Speakers
Dr Linda Jayne (L-J) Mottram
Hall 5
Managing the airway in critically ill patients is rarely straightforward. This session will explore challenging airway scenarios above and below the cords, including tracheostomy emergencies. Through real-world cases and expert insight, our speakers will share approaches to recognising problems early, troubleshooting effectively, and managing airway crises when seconds matter.
L-J is a Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine and Anaesthesia at the Royal Victoria Hospital, where she has worked for the past 13 years—long enough to acquire strong opinions on coffee and an enduring personal relationship with weekends on call.
An Honours graduate of the Queen's University of Belfast, she completed her postgraduate training in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine within the Northern Ireland Deanery. She is an examiner for the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine and serves as Thoracic Anaesthesia Lead for Belfast Health and Social Care Trust.
Her professional interests include airway management, medical education, and conducting efficient ward rounds. She subscribes to the theory that the length of a ward round is inversely proportional to the number of decisions made, and is ideally completed before the coffee gets cold.
Outside the intensive care unit, L-J has been married to Dave for just over 20 years. She is the exasperated mother of four children, all of whom provide regular opportunities to refine her skills in diplomacy, negotiation, and functioning on remarkably little sleep.
Andy Higgs is a Consultant in Anaesthesia & Intensive Care Medicine in Warrington Hospitals, Cheshire, having trained in Liverpool, North West England and Melbourne, Australia. He has a long-standing interest in airway management, especially extubation and in the ICU. Andy was Clinical Director of ICU between 2005 and 2007 and joint Clinical Lead Anaesthesia/ICU from 2007 to 2011. He is a faculty member and contributor to the Aintree Difficult Airway Management course. He co-authored the Difficult Airway Society Extubation Guidelines (2012) and chairs the joint Royal College of Anaesthetists/Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine/DAS group, aiming to produce a guideline for Airway Management in the Critically Ill.