Board of Directors
Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust is run by a Board of Directors made up of Executive and Non-Executive Directors.
All NHS Trusts have a senior group of people who meet, take decisions and hold others to account to ensure the safest care for our patients and that public money is spent in the best way.
They meet every month in public and documentation for these meetings can be viewed here.
The Board is required, however, to discuss some matters in private for reasons of confidentiality and having regard to the confidential nature of the business to be transacted, publicity on which would be prejudicial to the public interest.
A Declaration of Interest Register (Updated June 2023) is also available to view.
Non-Executive Directors
Sir David Nicholson – Chair of the Board
Sir David Nicholson joined the Trust as Chair on 1 April 2023. This appointment saw he become Chair of all four acute Trusts in the Black Country – The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust, The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust and Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust.
Sir David Nicholson’s career in NHS management has spanned more than 40 years and includes the most senior posts in the service. He was Chief Executive of the NHS for seven years from 2006-2013 and then, following a major national restructure, became the first Chief Executive of the organisation now known as NHS England from 2013-2014.
Since his retirement from the NHS in 2014, he has taken on a number of international roles providing advice and guidance to governments and organisations focused on improving population health and universal healthcare coverage.
He has worked in China, Brazil, the USA, Europe and the Middle East, independently, and in association with the World Health Organisation, and World Bank. Sir David chaired the State Health Services organisation of the Republic of Cyprus and more recently was also the Chair of the Metropolitan Group of Hospitals, Nairobi.
Sir David is Chair of the Universal Health Coverage Forum of the World Innovation Summit for Health. Other roles include adjunct Professor of Global Health at the Institute of Global Health Imperial College, Advisor to the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin and Lancet Commissioner to Global Surgery.
His contribution to healthcare was recognised by the award of the CBE in 2008, and he was knighted by Her Majesty the Queen in 2010. He lives in Worcestershire with his wife and two children.
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.
Mary Martin, Non-Executive Director
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.
Paul Assinder, Non-Executive Director
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
Sally Rowe, Associate Non-Executive Director
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.
Dawn Brathwaite, Non-Executive Director
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 Muflahi, Associate Non-Executive Director
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.
Dr Julian Parkes, Non-Executive Director
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.
Professor Louise Toner – Non-Executive Director
Appointed October 2019
Professor Louise Toner is a nurse, midwife and academic by professional background; she has a wealth of experience working with the NHS in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and within the higher education sector again across all countries, bar Northern Ireland. Since moving into higher education, she has maintained strong partnership working with colleagues within health and social care across all sectors; she is a member of the UK Universities Council of Deans.
In her current role Louise has responsibility for the faculty’s academic portfolio ensuring it is the right offering to meet the workforce needs of employers and the personal and professional development needs of qualified health and social care professionals. She represents the university on the Birmingham and Solihull Local Workforce Action Board and she is a member of their Education Partnerships Sub Group established to enable universities, NHS Trusts and other healthcare providers to work together to recruit and retain students to facilitate sufficient qualified staff entering the workforce. In addition, she is a member of the British Commonwealth Association (BCA), chairing their Education Sub Group and representing the BCA on the Greater Commonwealth Chamber of Commerce in Birmingham/West Midlands.
Louise has also worked for a hugely successful charity in the UK – Macmillan Cancer Support where she was responsible for an Education Development Programme for specialist nurses in Cancer and Palliative Care. She was previously Chair but is now Trustee of the Wound Care Alliance UK a charitable organisation who provide education and training for nonspecialist healthcare staff both qualified and unqualified in the field of Tissue Viability.
As a surgical ward sister in practice Louise has a special interest in cancer care – the subject of her Masters degree awarded by the University of Glasgow. Her interest in Wound Care led to her establishing the faculty’s Wound Healing Practice Development Unit of which she is the Director. This Unit delivers specialist workshops by our Professors in Wound Healing, undertaking product evaluations often in association with product manufacturers.
Louise’s remit within the faculty includes leading overseas activities as a result of which she has been privileged to visit a number of countries meeting with government officials, leading academics and professionals. Along with other colleagues, she is in the process of securing funds to assist developing countries in terms of their healthcare education needs that include caring for older people, primary care, stoma care and wound care.
Louise says she feels privileged to be associated with such an innovative and forward thinking Trust, keen to embrace the ways in which academia, research and clinical practice can all work together to improve the care of our patients and provide development opportunities for our staff.
Fiona Frizzell – Associate Non-Executive Director
Appointed February 2023
Fiona Allinson qualified as a nurse in the late 1980s and worked in a variety of settings including Surgery, Operating Theatres, Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and Emergency Department (ED). She held many roles before becoming a Sister on a Rehabilitation Ward. In 1999 she joined the private sector as a Matron of a private hospital before leaving to set up her own training and development business. During this time, she worked with further education settings to design and deliver the Registered Managers course.
Joining the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in 2005 as a part -time Inspector, Fiona rose through the organisation to become a Deputy Chief Inspector in the hospitals’ directorate. She left the CQC following a reorganisation and redefining of roles. However, she has always been a nurse at heart and returned to ICU during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fiona’s passion to ensure a high-quality service for patients led her to apply for the post of associate Non-Executive Director at Walsall Healthcare. As part of the regulating process for the Trust since she became part of the CQC, Fiona respects the integral part the organisation plays in the local community. She is very keen to be part of the journey of further improvement.
Rachel Barber – Associate Non-Executive Director
Appointed February 2023
Rachel has considerable board experience in the public and private sector and holds several non-executive director and advisor roles within the housing and police sectors. She has experience within the NHS as a lay member at Walsall Local Commissioning Board, part of the Black Country Integrated Care Board and was formerly lay member at Walsall Clinical Commissioning Group.
She has held senior executive positions within the water sector with a service delivery focus, achieving successful transformation, linking strategic direction to insight, improving services, achieving high customer satisfaction and continuous improvement across a diverse base.
Lisa joins the Board, bringing a wealth of experience gained in large, national and regional, health, social care and third sector organisations. Lisa has held senior leadership positions, both as an employee and in a charitable
trustee capacity, ensuring she brings a strong foundation in financial, business and operational planning, project evaluation and impact monitoring, amongst other expertise. Lisa is particularly skilled at developing partnerships across the voluntary and public sector, including the evolution of the VCSE Alliance as part of the development of Integrated Care Systems.
Lisa is CEO of Beacon Vision, having worked for the organisation since 2018, one of the region’s most established and well-known health and social care charities, where she has been in post for just over four years. Lisa has bought many positive improvements to the charity and is passionate about making a difference to the lives of people living with sight loss across the West Midlands. In addition to her unwavering dedication to Beacon’s charitable objectives, Lisa is committed to building long-term sustainability, actively seeking new ways to improve and develop increased integrated, cooperative and progressive health and social care systems to support beneficiaries.
Previous roles have included Deputy CEO of the Black Country Living Museum, where Lisa implemented significant change programmes, oversaw complex funding bids and projects of national heritage significance. Lisa has also been involved in complex projects during her time at organisations such as the RSPB and The British Horse Society, where she developed and implemented the charity’s national volunteer programme. A highlight from her earlier career includes a pivotal role in the redevelopment of the world’s first ‘skyscraper’ in Shrewsbury.
Lisa is originally from Wolverhampton, having returned after completing her degree at the University of Liverpool. Her personal interests include a passion for horses and horse riding.
Executive Directors
Caroline Walker, Interim Group Chief Executive
Caroline retired from her role as Chief Executive at North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust (NWAFT) last year and has a wide portfolio of NHS acute experience. Prior to joining NWAFT, she worked at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Great Ormond Street Hospital Foundation Trust, and Barts Health NHS Trust. She was also Chief Operating Officer at Loughborough University.
Caroline has operated at Board level for 25 years – with five years as Chief Executive of a large multi-site organisation – and has a track record of improving patient care. She is highly committed to driving improvements to enhance our patients’ experience and her knowledge and enthusiasm will no doubt benefit our teams.
Kevin Stringer, Group Chief Financial Officer and Group Deputy Chief Executive
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.
Ned Hobbs, Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Chief Executive
Chief Operating Officer
Appointed June 2019, Deputy Chief Executive from July 2023
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.
Kevin Bostock, Group Director of Assurance
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.
Lisa Carroll, Chief Nursing Officer
Executive director
Appointed August 2021, Chief Nursing Officer from July 2023
Voting position
Text to follow.
Stephanie Cartwright, Group Director of Place
Stephanie has more than 30 years’ experience with the NHS and has a wealth of knowledge in a wide range of areas including strategic development, leadership, organisational development and stakeholder management. She has held Board level roles for more than 10 years in both commissioning and provider organisations and has worked more recently supporting the development of integrated care and partnership working.
She believes the foundation of integrated care lies in the relationships that are built to enable it, listening to the voice of residents, and ensuring services are designed and delivered according to the need of the population to be served. Stephanie is passionate about enabling environments where patients and staff can flourish and is focussed on developing services to ensure that people receive care in the right place, at the right time and by the right person. Her knowledge and experience in enabling working together as a system and place is something which enables her to strive for continual improvement and ensuring that all voices are heard.
Stephanie’s role as Group Director of Place spans both Wolverhampton and Walsall, with responsibility to lead the work and development of both Wolverhampton and Walsall place based partnerships.
Alan Duffell, Group Chief People Officer
Alan has wide experience within the NHS, incorporating OD, learning & development, leadership & management development, as well as other HR related roles. He joined the board of Wolverhampton in April 2017 after previously holding the position of Director of HR & OD at Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust, where he had been for 5 years, with board level responsibility for a wide ranging workforce portfolio, as well as H&S and Business Continuity.
Prior to this, he was the Director of Workforce and Learning within the Black Country Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and at that time was also a director for Skills for Care, representing the NHS. Prior to joining the NHS, Alan was in the Royal Air Force spanning a range of roles including avionics engineer, training & development, and leadership development.
He holds membership of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD), Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and holds an MSc in Human Resource Development.
Sally Evans, Group Director of Communications and Stakeholder Engagement
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.
Simon Evans, Group Chief Strategy Officer
Originally appointed October 2020, Group Chief Strategy Officer since August 2022
Simon has worked in the health and care sector for 20 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 and 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 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 and has recently become a Level 7 Executive Coach. He has lectured on Organisational Behaviour and Organisational Change for Staffordshire University, is a regular guest lecturer for the University of Wolverhampton, and works with Aston Business School on a range of collaborative projects.
Dr Jonathan Odum, Group Chief Medical Officer
Dr Odum qualified from Birmingham University in 1984 and his post graduate training and studies were undertaken in the West Midlands (1984-91) and Adelaide, South Australia (1991-93). He was awarded a Sheldon Research Fellowship by the West Midlands Regional Health Authority in 1988 and following completion of the research his thesis was awarded an MD by the University of Birmingham in 1993.
He took up post as a Consultant in General Internal Medicine and Nephrology at New Cross Hospital Wolverhampton in 1993. His clinical interests include diagnosis and management of hypertension and pathophysiological mechanisms underlying and treatment of glomerular disease.
Dr Odum was elected as a fellow of the Royal college of Physicians (RCP) in 1999 and has been an MRCP PACES examiner from 1999 to the present day.
He has a significant interest in service development and as Clinical Director for Renal Services (1995-2005) was responsible for the expansion of renal services at Wolverhampton into Walsall and Cannock and the opening of the satellite Haemodialysis units at Walsall and in Cannock Chase Hospital.
Dr Odum has held several medical managerial positions in the Trust including Clinical Director of Medicine, Divisional Director posts from 2003-11 and was appointed into the post of Medical Director from April 2011.
Within the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, Dr Odum is the Responsible Officer for revalidation of doctors, the Caldicott Guardian and the Medical Director of the West Midlands LCRN.
Dr Brian McKaig, Chief Medical Officer
Brian qualified from Glasgow University in 1991 and undertook postgraduate training as a gastroenterologist in the East Midlands. He undertook a period of research at the University of Nottingham (1997-2001) leading to the award of a PhD. He was elected as a fellow to the Royal College of Physicians, London and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow.
Brian was appointed to The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust in 2002 and developed a career in gastroenterology with a focus on endoscopy and endoscopy training. He was awarded a PGCME from the University of Wolverhampton in 2003 and developed the regional endoscopy training centre based at RWT. He has held regional deanery roles as Training Programme Director and Specialist Advisory Committee Chair for Gastroenterology and has held national posts supporting the British Society of Gastroenterology and the English Bowel Cancer Screening Programme.
Brian has held several managerial roles within RWT including Clinical Director for Gastroenterology, Revalidation Lead (2012-2020) and Deputy Medical Director (2017-2021). To consolidate his medical leadership learning and education, Brian successfully completed the Clinical Executive Fast Track Scheme through the NHS Leadership Academy in 2019.
Brian was appointed as interim Chief Medical Officer at Walsall Healthcare in July 2024 to support the Trust while recruitment to the substantive role is taking place.
Jo Wright, Director of Midwifery
