TALC

Meet the team

Dr Avril Danczak, Medical Educator and GP wrote most of the material, with help from fellow members of the TALC team, bringing her experience as GP trainer, Appraiser, GP Tutor and organiser of Study Release Courses for GPs in training. She is a veteran tutor from many consultation skills Masterclasses in the North West. She has also published “Mapping Uncertainty in Medicine; what do you do when you don’t know what to do?" (RCGP books) And ENGAGE ENERGISE ENRICH EVALUATE a practical guide to medical education, available by clicking the button below.
Dr Avril Danczak
GP and Medical Educator
Pratical Guide
Dr Mohan Kumar is a GP from Wigan and Associate Dean of Primary Care at Heath Education England. He brings his experience as a GP, Trainer, Appraiser and facilitator of the Consultation Skills Masterclass to the vibrant TALC Team. Mohan has designed the infographics that accompany Avril's text and has contributed to the podcasts. Mohan has published and blogged extensively on Resilience, Teaching, Cultural Competence and Effective Learning Environments among other subjects. He has also published 'Workforce for the future' strategy and research for emerging Health and Care bodies available by clicking the buttons below. His essays on various subjects can also be found below.
Dr Mohan Kumar
GP and Associate Dean
Workforce Strategy
Workforce for the future
Essays
Dr Anne Thomas is a GP and Primary Care Medical Educator in Manchester. Anne is course organiser for the South and Central Manchester GP trainee scheme. Over the last few years she has developed a consultation skills training course delivered as part of the GPST educational programme. Anne was inspired to create a resource to complement consultation skills training and as part of the TALC team Anne has assisted Avril in writing chapters and contributed to podcasts.
Dr Anne Thomas
GP and Medical Educator
Julian has been a GP since 1999 and works in a Bolton training practice. He is a Primary Care Medical Educator in South and Central Manchester where he has also spent time as a Training Programme Director. Julian enjoys all aspects of GP teaching and has a particular interest in the importance of consultation skills and communication. Julian felt there was a need to make consultation skills resources more 21st Century and loves working with the TALC Team where he has contributed to podcasts and videos.
Dr Julian Tomkinson
GP and Medical Educator
Jonathan is an academic GP trainee based in South Manchester, although from August 2021 will be working as a salaried GP in Rochdale. He has an interest in education, particularly the development of consultation skills, and regularly teaches both students and clinicians in training. Jonathan has been involved in creating TALC resources aimed at clinicians in training and has enjoyed learning from the rest of the team through the podcast recordings and chapter reviews.
Dr Jonathan Squibbs
Academic GP Trainee
Liam is a part of the Greater Manchester Training Hub, where he has worked since 2018. He is responsible for all regional communications and media, whilst also coordinating learner placements into primary care for Bolton and Wigan. Working with the TALC team, Liam has helped to transform a vision into a reality, developing the pages to ensure that resources are easily accessible for everybody.
Liam Jennion
GMTH Communications and Media
Nelson is responsible for creating the animations at NEROS. He has worked on numerous educational animations in his home country of Brazil and is a film maker and illustrator working in Manchester. Contact him via e-mail: [email protected].
Nelson Vieira de Carvalho
Animator
Website

TALC Associates

Sophie Thomas has 40 years’ experience as a nurse and manager in the NHS and third sector, working in a variety of settings including general medicine, A and E, clinical haematology, elderly medicine, cancer and community palliative care. She has been involved in advance care planning projects since 2004, most recently leading a nurse-led service in West Wales, which was chosen for recurrent funding by local GPs. She is working with the Spanish Red Cross to design and deliver a volunteer-based advance care planning service for English speaking residents in the Axarquia region of Spain.

THANK YOU TO ALL THE MANY PEOPLE WHO HELPED US ALONG THE WAY

In all our meetings, our patients have helped us to be a better clinicians... 

We have learned so much from all our clinical encounters, and in some ways developed skills the hard way, through frequent failure and starting again. Patients are kind and accepted clumsy efforts. The TALC resources aim to help all clinicians working with patients to develop effective consultations more quickly and more easily than we did.

Many fellow clinicians and educators have helped us think more deeply about consultations, and to develop a range of teaching strategies. Many thanks to Dr Bob Kirk, Dr Rebecca Baron, Dr Roy Wallworth, Dr Barry Lewis, Dr Stewart Bailey, Dr Rob Stokes and Dr Alison Lea, Dr Tim Greenaway, Dr Alan Winstanley, Dr Malcolm Thomas, Dr Alan Shirley, all of whom have been generous with their time and discussion, and who have freely shared their thoughts. 

General Practice Trainers on the HEE North West Consultation Masterclass courses have also taught us so much. Special thanks to The group of 2019/2020 for articulating and developing the idea of “Bespoke versus Flat Pack empathy”. All these colleagues and many more have supported trials of the teaching methods, given helpful feedback and been tolerant of the inevitable failures along the way.

Dr Bob Kirk and Dr Rob Stokes from HEENW and Carol McRae of the Greater Manchester Training Hub deserve special thanks for supporting our vision and making the web project possible. Dr Brian O’Mahoney contributed wise counsel at a critical stage. 

Our families have tolerated us being preoccupied when we might have been with them instead. A massive thank you to Dr Francis Creighton, for his unwavering support, from the fuzzy beginnings of this project, to its final form. Many thanks to Daniel Morrison and the Medical Illustration department at Wythenshawe Hospital.

Finally, thank you to all the learners, trainees in General Practice, Nurse Practitioners, and Consultants we have worked with. For many years you have shared your struggles in learning these most essential skills with us. You were willing to try out many teaching methods, some that made the cut into TALC and some that were rightly dropped in to the dustbin of history.