Meet the Specialist with Mandie Walthew, Thoracic Nurse Consultant
We are pleased to share the second in a series of features where we hear from LHCH specialists about their career inspiration, experiences and achievements. This time, we spoke to Amanda Walthew (Mandie) who is a Thoracic Nurse Consultant at LHCH with over thirty years’ experience nursing in cardiothoracic surgery.
Where it Started
Mandie began her nursing journey in 1993 when she undertook her training at Edge Hill University with training at Aintree Hospital and The Walton Centre. We asked Mandie at what point did she decide that nursing would be her future career path.
“I had always wanted to be a nurse since childhood. My sister Lorraine is a nurse too, so it runs in the family! After I qualified in 1996, I applied for a junior nurse role at Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital (then known as The Cardiothoracic Centre). It was much closer to where I lived, the reputation of the hospital was very excellent, and I wanted to work in specialist nursing care.”
Role at LHCH
Mandie’s first role at LHCH was as a staff nurse on a mixed cardiothoracic surgical ward. She said:
“My first job was in cardiothoracic surgery, on a female surgical ward, and I’ve stuck to this speciality all the way through my career. I then worked within Critical Care (HDU/ITU/POCCU) for ten years as a sister and then worked as a nurse practitioner in the Outpatients clinics. I worked part-time for both, and it worked well as I had young children at the time.
“Next, I worked full time in clinic as a clinical nurse practitioner and in 2011 a MSc training post came up for a ward-based advanced nurse practitioner for thoracic surgery. The introduction of advanced nurse practitioners enabled some services to become more nurse led.
“I’ve developed from a novice to an expert in the field. I became the lead for the surgical advanced nurse practitioners before taking on a new role, in 2025, as a Thoracic Nurse Consultant.”
First Thoracic Nurse Consultant
Mandie was appointed in 2025 to the role of Thoracic Nurse Consultant. It’s the first role of its kind to be introduced at LHCH and across the country. She will be presenting, at the Society of Cardiothoracic Surgery Annual Meeting in Belfast on 15-17th March, to share the impact the role has made so far, sharing learning and improved outcomes with peers from across the country.
“The role is to mainly support outpatients following their thoracic (lung) surgery, I follow them up with a progress call around 2-3 weeks after their operation. The feedback we have so far is that patients really appreciate this earlier support. Cancer patients are keen to know their results after their surgery, so it’s hugely improved the service and patient experience.
“Sometimes, if there are any issues, I arrange for them to come in and see me face to face to help resolve them. Often either the same day or following day. This earlier contact means that any problems can be dealt with earlier, preventing readmissions, general practitioner appointments or local accident and emergency department attendances.”
Service Developments
Services have developed and grown as the demand for thoracic surgery has increased over the last decade. Mandie explained:
The principal disease requiring management within thoracic surgery is primary lung cancer. The remaining conditions include other types of thoracic malignancies, effusions, pneuomothoracies, lung volume reduction surgery and management of empyemas.”
“The growth in demand of late has been due to increased lung cancer cases arising from the impact of screening and earlier diagnosis. Also, the emphasis on lung sparing surgery for smaller lesions has led to increased referrals. The commissioning of lung volume reduction and enhanced recovery pathways has also had an impact. Accelerated pathways for pneumothorax, urgent airway intervention and improved management and improvement of frailty and increased access to prehabilitation has led to more operable patients and the need for a robust system to manage this. New technology in particular the emergence of robotic systems has helped with earlier discharges.”
When asked about some of the service developments that have supported the successful delivery increased demand on services, Mandie shared:
“The introduction of the nurse-led chest-drain service in 2015 enabled patients to go home with their chest drain. This has reduced patients’ length of stay. This work was shortlisted for a Nursing Times Award and shared nationally. This then led to me being a contributing writer for The Oxford Handbook of Nursing in 2018 and NICE guidelines on thopaz chest drains”.
“We also introduced ward attender clinics with patients requiring an early review post-surgery. These patients can be pre booked or via the telephone helpline. National lung cancer clinical outcomes publication data in 2021 revealed that we had the lowest readmissions nationally. This service is pivotal in aiding this and helps maintain positive levels of patient experience of care.
“The post-operative lung cancer nurse-led follow up clinic was also developed in 2019. This replaced a consultant/ registrar to review routine follow up thoracic patients requiring surveillance. This also enabled essential training time in theatres for the registrars.
“We introduced the same day management of patients with malignant pleural effusions, with long term drain insertion as a day case, education and training, and support, enabling them to manage self-drainage at home. This work was recognised nationally for which we were a finalist in the 2015 Nursing Times Awards.
“I also developed a CXR competency tool, this has been shared with other Trusts, nationally and internationally. This provides a standardised and systematic approach to chest X-Ray interpretation, diagnostics and decision making. This is still a utilised tool often shared nationally still. This was also highly commended in the Trust’s CQC ‘Outstanding’ report as an innovation, and I received a national presentation prize for this work.”
A National Role
In addition to her role at LHCH, Mandie is the Lead for Nursing and Allied Health Professionals (NAHP) for the Society of Cardiothoracic Surgery (SCTS) in Great Britain and Ireland. SCTS is the representative body for cardiothoracic surgery in Great Britain & Ireland. The SCTS NAHP committee has a group of experts who work tirelessly and voluntarily to make a difference. “I work closely with a team of cardiothoracic experts from across the country. We meet regularly to discuss national agenda and are currently preparing for this year’s annual conference that’s coming up in March 2026. “I am also involved in education both nationally and locally. We have SCTS exciting full weekend of advanced cardiothoracic teaching planned in Derby in January 2026”.
“My advice for new nurses would be to never lose your passion for excellent patient care. No matter how your day is going, you shouldn’t lose that drive as if you make a difference to just one person then it’s all worthwhile.”
Memorable Moments
Asked what she was most proud of from throughout her career so far. Mandie said:
“I achieved my Master of Science (MSc) in advanced practice in nursing when I had very young children, I really enjoyed it and was proud to complete it. And best of all I have two amazing children, my son Ben is an exercise physiologist at LHCH and my daughter Lilly is studying history in York University.
“When I was the team lead for the Surgical Advanced Nurse Practitioners, we received the ‘Team of the Year’ award at the annual LHCH Grand Awards. Last year, I was also so delighted to win the Patient Choice Award with Miss Susannah Love, Consultant Thoracic Surgeon (pictured above). That was so lovely as it is one of the most valuable awards you can receive. However, I genuinely feel valued every day by patients and the team I work with. It means everything to receive good feedback. But most of all I’m proud of feeling valued by my patients, families and colleagues.”
Interests
Outside of work, Mandie enjoys socialising and holidays. Although, she admits that as she loves her role as a nurse that she often takes on additional work commitments such as the lead role for SCTS. It’s clear that she enjoys, and has a clear passion, for making a real difference to thoracic patient care across the country and beyond.