla is a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Cardiology. She works with several Interventional Consultant Cardiologists at London Bridge Hospital. Her role involves telephone pre-assessment of cardiac patients prior to their admission, during which she provides information, answers their questions and explains the planned procedure. This service has proved to provide reassurance, establish rapport with patients and allay any uncertainties. In addition, both consultants and patients can contact her at any time.

This full-time role involves seeing cardiac patients on the cardiothoracic ward as well as on other wards in the hospital throughout their stay. These daily visits provide an opportunity to fully understand patients' concerns and aspirations, and also to ensure that patients' expectations are realistic and met from admission to discharge.

Delivery of evidence-based expert care and advice is pivotal to Farida’s role.

Farida Edzla was trained and qualified in the Philippines, and worked in CCU for several years in the Middle East. She came to the UK in 2000 where she worked in the NHS as a Cardiac Nurse Specialist after successfully completing the Cardiac Specialist Course at St. George’s University Hospital. She is involved in the education of staff. She initially worked as Deputy Manager on the Cardiothoracic ward prior to her secondment to CNS. In 2008, before joining London Bridge Hospital, she was filmed by a Philippine TV channel and her patients interviewed as an example of excellent service in Cardiology.

Pauline Ekessa

CNS - Cardiac Liaison Sister

Pauline joined London Bridge Hospital in 2004 and has worked in the Angiography department and on the 3rd floor. Pauline replaced Cathy Marshall as Cardiac Liaison Sister in early 2010.

The Cardiac Liaison role covers several different aspects of cardiac care. Pauline contacts all patients coming in for cardiac surgery by phone prior to admission and sees some patients in clinic. These pre-assessment calls and visits give support and information to the patients and their families with the aim of relieving anxiety pre- and post-operatively. They also allow ward staff to be more informed about their patients prior to admission.

Pauline is also involved with all patients who are undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) procedures under the cardiologists. Pauline works very closely with the cardiac physiotherapists to identify risk factors for heart disease and start the rehabilitation process for patients.

In addition to cardiac rehabilitation Pauline is involved with discharge planning, especially when there are complex issues such as warfarin, convalescence or district nursing needs. She also works closely with and assists the Cardiology and Arrhythmia Clinical Nurse Specialists in their absence.
 
Pauline is currently undertaking her MSc in Cardiology at Brighton University.

Margot Montgomery

CNS - Spinal Surgery 

Margot Montgomery is a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Spinal surgery. She worked in the NHS for 10 years before joining the team at London Bridge Hospital.

Margot first trained as an enrolled nurse in Sydney Australia in 1992, going on to complete her Bachelor of Nursing Degree at the University of Sydney in 1995. In 1999 she gained a post-graduate Diploma in Peri-Operative Nursing. She then moved to London where she has spent time studying at the University of Greenwich to become a surgical practitioner.

Margot works with several spinal surgeons at London Bridge Hospital. Her role involves pre-operative assessment of surgical patients, during which she provides information and answers any question which may arise. This service both provides reassurance and establishes a rapport with patients prior to their admission. Margot also acts as the surgical assistant. In addition, both consultants and patients can contact her at any stage be it pre-admission or after discharge.

Anthonia Okorom

Palliative Care Nurse

Anthonia joined the Oncology Ward at London Bridge Hospital in 2004 as a newly qualified nurse. She was then promoted to a Senior Staff Nurse in 2007. Anthonia developed passion for palliative care and became the Deputy Palliative Care Nurse in 2008 and a Ward Junior Sister in 2009.

In view of pursuing her desire, she enrolled and completed an accredited palliative care core skills course with City University. She was appointed Palliative Care CNS in 2010. Her role is to ensure patients with chronic or life-limiting illnesses are supported. This involves providing emotional support, symptom management and support for families. She also facilitates continuity of patients' care in the community ensuring quality of life for a patient facing the end of life.

Anthonia has links with different community teams, hence initiating referrals to them to ensure patients have support at home on discharge. She encourages early referral to the services, which helps to build rapport with patients and families, while providing information and advice throughout their journey. Anthonia and the Consultant in Palliative Medicine run clinics on Friday in the Outpatients Department for symptom management and she review patients in the chemotherapy day unit if required during their visit. She remains the key point of contact for patients with symptoms issues.

Chris Vilas

Spinal Research Nurse

Chris Vilas is a Spinal Research Nurse who works with Neurosurgeons and Spinal Orthopaedic Surgeons here at London Bridge Hospital setting up a database of their outcomes. 

He trained and qualified in the Philippines and came to England in 1999 to continue his nursing career in orthopaedics.  He has become particularly interested in spinal issues and thus seized every opportunity to gain experience in dealing with patients with these conditions. 

He provides information to newly-diagnosed spinal patients who are about to undergo surgery and subsequently reviews their outcomes.  Chris’s work on the Outcomes of Posterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion has been nominated for the Laing & Buisson Clinical Outcomes of the Year award in 2007. 

Chris is now commencing his dissertation for his Masters of Science in Healthcare Research program in King’s College London.

Suzette Bernard

Lymphodema & Breast Care CNS

Biography to be added in due course.