Our Team

Andy Mitchell is Co-Production Manager at the Ambulatory Emergency Care (AEC) Network and also works clinically as an Advanced Nurse Practitioner. He supports organisations in their implementation and development of AEC services and has particular interests in mobilising the nursing workforce and patient experience.

Prior to being seconded to the AEC Network Andy developed and implemented a nurse led AEC service in a London District General Hospital where he was responsible for driving the evolution of both the role of nurses and systems for care delivery.

Andy has 15 years experience in Emergency Care both within the NHS, private sector and internationally. He developed his career in a number of Accident & Emergency departments as well as other Acute and Critical Care areas having roles including Senior Charge Nurse and Advanced Nurse Practitioner. During this time he also spent time working in Australia in a variety of urban and rural environments. He is also a visiting lecturer for a number of postgraduate programmes and is keen on promoting advanced nursing.

Andy is a member of the Royal College of Nursing and is involved in both Advanced Practice and Emergency Care specialist forums; he is also a member of the Society of Acute Medicine. Andrew is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and active in areas such as health, social engagement and behaviour change. Andy is also a Fellow of the British Society of Ambulatory Emergency Care and an inaugural council member responsible for the development Nursing practice.

Deborah Thompson MSC, Dip HE, RGN is Programme Director for the Acute Frailty and Ambulatory Emergency Care Networks, two improvement programmes being delivered across NHS England, she has 37 years’ experience in the NHS.

She has undertaken a variety of roles through to Director of Operations. Recently focussing on emergency flow, working with clinical colleagues to design and deliver new models such as ambulatory emergency care and acute services frailty services. She is passionate about working with front line staff to co-produce improvements that deliver high quality care and a positive experience for both patients and staff. 

Dr Vincent Connolly is currently Medical Director for the Emergency Care Improvement Programme, President of the British Association for Ambulatory Emergency Care, Clinical Lead for the Ambulatory Emergency Care Network and Consultant Physician at the James Cook University Hospital.

He has an interest in Diabetes & Endocrinology and a medical doctorate on the impact of social deprivation on diabetes mellitus.

He has been Clinical Lead for the Emergency Care Intensive Support Team since 2010, was a member of the National Clinical Advisory Team and, since 2011, has been Clinical Advisor to Ambulatory Emergency Care Network. In 2015 he became the first president of the British Association for Ambulatory Emergency Care.

Dr Connolly was previously Chair of the North East SHA, Clinical Innovation Team for Acute Care, and a recipient of the Hospital Doctor Acute Medicine Team of the Year Award 2004.

Mike Davidge joined the UK National Health Service in 1979 from manufacturing industry. In the early 1980's he was jointly responsible for creating the first national performance indicators in England and between 1986 and 1992 pioneered reduced waiting times in England and Wales.

He became the Analysis Director for the NHS Modernisation Agency in 2001 and left the MA in February 2005 to take up a role as Director of Analysis & Modelling within the Leeds health economy.

He became Head of Measurement at the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement in 2009 until its closure in March 2013 when he obtained a post of Director with NHS Elect. He was also Senior Improvement Advisor for the 1000 Lives team in NHS Wales from 2008-2013 and then Head of Improvement Methodology in its successor, 1000 Lives Improvement until August 2015.

Mike Holmes as many years' experience of applying simple but powerful statistical techniques to data in the field of quality improvement.

Graduating with a first class honours degree in Applied Statistics and Computing, he has been a fellow of the Royal Statistical Society for 25 years. He worked with the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement on implementation of the No Delays Achiever software - a nationally available computer system designed to load and analyse, interpret the use of waiting time data.

He was also an adviser on data related matters to the Productive Operating Theatre Programme as well as the Care Homes Programme, specifically on the data collection and usage elements where his work resulted in a halving in falls at one care home. He has been working with the Ambulatory Emergency Care Network, advising sites on all aspects of measurement for improvement, since February 2013.

He has visited more than 40 AEC Units along the way helping to demonstrate the impact of AEC Units on A&E Performance, outliers, ambulance handover times, conversation to admission rates, bed days and other key metrics. He also regularly runs workshops and webinars covering data collection, display and analysis as well as writing measurement fact sheets and presenting at national networking events.