Meet the Team

Siobhan Jones - Forum Chair

Headache Nurse Consultant (BSc Hons, NMP, MSc, ADvDip (CPD)

North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust

Siobhan started her nursing career in 2001.

After achieving a BSc in nursing studies in 2004 she landed her first registered nurse role on a busy medical assessment unit gaining a huge amount of knowledge, skills and confidence. From then on she has attained much experience in many areas of neurosciences and neurology.

In 2015 Siobhan was awarded the Non-Medical Prescribing Qualification (NMP) whilst working as a ward manager on a Neuro-Rehabilitation ward for brain injured patients. Working in this environment heightened her enthusiasm and drive to care for such patients in enabling and empowering those who had suffered severe brain injuries to return to some form of normal life post-surgery.

She began her next step of her career at Salford Royal in Manchester 7 years ago and over that time setup the Nurse led Headache service including treatment and consultation clinics. This rapidly growing headache service led to an increasing expansion into the community to form Greater Manchester’s first nurse led community headache service.

Siobhan was awarded an MSc in the Clinical Management of Pain and Headache from the University of Edinburgh in 2019, which helped gain vast insight into the world of research, especially into new migraine treatments. From this she successfully published her first journal article in the British Journal of Neuroscience Nursing with excellent reviews and which has been a platform for future publications. She also completed a clinical examination course at Masters’ level to which has optimised her clinical skills in the assessment of patients.

She is the founder of CHAMPS (Chronic Headache and Migraine Patient Support) group which was set up in 2016 at Salford Royal. She also regularly presents at national and international headache conferences and headache nurse meetings.

Siobhan became a member of the Royal College of Nursing Neuroscience Committee Forum in 2019 and is extremely passionate about bringing headache to the forefront creating a structured approach to headache education and how we introduce and encourage new headache nurses to the field.

In May 2021 Siobhan was successfully appointed Headache Nurse Consultant at North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust. She is looking forward to implementing and leading new initiatives for the way in which primary headache disorders are managed in Cumbria creating an exemplary service which may be replicated within the UK. This in turn will promote efficiency and improve patient outcomes.

Becoming the first Headache Nurse Consultant in the UK is a fantastic opportunity to be a trailblazer for other aspiring nurses or indeed all headache clinicians. She is highly driven in pushing forwards many other exciting initiatives for headache management in the future.

Email Siobhan.

Marie Austin

Lead Nurse - Neurology, Spinal Injuries and Rehabilitation Medicine

Institute of Neurosciences, Queen Elizabeth National Spinal Injuries Unit, Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow

Marie joined the NHS as a Neurosciences Nurse in 2000. Marie has had several roles within the Institute of Neurosciences during her career including Staff Nurse, Charge Nurse, and Senior Charge Nurse within the Neurology services and Neurosciences Night Nurse Practitioner. In January 2020 Marie became Lead Nurse for the Neurology services at the Institute, the National Spinal Injuries and Rehabilitation Medicine at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Glasgow.

Marie is passionate about Person Centred Care and Quality Improvement.

Marie is an active member of the National Neuroscience Benchmarking Group and the British Association of Neuroscience Nursing Committee Member.

Email Marie.