BAHNON Representative

Claire Barber
BAHNON Representative

Claire Barber is a Nurse Consultant specialising in Head & Neck Cancers, Thyroid Cancers and Long Term Altered Airways. She qualified as a Registered Nurse in 1991, securing a role as a Staff Nurse in ENT. Realising very quickly that she was destined to work with Head and Neck patients, Claire was accepted on a specialist English National Board training programme in Burns, Plastics and Maxillofacial Nursing in East Grinstead and went on to consolidate her practice across a number of Head and Neck Centres in Manchester.

In 1997 she became one of the first nurses in the UK to undertake a specialist Degree in Head & Neck and on completion, was appointed as Head and Neck Cancer Nurse Specialist at the Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust where she remains today.

Over the last 26 years Claire has elevated her practice by undertaking a Master’s degree in Advanced clinical practice and qualifying as a non-medical prescriber. Working autonomously as an independent practitioner in a rural hospital in North Devon, she engages in specialist and complex decision making, patient assessments, minor treatments and procedures and cancer follow up examinations.

In 2022, Claire became the first female Head and Neck Nurse Consultant in the UK. Her role includes Joint Service Lead for the Head & Neck and Thyroid MDT’s and she is privileged to manage, mentor and lead a small team of specialist nurses whose drive, passion and determination never fail to inspire her. She previously set up a successful international swimming school for neck breathing patients and enjoys delivering Specialist Study Units for medical students at the Peninsula Medical School. Claire was elected as President of the British Association of Head and Neck Oncology Nurses in 2024.