At Kidney Care UK we were deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Professor Paula Ormandy and our thoughts at this time are with her family and friends.
Paula was an inspirational figure over many years in the kidney world, driven by her passion for supporting the role of multi disciplinary teams (MDT) in kidney healthcare, and the nursing community, as well as empowering patients.
Originally a renal nurse, as a Professor in Long Term Conditions Research at Salford University Paula built a career in health service research spanning 30 years. She often focused on 'less fashionable' topics, the ones she knew mattered to patients and which would make the biggest difference to their lives: patient experience, the impact of psychosocial support, self-management, education and patient information and digital/social media.
Fiercely committed and straight talking, Paula was interested in what could make a practical difference to patients’ lives today and that didn’t just mean research projects.
Paula being Paula, she wanted to see change and was at the forefront of so many initiatives aligned with her passions to improve care, many of them in partnerships with ourselves at Kidney Care UK. She was a founding member of the Association of Nephrology Nurses UK (ANN UK), the renal nurse membership organisation, and chaired the Kidney Care UK / British Renal Society annual MDT grants round. She was also a founder of the Kidney Information Network, established to inform and connect kidney patients, and Co-chair of the Kidney Patient Involvement Network, working to increase kidney patient involvement in quality improvement, research, and service design.
We all like to think we will leave a legacy but so few of us actually do. Paula did and she will be hugely missed.
ANN UK will be sharing funeral arrangement details and be opening a book of condolence. The ANN UK Secretariat will forward any tributes to Paula’s family. Please send your messages to [email protected]