Meet the team
The original C19-YRS scale was developed by a team of clinicians and academics from The University of Leeds, Leeds Community Healthcare and Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trusts and Airedale NHS Trust during the first wave of COVID-19.
The core team has been supported by research-active clinicians across the UK and internationally to take soundings and gather feedback in order to rapidly develop the most effective screening tool to assess the complex mix of persistent symptoms experienced by patients due to COVID-19.
The C19-YRS is continuously being improved and iterated over time as we learn more about the condition using feedback directly from patients and clinicians using both the paper and digital C19-YRS with ELAROS and by carefully considering other emerging research. Any changes to the questionnaire will be rapidly implemented into the digital version for those who wish to adopt it. The paper version that has been recommended for routine use in December 2020 can be found here.
In 2021 the team won a joint award in Medipex’s NHS Innovation Awards for their work with ELAROS and the Leeds Long Covid Team in the Management of Long-Term Conditions category.
Dr Manoj Sivan
Associate Clinical Professor and Honorary Consultant in Rehabilitation Medicine (RM) with University of Leeds and Leeds NHS Trusts.
He led UK’s first study on Covid-19 long term symptoms (long Covid) published in July 2020 that led to the setting up of UK’s first Long Covid service in Leeds in Sept 2020. He also led the development of the C19-YRS (Yorkshire Rehabilitation Scale), a NHS England and NICE recommended tool for assessment and monitoring of the condition. His current research interests are developing rehabilitation interventions for Long Covid symptoms and outcome measurement of the condition.
His previous research on home-based rehabilitation robots has won several awards including the European Academy of RM prize and the UK Philips Nichols prize. His research has received grants from NIHR, MRC, EPSRC, ISRT, Research England and RCP.
He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Oxford Handbook of Rehabilitation Medicine. He is also the President-Elect for the British Society of Rehabilitation Medicine (BSRM)
Professor Rory O'Connor
Rory O’Connor is the Charterhouse Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine, Chair of the Academic Department of Rehabilitation Medicine and a Pro-Dean for Research and Innovation at the University of Leeds. He is Lead Clinician and honorary consultant rehabilitation physician in Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. He is also Deputy Clinical Director and Rehabilitation Technology theme lead for the National Institute for Health Research Devices for Dignity MedTech Co-operative (D4D).
He trained in Medicine at University College and St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin. He undertook clinical training in rehabilitation medicine at the National Rehabilitation Hospital of Ireland and the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, and in research at University College London, obtaining his MD in 2005.
His leadership roles include chair of the national committee for Rehabilitation Medicine training at the Joint Royal Colleges of Physicians Training Board from 2010 to 2016, membership of the NICE stroke guideline development group from 2010 to 2013 and membership of NICE’s Medical Technologies Advisory Committee from 2013 to 2016. He was Honorary Secretary of the British Society of Rehabilitation Medicine from 2009 to 2013. He is currently an executive committee member of the Baltic and North Sea Forum of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine and an editorial board member of the Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine.
Dr Stephen Halpin
Stephen Halpin is a consultant in Rehabilitation Medicine in the NHS in Leeds, and Senior Clinical Research Fellow in the University of Leeds. He has been central to developing the city’s nationally leading Community Covid-19 Rehabilitation Pathway and works clinically with patients with Long Covid /post Covid-19 Syndrome. His other areas of practice encompass both inpatient and community complex and neurological rehabilitation, and research areas include Long Covid, chronic pain and sleep disturbance, and global rehabilitation.
Senior Research Fellow and Consultant in Rehabilitation Medicine
The University of Leeds
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and Leeds Community Healthcare Trust.
Dr Nick Preston PhD
Dr Nick Preston is a postdoctoral researcher with a background in adult and paediatric physiotherapy (Neuro-Development, Musculoskeletal, Orthopaedics, Neurological Wards and Respiratory Care (ICU, Cardiac ICU, Neonatal Intensive Care and Surgery) and in the community (schools, homes and clinics)). Nick has held posts in the Academic Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at The University of Leeds, where he acted as the physiotherapy advisor on movement and rehabilitation of children with cerebral palsy, as well as managing the day-to-day aspects of studies to develop and test assistive robotic technology in homes and schools.
Nick will be responsible for supporting the University’s ongoing research into long Covid by liaising with clinics who adopt the system to ensure only the minimum essential data is gathered for research purposes only.
Research Fellow
Academic Department of Rehabilitation Medicine
Faculty of Medicine & Health
The University of Leeds
Dr Denise Ross MCSP, PhD
Dr Denise Ross is a clinical academic specialist physiotherapist within the field of complex and neurological rehabilitation. She works at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, and leads R&I for the Physiotherapy Services.
Denise has been instrumental in the development of the COVID rehabilitation pathway in Leeds and works within the Leeds COVID rehabilitation research team.
Denise’s PhD used mixed methods for the conceptualisation, development and testing of a clinically focused outcome measure. She represents the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy in the co-production of the publication: Key questions to ask when selecting outcome measures: a checklist for Allied Health Professionals.
R&I lead for Physiotherapy
Clinical specialist physiotherapist complex rehabilitation
Independent and supplementary prescriber
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Dr Mike Horton PhD
Dr Horton is an academic Research Fellow at the University of Leeds, and the Director of Leeds Psychometric Laboratory for Health Sciences. He has over fifteen years of applied health research experience, and his research interests focus around measurement science, psychometrics, and implementing Rasch Measurement Theory to create measures of latent constructs. He is an enthusiastic advocate of psychometric methodology, and is committed to developing the next generation of patient reported outcome measures.
Dr Horton is also the primary instructor on a range of world renowned Rasch analysis courses, and is part of a broad, international multidisciplinary collaborative network which looks to shape methodological advances in patient reported outcome measures.
Jeremy Gee BSc MSc mCSP
Jeremy qualified as a Physiotherapist in 2009 working rotationally across a wide variety of key areas within Airedale NHS Foundation Trust before focussing mainly on rehabilitation of older adults both in inpatient and community settings. After completing a Masters in Advanced Practice at the University of Leeds in 2019 Jeremy has expanded his holistic management of people within the community setting.
The Covid-19 pandemic has raised significant challenges and the need for a co-ordinated rehabilitation response. With a strong interest in rehabilitation, multi-disciplinary working and a passion for holistic care, working towards a whole system approach to Covid-19 has been a natural progression from Jeremy’s experience so far.
Community Advanced Practitioner
Airedale NHS Foundation Trust
Amy Parkin
Amy is a senior neurological occupational therapist, currently on secondment with the COVID research team. She usually works at a specialist complex neurological rehabilitation unit, with a special interest in traumatic brain injury and motor processing. She is advancing her research skills in preparation for return to clinical practice and potential clinical academic career.
Research AHP / Research support (secondment) | Covid-19 Rehab team
Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust
Sophie Makower
Sophie qualified as a physiotherapist in 1989. After gaining broad experience she specialised in neurology. She has worked clinically for many years in rehabilitation, working with patients with a variety of conditions and within different NHS services and settings – inpatients, outpatients and community. She has had a variety of research experience within rehabilitation. She has worked as a research physiotherapist within a multi-disciplinary research team at the University of Leeds developing and investigating therapeutic exercise devices for people with stroke. She has supported the delivery of research as a therapist and as principal investigator within a clinical stroke service. Since retiring from the NHS in 2018 she has continued to work in a research physiotherapist / research support role within a number of projects.
Research Physiotherapist / Research support | Covid-19 Rehab team Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust