MARCH Trial: What does the evidence mean for your practice?

Professor Bronwen Connolly

Acute Respiratory and Rehabilitation Physiotherapist

Acute respiratory and rehabilitation physiotherapy, the recovery, long-term outcome, and survivorship of post critical illness patients, and clinical trial methodology around complex rehabilitation interventions. Current work includes development of a core outcome set for trials of physical rehabilitation in critical illness, and leading a multiprofessional team developing a randomized controlled trial investigating the effectiveness of mucoactive drugs in acute respiratory failure.

Olly Hamilton

Senior ICM Resident , Liverpool

Olly is a senior ICM resident practicing in Liverpool whilst undertaking a PhD at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. His research interests include respiratory infection, antimicrobial resistance and preventing critical illness. He was the lead of the national TRIC-MAN study which benchmarked current UK practice on infection management and currently sits on the TRIC committee. 

Holly Mackenzie

Principal Pharmacist - Critical Care, King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Holly MacKenzie is the Principal Pharmacist in Critical Care at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London. She started out in critical care in 2017, and has gained diverse experience working across leading teaching hospitals, including Newcastle upon Tyne NHS Trust and Leeds Teaching Hospitals, before taking on her current leadership role at King’s.

Holly has clinical and research interests in drug management in Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) therapy, unlicensed drug use and ethical decision-making. She supports operational implementation of drug related NIHR portfolio studies in her organisation ensuring safety and governance aspects are being adhered to.

Passionate about education, leadership, and service innovation, Holly has delivered local training programs, supervised quality improvement projects, and contributed to the development of critical care guidelines and business cases.

Regionally, Holly is a member of the South East London Adult Critical Care Operational Delivery Network where she has actively participated in peer reviews at other Trusts.

Her commitment to multidisciplinary collaboration, research, and evidence-based practice underpins her vision for fostering inclusive and sustainable critical care pharmacy services, always striving to improve patient safety and outcomes.

Sarah Shipley

Intensive Care Matron, Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust

Sarah Shipley is Matron for ICU at Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust and has worked in critical care nursing for over 14 years. After starting her career in Neurosciences at Cambridge University Hospitals and completing ICU training at Guy's and St Thomas', she joined BHT, where she has worked across Intensive Care and Critical Care Outreach.

Sarah holds an MSc in Advanced Clinical Practice and is an elected member of the Intensive Care Society's Nurse Professional Advisory Group. She has a particular interest in compassionate leadership, early rehabilitation, and supporting families throughout the critical care journey.

Dr Ema Swingwood OBE

Consultant Physiotherapist, University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust

Ema is a Consultant Physiotherapist in Critical Care at Bristol NHS Foundation Trust. Her area of clinical expertise and interest is ventilation, weaning and complex airway clearance. She has lectured at International conferences over a number of years around these topics.

Her PhD work focused on the use of Mechanical Insufflation-Exsufflation in the intubated population which was funded through the NIHR Clinical Academic Research Fellowship pathway. Post-doctoral work continues to examine the role of airway clearance interventions in the ICU population, which includes recent development of a core outcome set. She is a current Senior Clinical Practitioner Research Award holder (2025-7).

Regarding research capacity and capability building, Ema is passionate about developing others. She is the current Adult Therapies and Division of Diagnostics and Therapies Research Lead.  Most recently she was a co-applicant on a successful NIHR Health and Care Professions Internship Programme for Southwest Central and lead applicant NIHR Undergraduate Internship Placement award. Education contributions include the Physiotherapy programmes at the University of the West of England and University College London. She sits on the Intensive Care Society (ICS) Physiotherapy Professional Advisory Group (Deputy Chair) and Education Committee, she is a current Programme Director for the ICS annual congress (SOA) and Deputy Chair for Professional Affairs.

: @emaroids1