Martin Bedford MA, BA, (Hons), RGN

After gaining a degree in Politics, Martin trained as an adult nurse at Canterbury and Thanet hospitals, qualifying in 1986. Initially working in elderly care, he found his clinical ‘home’ in haematology on a ward that was the inpatient care setting for those with haemophilia and, following the contaminated blood disaster, the centre for HIV positive patients. It was here that Martin’s vocational calling deepened and as ward manager and then Haemophilia/HIV Clinical Nurse Specialist was involved in a number of care innovations. The scope of the role was expansive ranging from HIV testing and result giving, direct patient care and HIV training for both hospital and community health staff.

With the creation of the Kent Comprehensive Care Centre (CCC) for Haemophilia, Martin was responsible for developing the centre’s psychosocial care and presented a number of these care programmes at international conferences, being honoured by the World Federation of Haemophilia with the Inaugural Henri Horoshovsky Psychosocial Award.

As demand for HIV education increased, Martin was approached to join Canterbury Christ Church University as a lecturer practitioner with a focus on integrating HIV education across the health professions curriculum, this later led to a Senior Lectureship. Within the university setting, Martin has developed and taught a range of modules and undertaken a number of roles including chair of the faculty ethics committee.

Although university based, Martin maintained his haemophilia connections, working with the RCN Haemophilia Nurse Association to accredit an international, interprofessional Haemophilia Course; his Master’s thesis on the Mother and Son relationship in Haemophilia, and, leading the working group formulating a competency framework for Haemophilia Nursing.

More recently Martin became the chair of the Nurses Committee of the European Association for Haemophilia and Allied Disorders, acted as education advisor for the European Curriculum for Nurses working in Haemophilia and initiated an evidence-based set of guidelines for haemophilia nursing.

Throughout both his clinical and university career Martin has been involved in Clinical Supervision, supervising both individuals and groups for over 25 years, and spearheaded the introduction of clinical supervision within the adult nursing registration programme.

Martin works with FoNS as an Associate Facilitator for this Resilience-based Clinical Supervision Programme.