Chair and Directors

Carole Chantler, IRCM Chair

Carole has been part of the project that led to the formation of IRCM since its early days. She has been a key member of the management group taking on various roles throughout its development.

Carole’s professional background is nursing, critical care. She commenced her case management career in Canada working in travel, private health and government health care    case management.

In the late 90s she set up a case management company in the UK dealing with personal injury and has worked in this arena ever since.

She was a founding member of CMSUK, past chair and continues to be on the board of CMSUK as a director. She obtained her Masters in Case Management in 2011

Since 2004 Carole has worked for both Claimant and Defendant law firms advising on rehabilitation and health. She was a director of DWF for 5 years working closely with all parties involved in rehabilitation and progression of claims. She chaired the Cat Committee on the revision of the 2015 Rehabilitation Code.

Currently she has her own company where she works with all parties, advising on case management, statutory provision and rehabilitation.

Karen Burgin, IRCM Director

Karen is a Consultant Case Manager working within her own Company and heading up a team of Consultants who specialise within the field of catastrophic injury. She is a Registered General Nurse by profession with over 30 years’ experience of working within the field of neurosciences with clinical experience within acute, post –acute, community and vocational rehabilitation settings. As a well- known and respected professional within the case management industry Karen has been responsible for the establishment and development of case management services within the statutory, voluntary and latterly private sectors. Having managed services for those within the multi-track and catastrophic arenas, Karen has a detailed understanding of the issues facing the industry.

Karen has been a Director for a number of charities over the years including Nottingham Headway, Trust Ed & is currently Director and Chair of CMSUK. In previous roles she had worked alongside charity colleagues within the Spinal Injuries Association (SIA) and The Child Brain Injury Trust (CBIT) as well as being an Advanced Practitioner of BABICM and a past Council member.

As a Director of the newly established Institute of Registered Case Managers she is working with colleagues in the British Association of Brain Injury Case Managers (BABICM) and Vocational Rehabilitation Association (VRA) to continue to drive the registration agenda for case managers in the UK.

Deborah Edwards, IRCM Director

Deborah is RTW Plus’ Chief Executive Officer and throughout her career as a nurse and case manager, her main aim has been to provide support and guidance in the use and development of rehabilitation services.  Deborah was one of the first to introduce case management to the UK insurance industry and has been influential in the development of innovative rehabilitation approaches in the UK since 1994. Deborah co-authored the first University accredited Case Manager training programme in the UK, went on to provide case management training within the NHS in respect to the Community Matron programme and remains active in delivering crucial support to case managers and development of vocational rehabilitation services.  She has led teams of case managers and most recently developed in collaboration a digital pain management programme. Deborah was the first Chair of CMSUK and is currently is Chair of the VRA.

She has travelled the world including Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Hong Kong and of course the USA delivering case management and from which she has developed her exceptional insight into political, economic, social and technological challenges the delivery of case management and vocational rehabilitation face in the UK and beyond. As Chair of the VRA and a Director of IRCM, she hopes to be instrumental in maintaining the forward progression of case management and vocational rehabilitation to reach the masses of people who can benefit from support.