Dr Helen Leonard is a Consultant in Paediatric Neurodisability at Great North Children’s Hospital and manages children a range of neurodevelopmental difficulties and with epilepsy. She has set up some innovative projects with voluntary sector collaboration including a music therapy group with Sage Gateshead and post diagnostic sessions with the North East Autism Society. She has published about diverse topics including sleep deprivation in parents of children with disabilities, heart transplantation in Down’s syndrome, the Universal Personalised Care comprehensive model and Personal Health Budgets. As well as NHS roles, she spent 2 years setting up a paediatric services in Turks and Caicos Islands and 8 months working on Grand Cayman. Helen’s son, Matthew, was born in 2000 with severe, complex physical and learning disabilities, epilepsy and cerebral visual impairment. Despite her professional role, she has faced a long struggle to get services to meet his needs. She is a member of the NHS England Strategic Co-production Group.