Kathryn Oakes

Kathryn qualified as a Registered General Nurse (RGN) at Chester school of Nursing in 1990. She gained experience in general nursing before joining the Institute of Liver Studies at Kings College Hospital in 1994.

Kathryn rotated through the Hepatology wards and Liver intensive care unit and became a ward sister in 1996. During her time as a ward sister she completed the ENB 998 (teaching and assessing), ENB 934 (care of those with HIV) and ENB A09 (care of those with liver disease), a counselling course and diploma in Nursing and gained unique experience working with patients with acute and chronic liver disease and liver transplant patients.

Kathryn left the Institute of Liver Studies for a brief period to work in a nursing administration role and to gain intensive care experience. She returned to the Liver unit in 2004 to work as a Viral Hepatitis Clinical Nurse Specialist and has been the Senior Nurse for Viral Hepatitis since 2008. She currently leads a team of nurse specialists which has developed a nurse led fibro scanning service, a range of patient information leaflets, a support group for patients (Hepatitis United group) and an antenatal liaison service. The team have also set up community outreach clinics for HCV infected substance misusers in partnership with Lambeth addiction services and outreach clinics within GP surgeries for patients infected with HBV. Additionally Kathryn has set up and runs a nurse prescribing service for patients with hepatitis B virus and has expertise in treating complex patients and patients requiring treatment with protease inhibitors.

Kathryn has been a speaker at the European Association for the Study of Liver (EASL) nurses forum and teaches widely on a national and regional level with recent talks to antenatal and community drug and alcohol services, advanced practitioners and at the Joint London Working Group Conference.

Kathryn qualified as an independent nurse prescriber in April 2009 and has completed an honours degree in nursing studies. She is also a committee member of the BASL nurses forum (BASLNF), is on the editorial panel of the BASLNF toolkit and sits on the Joint London Working Group pilot project group in an advisory capacity.