Consultant Profiles

Dr Sarah Cassar works as an adult psychiatrist in Eating Disorders and is the Medical Director at Huntercombe Hospital, Edinburgh. She trained in London and gained experience in eating disorders under Professor Janet Treasure and Professor Ulrike Schmidt at the Maudsley and Bethlem Royal Hospitals. She has been a consultant psychiatrist since 2004. She was the clinical lead in eating disorders for Kent for three years prior to moving to the Huntercombe Group. Sarah has a diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy from the Institute of Psychiatry and has recently trained in Dialectical Behaviour Therapy. She has lectured to doctors and multidisciplinary teams on eating disorders and psychotherapy for many years. She is an executive committee member of the Eating Disorders Section of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and collaborates on inpatient based multi-centre research trials.

Dr Nicholas Dunne is a consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist with over 20 years experience working in Fife, West Lothian and Edinburgh. He joined The Huntercombe Group in 2006. He graduated from the University College, Dublin Medical School and completed his higher training in Edinburgh. He has also trained as an Analytic Group Psychotherapist. Dr Dunne’s main professional interest is in the promotion of a psychodynamic understanding with an emphasis on group processes and the potential for group processes to facilitate change and learning via the social milieu. He is interested in social and cultural factors and their impact on mental health and behaviour. More recently, he has become interested in the development of therapeutic community principles in a wide variety of contexts, the development of standards for care of children in hospital settings, educational and residential institutions and also the development of community based mental health services. He is a member of the Scottish Institute of Human Relations and has been providing consultation to the CAMHS service in the Western Isles for the past three years.

Dr Agron Ramadani is an accredited specialist in general adult psychiatry with additional training in psychoanalytical psychotherapy at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. He joined The Huntercombe Hospital, Roehampton in 2005 where he currently leads the Neuropsychiatry and Brain Injury Service (NABIS) on Hampton Ward. In addition to a bio-psychosocial model, Dr Ramadani has developed and trialled a combined multi-disciplinary team approach with that of neuro-psychotherapeutic intervention in the treatment of a specifically complex group of patients, who exhibit cognitive decline, mental disorder and behavioural challenge. This approach has initiated an ambitious, unprecedented and unique focus within the team at Roehampton and has had a positive impact on treatment outcomes and reduced length of stay. Dr Ramadani’s special interests include neuropsychiatry and brain injury, intensive care psychiatry, substance misuse and psychoanalytic psychotherapy, particularly personality and eating disorders. He also has first hand experience working abroad with victims traumatised by war and long-term persecution issues which has enabled him to develop a critical awareness of both intercultural issues within mental health and mental health residues, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Dr Ayton has recently returned to the Wedgwood Unit at Huntercombe Hospital, Stafford.

She is a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist with extensive experience in the assessment and treatment of severe eating disorders. Dr Ayton has a longstanding commitment to improving quality of care and outcomes for young people with severe mental disorders.

At a national level, she has been an active member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists Quality Network for Inpatient CAMHS (QNIC), serving both on the Executive Committee and the QNIC Routine Outcome Measure advisory group. She also has a strong interest in the ethical and legal aspects of care, and in the improvement of patient experience, and she has published on these topics.

Remaining a research active clinician throughout her career, she regularly presents at national and international conferences, and her book Anorexia nervosa: hope for recovery, written for carers and sufferers, has been recently published by Hammersmith Press. She is a co-author of the forthcoming ‘Junior MARSIPAN (Management of Really Sick Patients in Anorexia Nervosa) Guidelines, which is a joint publication between the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Institute of Child Health, aiming to improve patient safety in this high risk group.

Dr Ayton enjoys clinical teaching at all levels. She has published an online CPD module for the Royal College of Psychiatrists regarding the assessment of childhood eating disorders. She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Dr Alastair Weir became a Consultant in Rehabilitation Medicine in 1995 and is Lead Clinician in Rehabilitation Medicine at the Southern General Hospital, Glasgow. He specialises in neurorehabilitation, with a particular interest in acquired brain injury rehabilitation. He has a broad range of experience, including ENT and Nutrition and use of Botulinum Toxin (and other techniques) in the management of spasticity. He also has a special interest in Wheelchairs, special seating and prosthetics. He joined Murdostoun Brain Injury Rehabilitation Centre in 2000.

Consultant Neuropsychiatrist with special interest in brain injury at the Thames Brain Injury Rehabilitation Centre. Emeritus Consultant at the Maudsley Hospital and honorary Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, London. Previously Associate Editor of the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. Consultant Neuropsychiatrist and Approved Clinician.

Dr Mike Alcock is an accredited Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist with an additional Honours Degree qualification in Psycho-pharmacology. Dr Alcock joined the Huntercombe Hospital Roehampton in January 2009 and leads the Multi-Disciplinary Team on Kingston Ward - a male ward for individuals with both acute and complex/treatment-resistant mental illness, requiring treatment and rehabilitation in a secure setting. Prior to joining the Huntercombe group, Dr Alcock worked for eight years as a Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist for the Oxford and Buckinghamshire NHS Foundation Trust. He has also served the maximum term of seven years as a member of the Parole Board for England and Wales and is highly experienced in providing medico-legal reports to the Courts on mentally disordered offenders as an expert witness. Dr Alcock’s special interests include assessment/treatment and rehabilitation of individuals whose complex needs have previously resulted in prolonged or repeated hospitalization. Dr Alcock and his highly specialised team have achieved repeated successful outcomes in being able to discharge patients into the community where previously this had not been possible. His forensic experience has enabled patients with a range of potential risky behaviours to be successfully and safely rehabilitated from the low secure setting on Kingston Ward back to their local communities.

Dr Sasha Hvidsten is the consultant for the Psychiatric Intensive Care service at The Huntercombe Hospital, Stafford. She is also the lead clinician for the Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) service at The Huntercombe Hospital, Stafford. She studied at the University of Birmingham Medical School and has worked in and around the Midlands for the last 14 years in areas of child mental health and Paediatrics. Dr Hvidsten is co-founder of the Midlands Neuroscience Network. Particular areas of interest include complex psychiatric presentations, psychopharmacology and challenging behaviour.

Dr Shakeel Ahmad is a consultant psychiatrist and Medical Director at the Huntercombe Hospital, Roehampton. He had an early interest in philosophy and development of human mind and as an undergraduate he co-founded an organisation to promote creative thinking amongst young people by self discipline. He trained in psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry and Maudsley and Bethlem Royal Hospitals from 1988-1993. He has been a consultant psychiatrist since 1996, part of the New Mole rotational training programme at St Georges Hospital training scheme, and also the Clinical Director for General Adult Psychiatry with Surrey and Hampshire Borders Trust. He joined the Huntercombe Group in 2004 to join the team that worked towards establishment of the Huntercombe Hospital, Roehampton and later in developing the Neuropsychiatry and Brain Injury Service at this hospital. He has contributed to the World Health Organisation (WHO) Guide on Mental Health written for Primary Care.

Dr Gordon Bates works as a consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and Medical Director at Huntercombe Hospital, Stafford. An early fascination with child neuropsychiatry led to both psychiatry and neurology training and subsequently an interest in neurodevelopmental work that he has continued alongside his adolescent inpatient work. He has been a consultant since 1999 and has run inpatient units since 2001 Gordon is a Senior Clinical Lecturer with the Department of Psychiatry at Birmingham Medical School and he regularly teaches undergraduates and postgraduates. He is a contributor to the Children’s BNF (British National Formulary) and author of several chapters on neurodevelopmental and liaison topics. Most recently he has written the section on childhood and adolescence for “Essentials of Medicine in Psychiatry” and is working on an ADHD handbook for parents. Gordon holds a fellowship from the Royal College of Psychiatrists

Dr Joss Bray is the Medical Director for Huntercombe Addiction Services with responsibility for the medical treatment of people with addictions in the Huntercombe Centre, Sunderland and Murdostoun Castle, near Glasgow.

He has many years of experience working with people who have drug, alcohol, and mental health problems – in every tier of service provision. After graduating from Newcastle University, he worked as a Psychiatrist for several years including time spent at the Regional substance misuse service, prior to becoming a General Practitioner. After helping to set up a highly successful shared care scheme he left his GP partnership to become a Substance Misuse Specialist. He is an active member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Royal College of General Practitioners.

He is responsible for the RCGP drug and alcohol curriculum for GP trainees in the UK and is a tutor on the RCGP Part 2 Certificate in Substance Misuse as well as being a recognised expert resource for the RCGP for Substance Misuse and Mental Health issues. He has also mentored nurses through non medical prescribing and clinical skills courses and is a reviewer for papers submitted to the British Medical Journal. He is a member of the General Medical Council reference community of doctors which helps to inform the GMC about various national issues.

He was part of the group that produced the 2010 National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) Guidelines for the Physical Treatment of Alcohol use disorders and was commissioned to produce a report by Northumberland on their drug and alcohol services with suggestions for redevelopment. He has also helped to develop guidelines for opiate dependant inpatients in a local district general hospital and clinical protocols for an Inner London residential treatment service as well as developing and implementing the clinical protocols for the Huntercombe Centre and Murdostoun Castle.

Dr Bray is passionate about improving access to high quality substance misuse services for everyone who needs them, and his personal ethos in clinical care is that it is essential to treat people with competence and compassion.

Dr Bray is approved under Section 12(2) of the Mental Health Act.

Dr Helen Gosney trained as a child and adolescent psychiatrist in Yorkshire and Oxford and completed her specialist training in 2007. She holds a diploma in child health having had some prior experience in paediatrics, and a MMedSc in clinical psychiatry. Prior to taking up her current post Dr Gosney was working as psychiatrist in a busy tier 3 NHS CAMHS outpatient team, and completed her training to provide dialectical behaviour therapy. She has special interests in paediatric liaison psychiatry, self harm and attempted suicide.

After undergraduate and postgraduate pursuits in biochemistry, Dr Graham trained in medicine in Newcastle. Having obtained his membership of the Royal College of Physicians and a spell in neurology, he returned to Newcastle to study rehabilitation medicine, completing training in New Zealand. Dr Graham has been a consultant in neurological rehabilitation at Frenchay Hospital since 2004 with in-patient responsibility at Frenchay Brain Injury Rehabilitation Centre. He has interests in acquired brain injury rehabilitation and spasticity management, particularly involving Botulinum toxin and intrathecal Baclofen use. Satellite out-patient clinics with treating physiotherapists have been developed for the management of spasticity. Dr Graham is also involved in education, both in teaching and examining.

Dr Julian Harriss is a Consultant in Rehabilitation Medicine at King’s College Hospital (KCL), and medical director of the Frank Cooksey Rehabililtation Unit. Besides his clinical duties, Dr Harriss is heavily engaged with the British Society for Rehabilitation Medicine, for whom he as written several key components of the UK Rehabilitation Medicine specialty-training curriculum and assessment questions. He holds the honorary position of Senior Lecturer at KCL. Dr Harriss holds degrees in chemistry and mechanical engineering from UK universities, in addition to his medical qualifications. He relocated back to the UK in 2008, bringing a uniquely international perspective to the growing field of Rehabilitation Medicine here at the Harley Street Clinic. His research interests include: Management of spasticity following stroke and traumatic brain injury; use of botulinum toxin following surgical repair of soft-tissue injuries; use of hand-held electronic games to promote brain recovery following stroke. He works with us on a sessional basis running our Spasticity Management Clinic.

Dr John Holloway is a graduate of Bristol University. Having obtained his Membership of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, he went on to train in Neuropsychiatry at the Burden Institute. Since then he has concentrated on the neuropsychiatric complications of Acquired Brain Injury. He has an interest in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), having been a Honorary Lecturer with Professor Bisson at Cardiff University, and is a trained EMDR therapist (eye movement desensitisation and reprogramming). Dr Holloway has been Medical Director of the Frenchay Brain Injury Rehabilitation Centre since 2001. He continued to be the Neuroscience Rehabilitation Lead for North Bristol NHS Trust.

Dr Pall Vidalin Jonsson, consultant psychiatrist at The Huntercombe Hospital, Maidenhead has a particular interest in complex trauma and emerging personality disorder. He is an EMDR (eye movement desensitisation and reprogramming) consultant and has undertaken advanced training in Mentalization Based Therapy (MBT) with Peter Fonagy and Anthony Bateman. He is also interested in systemic therapy and has a Masters Degree from the Tavistock Clinic. He is an Honorary Consultant at Great Ormond Street Hospital where we works with the child and family team and the trauma team.

Dr Dan Shears, consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist, joined The Huntercombe Group in February 2008 and has experience of leading adolescent services in a variety of settings including open inpatient services, medium secure inpatient services and custodial services. He has a special interest in psychological interventions in adolescents with complex psychiatric disorders including those with co-morbid learning disability and those with offending behaviour. He leads the Dialectical Behaviour (DBT) based programme which operates across one of the intensive care units (ICU) and the open Unit. His research interests have included psychiatric and neuropsychological effects of life-threatening physical illness in children, and is developing an interest in risk management in secure psychiatric settings. Dr Shears is the named doctor for Safeguarding (Child Protection) at Huntercombe Hospital Maidenhead. Currently, Dr Shears holds an honorary contract as visiting consultant to HMP Feltham.

Dr Mark Tattersall works as a consultant psychiatrist at Huntercombe Hospital, Maidenhead, specialising in the treatment of eating disorders. A training post in an eating disorders unit in 1985, early in his career, sparked an interest in this sub-specialty which he later developed in higher training, research and subsequent honorary consultant posts in several NHS eating disorder units (including at St George’s and Great Ormond Street Hospitals). He has been a consultant psychiatrist since 1993, initially in the NHS, and has worked full-time at Huntercombe Hospital, Maidenhead since 1997 as the clinical director of the eating disorder service as well as being the medical director of the hospital.