Meet Diana

Published: 20 December 2012

Say hello to Diana Finney, who has taken on a new role as a forum committee member

Background

Diana trained at King’s College Hospital in London and has had a 30-year career in nursing. She was a rheumatology nurse specialist for 10 years at Worthing Hospital and came to Brighton and Hove as a consultant nurse in 2008. She is an honorary consultant for Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, where she is a visiting lecturer at Brighton and Sussex University Medical School.

Current roles

She is the Clinical Lead Nurse responsible for the MSK ICATS (Musculoskeletal Integrated Clinical Assessment and Treatment Service) in Brighton and Hove. This integrates working across primary, secondary and community services. She is passionate about patient-centred integrated working, and is committed to improving the quality and effectiveness of care.

Diana has several years’ experience of contributing to various multi-professional projects and has been involved in rheumatology and musculoskeletal (MSK) service commissioning and design processes in West Sussex and Brighton. She has also worked at a national and international level contributing to the work of NICE, the British Society for Rheumatology (BSR), British Health Professionals in Rheumatology (BHPR) and the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) Standing Committee of Health Professionals in Rheumatology.

Her current role has involved setting up and utilising service-specific clinical implementation groups, as well as patient and public involvement, safeguarding, governance and supervision. She also has independent prescribing, soft tissue and joint injections skills and treats patients with rheumatologic conditions in the community.

A wide range

Diana writes: “I have a wealth of experience in rheumatology nursing, both in secondary care inpatient services and outpatient services in primary care and in the community. I’ve worked across the spectrum of seniority within the specialty, and so understand the many perspectives that impact rheumatology nursing. I hope to utilise this experience to support rheumatology nurses.”