Charlotte Wells

Charlotte completed her post graduate certificate in higher education whilst teaching at The University of East Anglia, where she led the content and delivery of cardio-respiratory content for both the Physiotherapy undergraduate BSc(hons) and Post graduate Masters programs.

She has been a guest lecturer at The University of Essex on the BSc Physiotherapy program and runs workshops for Doctors and Healthcare professionals at Imperial University on their post graduate Asthma and Allergy Masters.

She speaks regularly at national and international conferences such as the Kings James Price Paediatric Respiratory conference, the Respiratory Professional Care Conference, at The Royal College of Paediatric and Child Health study days as well as running a post graduate course on Buteyko Breathing Techniques for Healthcare professionals.

Charlotte has a passion to ensure learning is accessible to all having developed guidelines for producing materials, teaching, and supporting students with neurodiversity and those students who come from over sees and English is not their first language and in digital competence and confidences.

Charlottes research activity involves qualitative and mixed methods work including co-design of services and interventions, feasibility and accessibility work of services including all stakeholders and digital story telling. Her quantitative work involves retrospective cohort analysis and building logistic regression modelling to develop screening tools in clinical practice.

Grants:

Co-applicant Action medical research. Grant awarded March 2022-2024. Research title: Connecting breath and mind: Development of an online holistic treatment programme connecting psychological wellbeing and breathing techniques in children and young people with long-COVID.

GSTT/KHP clinical academic. Grant awarded March 2022-2023. Research title: Physiotherapy Asthma ServiceS (PASS) Project. This project aimed to support the development of paediatric respiratory physiotherapists knowledge, skills and confidence in their role, assessment and interventions of paediatric asthma patients through education delivery package, supervision, mentoring and peer support.

Royal Brompton and Harefield Charity Fellowship research grant, Sept 2020. Research title: Acceptability, feasibility and efficacy of tele-physiotherapy for children with difficult asthma: service innovation post COVID-19 pandemic.
Phase 1: Co-design of new digital interventions and service delivery of physiotherapy for children with difficult asthma and dysfunctional breathing.
Phase 2: To undertake a pilot study to assess the efficacy, feasibility and acceptability of tele-physiotherapy clinics for children with difficult asthma.

HEE/NIHR clinical academic programme award funding for Masters in Clinical Research. Sept 2017-2019. This included both completing a literature review and research project:
1. Systematic literature review scoping physiotherapy interventions for children with asthma: evidence mapping and TIDieR evaluation of intervention description completeness.
2. Identifying predictors of referral to a physiotherapy service for children with difficult asthma; A secondary analysis using routinely collected data.

Recent Publications:

Wells, Charlotte, Cross, Jane and Saglani Sejal. Experience-based co-design to develop innovative telehealth physiotherapy interventions and resources for children and young people with asthma and dysfunctional breathing. Design for Health. 2024. Awaiting first print.

Wells, Charlotte, Ioannis Makariou, Nicki Barker, Ravi Thevasagayam, and Samatha Sonnappa. Exercise Induced Laryngeal Obstruction (EILO) in Children and Young People: Approaches to Assessment and Management. Paediatric Respiratory Reviews, January 1, 2023. doi:10.1016/j.prrv.2023.04.003.

C Wells, N Wilkinson, S Makhecha, P Hall, A Jamalzadeh, S Sonnappa, L Fleming, A Bush, S Saglani (2022) Acceptability and feasibility pilot of codesigned telehealth physiotherapy interventions for children with asthma and dysfunctional breathing. British Thoracic Society Winter Conference Abstract. P90. Thorax 2022:77 (suppl):A1-A229.

Wells C, Hepworth C and Barker N (2022) Lennon, Marley and the paediatric asthma physiotherapist: all things we lost in the 1980’s. Paediatrics and Child Health. 32(3): 110-112. (3p) DOI: 10.1016/j.paed.2021.12.006

Anna-Louise Nichols, Mayank Sonnappa-Naik, Laura Gardner, Charlotte Richardson, Natalie Orr , Angela Jamalzadeh, Rachael Moore-Crouch, Sukeshi Makhecha, Charlotte Wells, Pippa Hall, Andrew Bush, Louise Fleming, Sejal Saglani, Samatha Sonnappa. Paediatric Difficult Asthma Services Delivery during COVID-19 pandemic. Arch of Child Dis; 0:1–3. doi:10.1136/archdischild-2021-322335

Henry H and Wells C (2021) Identification and management of dysfunctional breathing in primary care. Practice Nursing. Vol 32, No 12 pp 474-479.

Sonnappa S and Wells C. Ch 15 Breathing Pattern Disorders. European Respiratory Society Handbook of Respiratory Medicine, 2020 pp732-739

In 2020 Charlotte brought together a group of clinical specialist paediatric physiotherapists in asthma and dysfunctional breathing from five centres across the UK (The Kids Cornerstone Collaborative) and developed a standardised assessment and education package which outlines the research and reason behind every element in the assessment – to develop staff the more they complete the assessment. She produced an implementation document and play book to support the implementation of this and a competencies pack for development of staff in this clinical area.

The Kids Cornerstone Collaborative now have this whole package ready for sharing and Intellectual Properties for this, which is free for NHS services. So far 20 NHS services across the UK have access to the standardised assessment package.

Charlotte also has developed and tested a proof-of-concept screening tool for healthcare teams to use to guide clinical decision making as to whether a child with asthma may benefit from physiotherapy interventions. She has intellectual property for this and 19 NHS services across the UK have access to and use this tool.

Charlotte is a director of Teaching Buteyko Limited which teaches healthcare professionals how to manage breathing pattern dysfunction using Buteyko Breathing Methods. This course is attended by international delegates each year.

Having worked as a clinical specialist in a tertiary centre Charlotte has supported the leaning and development of many physiotherapists and services across the UK. She has been invited to run a course in Brisban in early 2025 to help with the development of services in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. She is excited to see the support she can offer on the other side of the globe.

Registered Physiotherapist with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)
Member of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP)
Member of the Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Respiratory Care (ACPRC)
Member of the Buteyko Breathing Association (BBA)