Board of Directors
Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust is run by a Board of Directors made up of Executive and Non-Executive Directors.
Like any other large organisation, we need a ‘top-level’ group of people who meet and take decisions so that everyone works together towards common goals, ensures the safest care of our patients and spends our money in the best way.
Our Board of Directors does this and each Director has a specific area of responsibility.
They meet every month in public and documentation for these meetings can be viewed here.
The Board does, however, have to discuss some matters in private (for reasons set out in the Freedom of Information Act 2000) and holds a separate private session. The papers for this meeting are not published.
A Declaration of Interest Register (Updated March 2021) is also available to view.
Non-Executive Directors
Prof. Steve Field - Chair of the Board
Non-executive director
Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP
Professor Field holds a number of roles at various organisations including Chair at the Royal Wolverhampton NHST Trust, Trustee at Nishkam Healthcare Trust, and Trustee of Pathway – Healthcare for Homeless People.
Steve was the Chief Inspector of General Practice, Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care at the Care Quality Commission (CQC). He has held several Board positions in the NHS including, Non-Executive Director at University College London Partners Academic Health Science Partnership Board, Deputy National Medical Director at NHS England, Regional Postgraduate Dean for NHS West Midlands, and Chairman of the Government’s Inclusion Health Board. He also held the position of Chairman of The Royal College of GPs, and has been a faculty member at the Harvard Macy Institute of Harvard University in the USA.
He has been awarded a number of honorary degrees and also holds academic appointments at the University of Birmingham and the University of Warwick.
Chair of the Board
John Dunn, Non-Executive Director and Chair of Performance, Finance and Investment Committee
Non-executive director
John’s professional life was spent almost exclusively in the Telecoms sector and he has extensive experience in the field of operations, and customer service. His career includes 20 years experience at divisional board level in a variety of executive and non-executive roles and his last position with BT was as Managing Director Openreach. As MD, he was responsible for the delivery and repair of customer service and for the provision and maintenance of the local access network for the south of the UK. Away from the boardroom, John is a keen walker and cyclist and enjoys nothing better than hill walking with his red setter.
Non-Executive Director
Chair of Performance, Finance and Investment Committee
Junior Hemans - Non-Executive Director
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
Chair of People & OD Committee
Pam Bradbury, Non-Executive Director
Pam Bradbury was a Registered Nurse for 40 years and worked in the NHS for the majority of her career, she spent 4 years as Nursing Officer at the Department of Health, providing professional advice on policies related to improving access to Primary Care, including the development of nurse led services to include NHS walk-in centres and NHS Direct.
Pam is well known in her field for challenging existing practice to improve outcomes and experience for individuals and has been recognised for her contribution to developing integrated, patient focused services.
Since retirement Pam has continued to champion the voice of local people and spent 5 years as Chair of Healthwatch Dudley and Committee Member of Healthwatch England and People Champion at the NHS Leadership Academy.
Pam is Chair of the Quality, Patient Experience and Safety Committee and a member of the People, Organisation and Development Committee and is NED lead for Freedom to Speak Up.
Non-Executive Director
Mary Martin, Non-Executive Director
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.
Non-Executive Director
Paul Assinder, Associate Non-Executive Director
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
Sally Rowe, Associate Non-Executive Director
Associate non-executive director
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
Rajpal Virdee, Associate Non-Executive Director
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.
Associate Non-Executive Director
Executive Directors
Prof. David Loughton, Interim Chief Executive
Executive director
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.
Interim Chief Executive
Prof. Ann-Marie Cannaby, Interim Deputy Chief Executive
Executive director
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
Interim Deputy Chief Executive
Dr Manjeet Shehmar, Acting Medical Director
Executive director
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.
Interim Medical Director
Lisa Carroll, Director of Nursing
Executive director
Appointed August 2021
Voting position
Text to follow.
Director of Nursing
Ned Hobbs, Chief Operating Officer
Chief Operating Officer
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.
Chief Operating Officer
Sally Evans, Interim Director of Communications and Stakeholder Engagement
Sally Evans, Interim Director of Communications and Stakeholder Engagement
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 and the Trust’s charity.
Interim
Director of Communications and Stakeholder Engagement
Russell Caldicott, Director of Finance and Performance
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.
Director of Finance and Performance
Catherine Griffiths, Director of People and Culture
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.
Director of People and Culture
Glenda Augustine - Executive Director of Planning and Improvement
Executive director
Glenda was previously the Head of Intelligence, Knowledge Management and Innovation for RightCare, an NHS England and NHS Improvement transformational programme. She has a wide and varied career in the NHS, training as a general nurse, midwife and health visitor, working as a clinical nurse specialist, lead nurse and specialist midwife in haemoglobin disorders and with the National Screening Committee as National Lead for Child Health Screening Co-ordinators. During this period Glenda was also a bank midwife at Walsall. She has maintained her long-standing interest in haemoglobin disorders and she is currently chair of the National Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia Advisory Group.
Her interest in prevention, population health and inequalities led to the completion of a Masters in Public Health at the University of Nottingham, before joining the Public Health Training Scheme in the East Midlands. She was a Consultant in Public Health in Stoke and Wolverhampton prior to her post in RightCare and she has maintained Public Health registration alongside nursing registration.
Glenda is responsible for Planning and Improvement for the Trust and is keen to work across the organisation to improve quality and outcomes, reduce unwarranted variation and inequalities through the intelligent use of data, evidence-based planning and Quality Improvement.
Director of Planning and Improvement