Michelle is a Consultant Nurse for Learning Disability in Northern Ireland, employed by Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, providing leadership and opportunities for nursing role development. Michelle is Co-Chair of the UK Learning Disability Consultant Nurse Network, and has been instrumental in bringing the NI Consultant Nurses for Learning Disability to the table. Michelle has lead on nurse development initiatives, which include Quality Improvement and health promotion.

Michelle is involved in local, regional and national research and in her consultant role promotes its value in everyday evidence-based nursing practice. Michelle was the lead author on a recent publication titled “Transforming urgent and emergency health care access through innovation” published in the British Journal of Nursing (2025), which was coproduced in conjunction with consultants and academics throughout the UK.

Working with multidisciplinary colleagues, Michelle has developed and co-delivered “Unlocking Abilities - A Training Programme to Inform and Empower Mental Health Nurses Caring for People with Learning Disabilities” for mental health inpatient staff. This collaborative work led to Belfast Trust becoming the first trust in Northern Ireland to participate in the UK Learning Disability Benchmarking, which was presented as innovative practice to a UK-wide audience, demonstrating leadership in intellectual disability services.

Michelle’s main interests and clinical focus at present includes the development of a brain health piloted in one area of the Belfast Trust, alongside ongoing research into healthcare accessibility and equity for people with learning disabilities.