PROFILE
Kate Bryce CSP HCPC BSc (Hons) PgDip ACPIVR committee member
Kate was awarded her Physiotherapy degree from Nottingham University in 1999. After beginning her career in the North East she moved to London where she quickly specialised in acute older persons’ medicine. During the following decade she had the opportunity to assess and treat many different conditions, gaining experience in general medical, orthopaedic, respiratory, falls and long term conditions. She gained experience across hospital wards, outpatient clinics and day hospitals, where her interest and expertise in the comprehensive assessment, diagnosis and management of older persons’ conditions soon became a speciality. Kate provided clinical and operational leadership to a specialist, multi-disciplinary team providing expertise in the management of older persons with acute, chronic and multi-factorial issues, specialising in falls and discharge planning. She completed a Postgraduate Diploma in First Contact Care of older people in 2006, achieving a distinction, and developed extended scope assessment and management skills to support the autonomous differential diagnosis of the signs and symptoms related to falls and balance issues. Further opportunities took Kate to a strategic position, working within both NHS and freelance roles to develop falls prevention pathways and training protocols that would meet the growing challenges of inpatient and community falls prevention. She provided leadership on quality improvement projects, supporting change management agendas from ward to board level.
On returning to the North East in 2011, Kate joined the Regional Falls and Syncope Service at the Royal Victoria Infirmary and returned to a clinical role. Here her specialist knowledge of balance assessment and rehabilitation was further enhanced with training in vestibular assessment and treatment interventions from world leaders in the field at courses in London and Newcastle. She became a clinical specialist in the assessment and rehabilitation of balance and dizziness, and rapidly went on to lead training workshops on BPPV, present at an international conference at RCP Edinburgh and both organise and present at the Dizziness for Physicians course ran by the Falls and Syncope Service in Newcastle.
Since leaving the NHS in 2021, Kate has continued to develop her specialist practice, providing comprehensive assessment and evidence-based treatment of dizziness and balance disorders in both clinic and home-based settings. Her clinical interests include the assessment and management of peripheral vestibular conditions such as vestibular hypofunction and benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), as well as central causes of dizziness including concussion, vestibular migraine, acute brain injury. Kate spent several years on the national committee for physiotherapists specialising in vestibular rehabilitation (ACPIVR) and is a co-author of two publications: one a nationally available framework for developing skills in vestibular and balance healthcare and a second strengthening the evidence base for BPPV assessment within falls clinics. Kate is passionate about providing clear, accessible education on dizziness and balance conditions for both clients and their families. She is dedicated to ensuring clients feel understood and leave each appointment informed and confident in their care. With over twenty years of clinical and strategic experience Kate continues to provide individualised rehabilitation, she has insight into local resources, and a desire help people get the most out of their day.