Board of Directors

Non-executive Director

Appointed February 2021

Voting position

Junior Hemans has significant years of experience within the public and voluntary sectors. He previously worked for the Housing Corporation for 10 years as a regulation manager and as a consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers for ten years, and is a Non-Executive Director at the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust.

Junior was a founding member and the first treasurer of the African Caribbean Community Initiative Mental Health Project, which provides support to individuals and families that are experiencing mental health issues. He has also served as treasurer to the West Midlands Caribbean Parents & Friends Association and to the Heath Town Senior Citizens Welfare Project.

Junior currently runs his own small consultancy and is a property developer/landlord. He specialises in governance, business start-up, business development and social housing and regeneration.

Junior is also a vising lecturer at the University of Wolverhampton Business School, lecturing in strategic management, marketing, leisure and operations.

Non-executive director

Appointed April 2021

Voting position

Mary Martin has senior executive experience in both the public and private sectors. Her business focus has included strategy, business risk assessment, team building, change management, quality management, investigations, controls and reporting. Financing activities cover bank refinancing, private equity, acquisitions and disposals of business and major assets and exit planning.

She currently runs her own small consultancy business having for four years been Pro-Vice Chancellor of Birmingham City University. Prior to this her career has included working with Advantage West Midlands; a private venture fund manager focussed on technology start-ups and she was a Partner with Arthur Andersen, one of the largest international accounting practices.

Mary is a trustee of two major Midlands-based arts charities – Performances Birmingham and Midland Art Centre.
She is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and Oxford University engineering graduate.

Associate Non-Executive Director

Appointed October 2019

Non-voting position

Paul is one of the most experienced and respected finance professionals working in healthcare in the UK. He was elected as National President of the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA), the leading professional body for finance staff working in UK healthcare, in December 2009 and has more than 25 years’ experience at board level in both the public and commercial sectors.

Doubly qualified as an accountant, with a University background in both economics and management, he trained and worked with Ernst & Young Co in the UK after graduation, before specialising in the healthcare and technology sectors.

Paul is a graduate of the Senior Managers Course at Insead (French Business School) and was one of the first FDs to be selected to join the elite NHS Top Leaders Programme in 2010. Paul has a broad portfolio of financial and business experience most recently as European CFO of the US transformational genomics provider Nant Health Inc. In the local NHS Paul has advised policy makers on transformational change through the NHS STP Programme and has also served as Director of Finance and Deputy Chief Executive of Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust. Before that he held similar positions at Sandwell & West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, Birmingham City Hospital NHS Trust and a number of other board-level appointments in the NHS and private sector.

He is committed to the development of the next generation of healthcare leaders and holds the position of Senior lecturer at the University of Wolverhampton Business School and with others, founded the MBA qualification in Business & Finance for the HFMA Academy in 2017.

Qualifications:
·         Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA)
·         Qualified Member of Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA)
·         Fellowship of Healthcare Financial Management Association

Associate non-executive director

Appointed October 2019

Non-voting position

Sally Rowe has been a qualified social worker for 30 years, working across children’s and adults services in different types of local authorities and in frontline and management roles. She has also spent time as Her Majesty’s Inspector of local authorities and a senior manager within Ofsted. She is now Director of Children’s Services in Walsall, a Non-Executive Director of a Health Trust and a Trustee of a national charity Grandparents Plus.

Associate non-executive director

Appointed October 2019

Non-voting position

Rajpal or Raj, as he is known, has 30+ years of being being involved in both the public and voluntary sector. Initially, a social worker rapidly moving through to senior management in Dudley Social Services and latterly at Birmingham Social Services.

He has extensive experience with health care bodies, in the capacity of a Non-Executive Director, which included East Birmingham Primary Care Trust, Walsall Primary Care Trust and Walsall Clinical Commissioning Group.

Amongst his many achievements as a Non – Executive Director include, the development of Castle Vale Health Care Centre, Pelsall Medical Health Centre and Walsall Hospice where he was the Chair of the project.

Another passion of Raj is the provision of affordable housing and he has been involved with numerous hosing associations, including Black Country Housing Group where as Vice Chair he lead the development of numerous affordable housing schemes, to the benefit of local families.

Raj was appointed in 2002 by the Judiciary to sit as as a Lay Member at the Birmingham Employment Tribunal, which deals with employment disputes between employers and employees over employment rights.

A personal passion of Raj is the delivery of equality in both private and public sector organisations, such that his wide experience and knowledge is often sought prior to implementing organisational change.

Raj will be a member of the People and Organisational Committee, and the QPES (Quality, Patient Experience and Safety) Committee for the Trust. He will also chair the Equality and Diversity Committee.

Raj’s past-times include music and yoga, and he also enjoys cooking.

Dawn Brathwaite is a solicitor and former partner in a national law firm.  For the past 20 years she has advised NHS bodies including commissioners, providers, and healthcare regulators.  She retired from legal practice in May 2021 but continues as a consultant in a non-legal role with her firm.

Dawn is passionate about diversity and inclusion and has led many initiatives to increase the number of individuals from diverse and socially disadvantaged backgrounds within the legal profession, for which she has received several awards.  

Dawn is a former Trustee of Navigators UK and is a current member of the General Synod of the Church of England. 

Ofrah’s passion for nursing started at the age of fourteen when she noted the care being provided by nursing staff who looked after her unwell mother. Ofrah has more than 20 years’ experience working in various nursing roles and is a highly competent registered nurse with knowledge, skills and experience in paediatrics, community nursing, quality governance, project management and quality improvement. She was the only Mary Seacole Leadership Award winner in 2008.

She has held board roles in multiple charities and more recently at Kidney Care UK.

She is currently the Professional Lead for Nursing Support Workers at the Royal College of Nursing and is passionate about her role in order to deliver excellent care, ethical leadership and innovation.

She has an MSc in Healthcare Management and Policy from the University of Birmingham.

Julian is a retired GP who qualified from Birmingham Medical School in 1984 and after junior jobs in South Birmingham, joined a practice in Wednesfield, Wolverhampton, where he stayed for all his clinical career.

During this time he was also on the Board of Wolverhampton CCG and previous commissioning organisations; he was prescribing lead for 15 years and was briefly an Associate Non-Executive Director at The Royal Wolverhampton Trust. His practice was one of the first practices to integrate with The Royal Wolverhampton Trust in June 2016. Since retiring from clinical practice he has remained an employee leading on Primary Care integration, supporting the eight General Practices that have now integrated with the Trust.

Executive Director

Voting position

Professor Loughton joined our Trust in 2004 having had extensive experience as a Chief Executive within the NHS. During his career he has developed a new Medical School with Warwick University and achieved financial close on a £400 million new hospital Private Finance Initiative (PFI). He has now turned around one of the 17 most financially challenged Trusts in the NHS, whilst improving the quality of care provided to patients.

Professor Loughton is a member of the National Institute for Health Research Advisory Board and West Midlands Chief Executive representative for the NHS Confederation Council.

Executive director

Appointed April 2021

Voting position

Professor Ann-Marie Cannaby is the Chief Nursing Officer at The Royal Wolverhampton Trust and the Interim Deputy CEO and Chief Nurse at Walsall Healthcare Trust. Until November 2020. Ann-Marie was also a Professor of Nursing at Birmingham City University, UK. She is now a Visiting Professor at Birmingham City University and Staffordshire University.

Prior to this she was Chief Nursing Officer at Hamad Medical Corporation, Qatar, responsible for providing professional nurse leadership to senior managers across the country. She was responsible for 8,500 nursing and midwifery staff and setting nursing quality standards across the corporation.

Ann-Marie’s clinical background is grounded in caring for patients with medical conditions. She has worked within large University Hospitals in the UK and has held a variety of clinical research and managerial roles including the post of Chief Operating Officer

Executive director

Appointed August 2021

Voting position

Dr Manjeet Shehmar FRCOG, MMedEd, MD

Dr Manjeet Shehmar joined Walsall Healthcare Trust as Deputy Medical Director in October 2019 and has moved to become the Acting Medical Director in August 2021. Prior to this Dr Shehmar was the Clinical Director for Gynaecology, Theatres and Fertility at Birmingham Women’s & Children’s Hospital for over 5 years, where she was involved in roles across the Trust and external partnerships. She has completed executive leadership training with the NHS Leadership Academy.

Dr Shehmar is passionate about raising standards to provide the best patient care, putting patients first and supporting an environment where staff can work to their highest abilities. During her time as Deputy Medical Director, Dr Shehmar led on improving the lung cancer pathway after a series of incidents, has restructured the learning from deaths programme to focus on top themes and drive improvements. Through this programme the Trust no longer holds a risk with the CCG around Learning from Deaths and deaths from fractured neck of femur are now below the National average (previously a negative outlier). Dr Shehmar led a training and awareness programme through the Covid pandemic with a co-ordinated evidence-based approach, led on reviews of deaths from Covid and Covid health care associated infections and has set up a governance framework to drive progress with GIRFT recommendations. Dr Shehmar chairs the Black Country Learning from Deaths group and various groups within the Trust.

Dr Shehmar is a gynaecologist with a special interest in Early Pregnancy and Ambulatory Gynaecology. She is an executive member of the Association of Early Pregnancy Units, has authored a number of publications and a National Guideline and teaches regularly on National and International speciality courses including for the Royal College Of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Her research interests include enhanced recovery from surgery and medical education.

Dr Shehmar is keen to work with patients and staff from both Walsall and Wolverhampton to ensure that we provide the best possible care.

Chief Operating Officer

Appointed June 2019

Voting position

Ned graduated from the University of Nottingham with a first class degree in Pure Mathematics before joining the NHS Graduate Management Training scheme in 2008 in the West Midlands region. He completed his Masters in Health & Public Leadership from Birmingham’s HSMC in 2011 and has carried out a variety of operational management roles – predominantly in the acute hospital sector and within mental health.

Ned’s previous role was as Director of Operations for the Division of Surgery, Women & Children at Dudley Group NHSFT where he delivered the fifth best elective 18-week Referral to Treatment waiting times in the country.

He has a passion for clinical leadership, having written his dissertation on this subject, and has lectured to medical students and doctors in training on leadership in the NHS. He also has a keen interest in Quality Improvement and the use of comparative clinical outcome measurements to improve patient care.

Ned lives in Shrewsbury with his wife and daughter and, having been born and bred in Oxford, is a keen Oxford United supporter.

Sally Evans, Group Director of Communications and Stakeholder Engagement

Non-voting position

Sally joined Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust in April 2021 as Interim Director of Communications and Stakeholder Engagement, overseeing the strategic communications delivery for both Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust and The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust. She joined the latter as Head of Communications in October 2017 from NHS South Worcestershire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) after a decade working in communications in the NHS.

Having worked across a range of NHS organisations including acute, mental health, community and commissioning in various communications roles, Sally brings a wealth of experience in the public sector.

Joining the NHS in 2007 as a Communications Assistant at The Dudley Group NHS FT, Sally moved to the Black Country Partnership NHS FT, then progressed to NHS South Worcestershire CCG in April 2015 as Communications Manager, heading up three CCGS – South Worcestershire, Redditch and Bromsgrove, and Wyre Forest. Sally is qualified with a Post-Graduate Diploma in Public Relations, awarded by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.

Her portfolio includes crisis communications, reputational management, stakeholder engagement, clinical illustration, medical photography and the Trust’s charity.

Executive director

Appointed July 2015

Voting position

Full member of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants.

Russell lives locally and has in excess of 20 years’ experience of working within the acute sector of the NHS, formerly undertaking roles such as Senior Divisional Accountant, Associate Director of Finance and Deputy Director of Finance.  A Qualified Accountant and advocate of continuing professional development, Russell occupies the role of Executive on the Board of the West Midlands Healthcare Financial Management Association, providing support and opportunities for development to the finance teams of Central England.

Executive director

Appointed September 2018

Non-voting position

Catherine has a background in local government and more than 20 years’ experience of HR and large-scale service transformation and redesign. Her expertise lies in employee engagement and empowering those around her to make positive changes for the benefit of the organisation and its service users.

She joined the NHS for the first time in 2015 where she took on the role of Deputy Director of HR as part of Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust.

Catherine then made the move to Walsall Healthcare in September 2018 and now sits on the Trust Board as Director of People and Culture – overlooking HR and Organisational Development.

Her focus is to ensure a positive and inclusive culture amongst the workforce to ensure staff have the support they need to develop their own talents in order to improve patient experience. Her role also means ensuring staff are living by the trust values (Respect, Compassion, Professionalism and Teamwork) and are supported to be happy and healthy while at work.

Catherine has lived in and around the West Midlands for more than 25 years and is qualified at Masters level in Strategic HR management and holds an LLM in Employment Law.

Trusts: The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust and Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust.

Kevin is a Registered General Nurse and Allied Health Professional (Operating Department Practitioner). He has extensive experience in the NHS, Independent Healthcare, Social Care and Charitable Sectors spanning many years in a variety of Clinical, Managerial, Leadership, Executive and Advisory roles.

He holds a variety of qualifications related to Acute Health and Social Care and was a retained lecturer in Risk, Governance and Assurance on Masters Programmes and is passionate about driving delivery of high standards of service to patients.

Simon has worked in the health and care sector for over 17 years and has held a number of senior management positions. His roles have covered: strategic and service-level planning, performance management, business development, transformation and programme management. He holds a Masters Qualification in Business (MBA) from Aston Business School along with an Honours Degree in Business Studies. Immediately prior to joining the Trust, he was QIPP Programme Director for Wolverhampton City Primary Care Trust, where he led on the transformation and planning agenda, working closely with GPs and primary care clinicians. He has also worked in corporate planning and scrutiny for a Local Authority and has led on a number of projects involving partnership working with primary, secondary and local government sectors.

Simon spent nearly eight years working in various locations across the UK as a senior manager for Marks and Spencer and IKEA. During this time he helped develop the 10-year growth strategy for IKEA UK and was a store manager for M&S.

He has a passion for organisational and personal development and has a post-graduate diploma in Human Resource Development. He has lectured on Organisational Behaviour and Organisational Change for Staffordshire University and is a regular guest lecturer for the University of Wolverhampton.

Mr Stringer is a qualified accountant with the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) and holds a Masters qualification in Business Administration (MBA).With over 25 years of experience in the NHS, with 13 of those years as a Board Director, he has experience of commissioning and provider organisations.

His experience covers –

• Primary Care, Community Services and Commissioning (with successor organisations being Walsall CCG and Birmingham cross-city CCG)
• Secondary and Tertiary Care (at University Hospitals of Coventry and Warwickshire, Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals)
• Specialist Secondary Care (Birmingham Childrens Hospital Foundation Trust where he helped the Trust secure FT status)
• Regional NHS Planning and Oversight (West Midlands Regional Health Authority)

His role is to provide professional advice to the Board and wider Trust to ensure delivery of the Board’s financial strategy, key statutory financial targets and ensure good internal control.

He is a member and advocate for Healthcare Financial Management (HFMA) having been a past Chairman of the West Midlands Branch where he is now the Treasurer.