Meet the Team
More information about the forum committee
Doris Corkin
Forum Chair
Doris is delighted to be in her second term of office with the RCN, as a forum steering committee member and appreciates opportunity to highlight the Northern Ireland perspective. Doris has both adult and children’s training and has specialised in neonatology for over twelve years. Doris worked in an acute medical / surgical ward for six years and was instrumental in establishing a new community children’s nursing service before accepting her current teaching position in 2003.
Doris' higher education teaching commitments include pre-registration and postgraduate nursing including masters level, with specific interests in the nursing care of young people with critical / complex / palliation needs, encouraging service user / carer involvement within the curricula.
As a module coordinator, Doris makes every effort to develop her clinical skills within the field of children’s nursing through facilitation of inter-professional education and has presented her teaching, research and travel awards at national and international conferences.
Doris is lead editor of a unique care planning textbook, invited to write numerous chapters and articles with nursing colleagues and students and contributed widely to RCN Documents including Congress fringe events. Has held a number of external examiner university appointments, member of professional committees /organisations and continues to actively inspire students and motivate healthcare professionals in relation to life-long learning.
Lucie Planner
Lucie is Lead Children's Nurse in the Children’s Transformation Team for the South East, NHS England. They support the Integrated Care Systems across the South East on key deliverables to improve children’s outcomes.
One of Lucie's focus’ has been on children’s nursing workforce and challenges with delivery of care. She has an extensive multidisciplinary network that helps support the transformation programme outcomes and she collaborates with interdependent teams.
Previous roles have included working in the independent sector in a national lead nursing role. Prior to this, roles included nurse practitioner in children’s orthopaedics, children’s infectious diseases team and nursing roles in orthopaedics and high dependency.
Lucie's career began as a nursing assistant before undertaking my nursing degree. She is a current committee member of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) CYP professional issues forum.
Her hobbies include time with my husband and children and creating outdoor adventures together. She is passionate about sustainability and empowering others to tackle our health emergency of climate change. She is driven to improve outcomes for children and young people (CYP) as well as whole population and the planet. She believes in collaboration over competition and harnessing opportunities together incorporating the representative voice of service users and care providers to best deliver outstanding results.
Susie Wilkie
Lecturer in education in Queen’s University Belfast
Susie attained her nursing degree in Scotland and worked on a paediatric ward in a general hospital before moving back to Northern Ireland. Here she took up a post in the Northern Ireland Children’s Hospice and worked complex needs in the community. During her time at NICH she completed her MSc in Caring for Children and Young People with Complex Health Needs in Queen’s University Belfast.
Susie Wilkie is now a lecturer in education in Queens University Belfast within the Children’s nursing team and teaches into the undergraduate programme and post registration courses in palliative care.
Susie has a special interest in neurodiversity and is passionate about professionalism and high standards of care for children and families. She has been involved in publications for children’s nursing.
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Carli Whittaker: Professional Lead
Carli has been appointed as the Head of Nursing Practice - Children and Young People (CYP) in the Nursing Practice Academy of the RCN Institute of Excellence.
Being Australian and having completed her Nursing Degree at Sydney University, Carli has utilised nursing to travel and gain extensive international clinical experience in a variety of fields before finding her passion in Children’s Nursing and Paediatric Critical Care (PCC).
Carli completed her MSc Advanced Nursing in 2012 in comparing educational approaches in achieving clinical competence. Carli is currently undertaking her PhD in the exploration of children’s nurses and the retention challenges faced. Carli was the PCC Educator for 11 years at Nottingham Children’s Hospital prior to her role as Director of Clinical Skills (Associate Professor) in the School of Health Sciences (SHS) at University of Nottingham. Carli has also had roles as the Consultant Editor for RCNi Nursing Children and Young People and as the TOC21 Chief Examiner for Children’s Nursing.
Carli’s clinical interest and expertise predominantly focuses on Paediatric Critical Care but is extremely passionate about all professional nursing issues whilst advocating for children and young people and children’s nurses.
Carli is passionate about research, teaching and learning and has extensive knowledge and skills in delivering professional education. She works in collaboratively in partnership with the NHS, private and independent sector, and professional, statutory and regulatory bodies.
Carli's priorities for the coming months are:
- supporting and empowering the CYP workforce
- exploring the challenges of mental and physical health of CYP and their families to who care is provided
- ensuring all our work is considered from an equality, diversity, and inclusion perspective.
To enable progress in these priority areas she will:
- Listen to, learn from, encourage, and work with RCN members to provide support and guidance to enable the delivery of crucial and contemporary CYP work.
- Work collaboratively with all teams to ensure the challenges facing CYP, their families, and the workforce supporting them, are acknowledged and prioritised.
- Collaborate to ensure the CYP nursing voice is heard; whilst utilising expertise to influence and create change at strategic levels to shape service provision and priorities at a local, national, UK and international level.
Page last updated - 18/07/2024
