Rizwan Hamid

MBBS, FRCSEd, FRCS(Urol), MD(Res)

Rizwan Hamid is an Associate Professor at University College London and Consultant Urological Surgeon at the University College London Hospitals and London Spinal Injuries Unit, Stanmore, UK.

He specialises in Functional & Neuro-Urology and provides a tertiary care practice in reconstruction of the lower urinary tract. His research involved fertility issues in spinal cord injury men.

He specialises in conservative and surgical management of bladder dysfunction in both male and females. He has particular interest in managing overactive bladder and urinary incontinence in both females and males.

He is the Director of School of Neurourology and Chair of the Neurourology Promotion Committee of International Continence Society. He sits on the Board of Female and Functional sections of EAU.

He has been a principal investigator for a number of clinical trials and has been involved in a number of guidelines initiatives including co-chair for terminology in Neuro-Urology and male surgical procedures. He is also a member of neuro-urology guidelines panel of EAU.

Rizwan is passionate about treating bladder dysfunction in a multidisciplinary manner. He feels that The Bladder Interest Group will provide a platform to help patients interact with each other and healthcare professionals and he is excited to be a part of this initiative.

Polly Weston

Polly is Chair of the Exec Committee for Association for Continence Advice and Team Lead, Bladder and Bowel Service, University Hospital of Morecambe Bay.

Polly trained at the Royal London Hospital initially specialising in colorectal nursing then stoma care. Polly has worked in London, North Wales and Cumbria as well as 2 years in Malawi.

She took up her current position 13 years ago and enjoys leading a team of specialist clinicians. Polly is interested in the Bladder Interest Group as her particular interest is to dispel the taboo of incontinence. She would like to support and encourage clinicians to make every contact count, ensuring patient assessment is holistic and they are asked trigger questions regarding bladder and bowel and offered early intervention and treatment.

Angie Rantell

PhD, RCN ALNP

Angie gained a BSc (Hons) in Nursing Studies from King’s College London in 2003. She started working in the field of women’s health, first as a staff nurse and then as a sister on a Gynaecology, breast care and early pregnancy ward. 

Since 2007, Angie has been working in the Urogynaecology Department at King’s College Hospital and is currently the lead nurse / nurse cystoscopist. She is actively involved in research and was awarded a PhD in Urogynaecology in 2019 investigating sexual function in women with overactive bladder. In 2019 Angie was also awarded RCN credentialing for advanced level nursing practice.

To date she has published over 50 articles in peer reviewed journals and has written book chapters and contributed to national guidelines. As well as her clinical and research activities she provides advice to governmental bodies including NHS England and Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) throughout the UK. She is the current chair of the Nursing and Midwifery special interest group within IUGA.

Angie joined the Bladder Interest Group to work with other like-minded professionals and organisations to further promote and develop awareness of bladder and continence problems.

Sarah Hillery

Sarah Hillery is the Urology Lead Nurse for York & Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Vice President of the British Association of Urological Nurses and editor of the BAUN newsletter. She is an RCN Credentialed Advanced Nurse Practitioner with a specialist interest in continence and over 20 years’ experience in continence management and diagnostic urology. 

Sarah has spoken about continence issues at conferences around the world and lectures at the University of York. She is also a regular columnist for the British Journal of Nursing and has written for the International Journal of Urological Nursing. 

Paula Igualada-Martinez

Ms Paula Igualada-Martinez initially trained as a Physiotherapist in Spain at Ramon Llull University (1995-1998) and qualified in 2000 with a BSc Degree in Rehabilitation Therapy at Manchester University. In 2011, she completed her MSc in Women’s Health Physiotherapy at Oxford Brookes University. Since graduation she has worked in various hospitals across the UK. Since 2007 she has been the Clinical Lead for the Pelvic Health Physiotherapy service at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust (London). This has allowed her to work with the urology, urogynaecology, colorectal, pain and psychosexual teams giving her a great insight into the advanced assessment and treatment of pelvic floor related disorders. In 2020, she started working at Brunel University as a Clinical Lecturer at the Advanced Clinical Practice in Pelvic Health postgraduate course. Her main research interest is the effect of physiotherapy on pelvic floor dysfunction following childbirth.

Jacq Emkes

Since 2009 Jacqueline (known as Jacq) has had various urological procedures for complex bladder dysfunction including: boari flap, nephrectomy, colposuspension and autologous rectus fascial colposacropexy. In addition, Jacq has had stents, nephrostomies and indwelling, suprapubic and disposable catheters too. Infections have been complicated by resistant bacteria and allergic reactions to some antibiotics. The infections have caused rapid spinal degeneration. This has meant a spinal fusion in 2011, spinal injections and a spinal implant have been necessary to try to cope. Jacq made the decision to retire from teaching and try to raise awareness of bladder problems. Of course, this is a subject that people do not like to discuss, however she aims to break down the taboos. Patients sometimes feel treatments are delivered to us rather than with us. Patients working with researchers and clinicians makes a massive difference to outcomes.

The various groups I have volunteered with include:

• Alternative Urological Catheter Systems Ltd with Sam Martin, Lars Pedersen et al – my involvement is as patient advocate
• Patient Representative for the National Bladder and Bowel Health Project NHS England and Excellence in Continence Care Board – Chair National Bladder and Bowel Project Patient and Carer forum
• University of Southampton working with Professor Mandy Fader Margaret Macauley to update and refresh the website
• All Parliamentary Political Group (Continence)
• NICE Guidelines CG 171 which was a sensitive guideline dealing with women’s Urinary Incontinence and Pelvic Organ Prolapse

Anne Connolly, MBE

Anne’s history of supporting women’s health speaks for itself. She spent two years at a mission hospital in rural Zimbabwe, before returning to General Practice in inner-city Bradford in 1990.

She provides care for under-served communities in the area including asylum seekers, refugees, homeless people and sex workers. She is a GP with a Special Interest in Gynaecology, accredited as a hysteroscopist, colposcopist and Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare (FSRH) trainer.

Anne has been involved with commissioning since 2006 and is a Bradford City Clinical Commissioning Group Clinical Board Member with a remit for maternity, women’s, children, and young people’s healthcare.

She is also Royal College of General Practice Clinical Champion for Women’s Health and previously Vice President, Membership at the FSRH.

Anne is a Founding Member and Chair of the Primary Care Women’s Health Forum. The PCWHF is a community interest company and membership organisation for primary care clinicians with an interest in women’s health.

Dudley Robinson

Dudley Robinson trained at the Royal London Hospital qualifying in Medicine with MBBS in 1991. Throughout his training in Obstetrics and Gynaecology he has worked in and around London prior to undertaking a 3 year research fellowship with Professor Linda Cardozo in the Department of Urogynaecology at Kings College Hospital, London. He has published over 40 peer review papers, 70 published abstracts, 55 review articles and 37 book chapters. In addition he has co-authored two books on urinary incontinence. He was appointed as honorary senior lecturer at Kings College London in 2009 and as a fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in 2010. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and a member of the council for the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Section.