What we do

The Open Doors team is employed by Tower Hamlets GP Care Group.

The team provides nurse education, support, supervision, and assessment to nurses and health care assistants working for general practice teams in Tower Hamlets and others in frontline patient care. The team works alongside the local Tower Hamlets Training Hub in the borough. 

Our experience and achievements

The whole team is qualified and experienced nurses with a background of working in primary care. The four part-time Clinical Tutors, who are all Practice Nurses or Advanced Nurse Practitioners, have clinical roles in General Practice settings as well as their teaching roles for Open Doors. 

The Open Doors Programme has been running since 2008 and has trained over 60 new practice nurses.  The team also delivers courses to HCAs and care home staff including the Care Certificate and clinical skills.

The team won the HENCEL Quality Award for Excellence in Widening Participation and Wider Workforce Development in 2014.

A day in the life of a General Practice Nurse

Meet the team

Jacqui Hodgson

Senior Clinical Tutor

Jacqui has worked in primary care since 1995 and is an experienced educator. She is proud to be a Queens Nurse awarded for dedication to patient care, multi-professional education, and leadership. She joined the Open Doors Team in Feb 2021 and supports student GPNs in practice. She is responsible for the Health Care Assistants Care Certificate and Clinical Skills training and works clinically in Barnet.

Kelly Fletcher

Clinical Tutor, Advanced Nurse Practitioner

Kelly began working in general practice in 2016. She is a lead nurse with postgraduate qualifications in diabetes, asthma/COPD, and advanced clinical practice. Kelly has experience working in a PCN leadership role, and her goal as a Clinical Tutor is to contribute to a system that develops a confident and competent workforce that feels valued and ready to inspire future generations of general practice nurses. Within the Open Doors team, Kelly facilitates ALG, HCA PLT, and weekly student sessions.

Natalie Brown

Clinical Tutor, BSc (Hons) Audiology, PGDip Adult Nursing, PGDip Primary Care

Natalie has a varied background, completing a BSc in Audiology before transitioning to Adult Nursing in 2014. She entered primary care initially as a trainee on the Open Doors Programme and joined the team as a Clinical Tutor at the end of 2020. Natalie is about to complete her PGDip in Advanced Clinical Practice and is aiming to complete her MSc in 2022.

Siu-Ling Wong

Clinical Tutor, BNurs (Hons) Adult Nursing, BSc (Hons) Primary Care - Practice Nursing

Siu Ling joined the Open Doors programme in 2015 as a trainee practice nurse after working at the hospital's adult medical admissions ward and medical high dependency unit. Since becoming a practice nurse, she has enjoyed the varied aspects of care a practice nurse provides to support patients health and wellbeing in the community. Since 2022 she has joined the programme as a clinical tutor and supports health professionals to provide high standards of care through education and mentoring.

Rachael Conley

Clinical Tutor, RGN, MSc Advanced Nurse Practitioner.

Rachael has worked as a Qualified Nurse since 1991 initially in Renal Nursing. She then moved to Tower Hamlets in 2004 where she started working in Primary care. Rachael joined the open doors team in December 2022 as a clinical Tutor. She has post graduate qualifications in Renal Nursing, Infection control, Diabetes care, Family planning and an Advanced Nurse Practitioner MSc.

Call the Practice Nurse! - Podcast

Call the Practice Nurse is our podcast for general practice nursing teams. Brought to you by the Clinical Tutors at the Tower Hamlets Training Hub. 

We're here to give you meaningful topics in bite-sized chunks, straight from the mouths of those in the business of primary care.

Listen here

Contact us

If you have any enquiries, please contact the Workforce Programmes Manager, Ekramul Hoque.

ekramul.hoque@nhs.net