Meet the Team
Biographies
Sarah Hall, QN
Forum Chair
General Practice Nurse Strategic Lead
Sarah has had a long and varied career within a broad range of specialities such as Care of the Elderly, Haematology, Neonatal and Adult Intensive Care, undertaken in hospitals in London, Kent, Australia and Devon. She also has 22 years’ experience of working in primary care as a General Practice Nurse.
Sarah has been Â鶹ÊÓƵ Branch vice-chair, seconded to work on several NHSE projects relating to general practice nursing, as well as contributing to journal articles and reviews of national standards. Sarah leads an active GPN Leads Virtual Network across Devon and is an active member of the SW GPN Leads Group.
Sarah’s current role is General Practice Nurse Strategic Lead, Devon Integrated Care System (ICS). This role is embedded within the Integrated Care Board (ICB) and brings responsibility for ensuring the delivery of the Devon General Practice Nurse Strategy, as well as ensuring that there is visible nurse leadership and senior support for Practice Nursing and its ongoing development as a profession across Devon ICS.
Sarah is a Queens Nurse and has been a member of the RCN GPN Steering Committee member of the Â鶹ÊÓƵ GPN Forum since 2018.
Penny Sibthorp
Vice Chair
Clinical Effectiveness Lead and Lead for Advanced Practice
Penny qualified as a nurse in 2001 and started her career in Medical Assessment and later Accident and Emergency at a busy district hospital. She then spent time working at a teaching hospital in Sydney, Australia before returning to the UK and securing a role as a District Nurse.
Following a PCT restructuring, she undertook a six-month Practice Nurse Apprenticeship and moved into general practice where she worked for 18 years leading and managing the nursing team across two sites in a large town centre practice in Suffolk. In addition, she was on the committee of the local Primary Care Nurse Forum and was nurse representative for her local PCN where she ensured that the voice of the nursing team was fairly represented and highlighted issues that may affect future service delivery.
Having recently worked as Clinical Effectiveness Lead and Lead for Advanced Practice, Penny is currently working for a not-for-profit community interest organisation as Nursing, Workforce and System Development Lead. She stills works clinically within General Practice one day a week.
Frances Baverstock
Frances qualified as a nurse in London in 2001 and took up her first position within a surgical ward. On moving to Milton Keynes in 2003 she started her career in General Practice Nursing. She now has 23 years of experience of nursing within primary care, specialising within respiratory care.
Frances has led on placing student nurses into general practice and her team won the Student Nursing Times Community placement of the year in 2018. Frances was the Lead Nurse for the local Federation and worked collaboratively with practices to support all nurses within general practice. Frances was honoured to receive the “Chief Nursing Officer Silver Award” in 2019 for her dedication to Primary care and General Practice Nursing.
Frances holds a postgraduate certificate in Advanced Practice in Health and Social Care and is working towards her MSC in Professional practices in Health.
Frances moved to North Wales in 2020 and is now working as Primary Care Lead Nurse. She continues to advocate for General practice nurses and strives for equity and parity for nurses and for the patient population. Frances is a Florence Nightingale Scholar, and was the first General Practice Nurse to be awarded the leadership scholarship. The scholarship ignited her passion for leadership and being brave.
La Toya De Freita
General Practice Nurse
La Toya qualified as a nurse in 2000 in Guyana, South America. She then migrated to the UK in 2003 and worked in Neuroscience and Critical Care. La Toya undertook a 1 year transition to general practice in 2017 via LSBU by completing a Specialist Practitioner GPN degree. As a Practice Nurse she was able to fulfil her passion for health promotion and health inequity.
La Toya works as a GPN 3 days week. She is currently working a part time role with the severe asthma team tackling health inequality of asthma with primary care. La Toya is very passionate about health promotion, providing best care for the population, reaching those that do not engage and raising the profile of primary care as GPNs are the gate keepers and collaborate between secondary and primary care.
Sara Baldwin
Clinical Nurse Lead
I celebrate 36 years in the NHS this year, having spent the last 20 in primary care. I took my BSC in Nursing in General practice at UClan and am an independent non-medical prescriber. I am RCN credentialled and work as an advanced GPN with a focus on long term conditions. I am a huge advocate for clinical supervision and nurse support having been blessed with a fabulous mentor when I came into primary care. Everyone deserves a “Pauline” to help them embed and develop in this amazing role.
My engagement within primary care, non-medical prescribing, and leadership roles such as being a Queen’s Nurse and part of primary care training hub is focused on a passion to show that nurses are effective, creative leaders who can develop and promote nursing in every avenue. I have been a member of the Shared decision-making council for primary Care for the last 4 years and relish this opportunity and that being a Queen’s Nurse and now the RCN has given me in helping to promote our profession, engaging with other nurses and ideas.
With my experience to date I have always tried to develop and include all the staff within my care, ensuring they work within their own remit and competencies. It is essential that we treat and are treated with the respect that nursing deserves. We are highly educated, motivated and creative thinkers, who strive to provide best practice in the present difficult circumstances. I consistently strive to ensure that nurses have value and are valued for the impact they give to their patients and the NHS as a whole.
Venetta Norgrove
Venetta is a Nurse Practitioner with over 20 years’ experience in primary care, with a strong track record in clinical practice, leadership, and workforce development. Throughout her career, she has been committed to supporting and advocating for general practice nurses, contributing to education, professional development, and system leadership across North West London.
Venetta has held senior roles including Lead Nurse for Ealing, Chair of the Ealing Practice Nurse Forum, and CEPN Lead Nurse for Hounslow, working closely with practice nurses, PCNs, and system partners to strengthen the primary care nursing workforce. She is currently Clinical Lead Education Nurse for Ealing and continue to lead the Ealing Practice Nurse Forum, supporting nurses through education, mentorship, and collaborative professional networks.
Her experience includes chairing complex multidisciplinary meetings, influencing strategic decision-making, and addressing health inequalities, safeguarding, and quality improvement within primary care. She is passionate about promoting professional recognition, equity, and development for general practice nurses and ensuring their voice is represented at local and national level.
Hannah Pollock
Hannah's nursing career began in 2015 where she qualified as an adult nurse in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. She spent some years working there as a ward nurse intensive care nurse, community nurse before moving to Northern Ireland where she has pursued a career in General Practice. In the past six years she has completed specialist practice in respiratory condition management and diagnosis, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, heart failure, and cervical cytology. In 2024 she completed her V300 non-medical prescribing qualification which has broadened her scope of practice.
Her substantive post sees her manage a team of treatment room nurses and nursing assistants alongside undertaking her own clinics with particular passion for quality improvement projects and policy development within the practice, particularly around wound care. She had developed a protocol for managing anti-coagulation within primary care, which she would teach on behalf of the RCN locally.
Hannah is a regular attendee of RCN Congress as a voting member and non-voting member and is always keen to be the voice of General Practice. She is a published author in a number of nursing and medical journals and 'Northern Ireland's Primary Care Nurse of the year' award winner 2025.
She plays an active role in promoting General Practice Nursing as a career pathway within the profession as well as working to engage pre reg and school leavers into the profession and speciality. She is keen to bring her passion for change management and evidence-based practice into her new role in the RCN GPN Forum over the coming years.
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Kim Ball
Professional Lead - Primary Care
With over 11 years of experience as a registered nurse, Kim has spent much of her career working in General Practice in a variety of clinical and leadership roles. Kim is passionate about General Practice nursing development and education and has also worked as an associate lecturer and nurse educator. Kim is focused on shaping the future of primary care nursing and has successfully led numerous initiatives and is excited to be supporting new projects through the work of the RCN forums.
In her other roles, Kim provides professional advice, pastoral support, and advocacy for general practice nursing staff as Director of Nursing at her local medical committee and supports quality processes for learning organisations through her work with the local training hub.
