Jane Rutt-Howard

As Programme Director, Jane is responsible for the leadership and management of the undergraduate and postgraduate Physician Associate provision within the School which is aligned to the Faculty of Physician Associate’s Curriculum Framework. Her key teaching responsibilities include prescribing, professionalism, communication and clinical skills making use of a variety of teaching methods from traditional presentations to case-based learning and online delivery. A large part of the programme’s curriculum involves clinical placements and much collaboration takes place between the School and our colleagues in the NHS across primary and secondary care under Jane’s leadership. Jane is co-editor of The Textbook of Non-Medical Prescribing with the third edition having been released in 2020. Jane is the School’s Disability lead. She is a member of the Honorary Awards Committee and one of the three Orators at UCLan.

Jane joined the School in 2016 to join the first cohort of Physician Associate students and is now the Programme Director. Having trained as a nurse in Liverpool she joined what is now Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital in 1990. She remained there until 1998 contributing to the care of patients in surgery, medicine and coronary care. Following a short but fruitful time at University Hospital Aintree (UHA) and University of Liverpool she moved into community care in 2000 where she developed the first Heart Failure Service in the North West in collaboration with UHA, one of her proudest achievements. Returning to University of Liverpool as a student she spent a year gaining MSc in Clinical Nursing which, mixed with her previous teaching experiences at the same HEI, inspired her achievement into the next stage of her career at UCLan, joining a team in Health Sciences to deliver post registration programmes to nurses and paramedics. Before moving to the School she was Course Leader for both a post-registration degree, and postgraduate certificate in advanced practice, for all members of the multidisciplinary team in the NHS. In her current role, developments continue including membership on the Trailblazer group for the Physician Associate Apprenticeship. As a member of the Physician Associate Schools Council, she is a member of a group involved in GMC regulation. Relationships with NHS colleagues continue, as does curriculum development to respond to the changing needs of our graduate PAs and to keep the curriculum responsive to local needs.