About

Zarah Perry-Woodford supports the team at NHS Collaborative Procurement Partnership working on the ‘Ostomate Project’ which focuses on the procurement of stoma care services nationally.

Her first nursing post on qualification in 1999 was as a military nurse serving in the Royal Air Force on a general/colorectal ward. She subsequently spent a year as a senior staff nurse on the colorectal ward at St Mark’s Hospital in London, one of the UK’s largest single centres for stoma and ileo-anal pouch formation, before joining the stoma care department in 2003. Her role was managing patients with stomas, ileo-anal pouches, enterocutaneous fistulae and those with intestinal failure.

In 2005, she began developing and expanding the ileo-anal pouch service, providing expert care to patients with ileo-anal pouches both pre and post operation. In 2014, she became the Lead Nurse of the stoma care team and in 2018 was promoted to Consultant Nurse, Pouch and Stoma Care. Currently she is seconded part-time to the NHS Collaborative Procurement Partnership working on the ‘Ostomate Project’ which focuses on the procurement of stoma care services nationally.

Ms Perry-Woodford remains involved with current pouch/stoma research, guideline and protocol development and has published in a variety of medical and nursing journals. She also contributes to pre and post graduate nurse education, acts as the stoma care nurse liaison for international observers and presents at national and international conferences.