Hazel Mackey has worked in rehabilitation / reablement settings since 1986, firstly within elderly care and latterly in various primary care settings. For the last 10 years she has been involved in the education and training of therapy support workers through National Vocational Qualifications at levels 3 and 4. She is currently on a steering group overseeing the introduction of ‘generic’ rehabilitation support workers into intermediate care settings with North Staffordshire. She is Occupational Therapy Services Manager at Bucknall Hospital in Stoke-on-Trent and is undertaking a Professional Doctorate in Education at Keele University.

Susan Nancarrow is a Senior Research Fellow and research coordinator with Trent Focus, based at the University of Sheffield. Her research interests include workforce development and workforce flexibility, especially for allied health professions. Within this, she is interested in the introduction of new roles through the growth of support workers. Susan trained as a podiatrist in Australia and has worked in a range of clinical roles, including Aboriginal health, private practice, primary health care delivery in northern India, chief podiatrist and multidisciplinary service manager for a community health service. She completed her PhD at the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University on the role of health outcomes in accountability systems for community health services. She moved to the UK in late 2001 to work as a research fellow and senior lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University. She has written a book for the South Yorkshire healthcare confederation on Intermediate Healthcare.