Get to know our team

Caroline has been CEO of NHS Elect since 2003, building a team of amazing people to provide high quality, in-house support to healthcare organisations across the country, and developing leaders to enable them to deliver improved services. Caroline joined the NHS on the National Management Training Scheme and has spent her entire career working as a leader in the NHS. She worked mainly in acute hospitals in operational and strategic management, including as an Executive Director at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. Caroline has a passion for supporting NHS staff in delivering better care for our patients. In the 1990s she led the operational development of the UK's first treatment centre and has supported leaders for over 20 years in learning, developing and mentoring.

Email: caroline@nhselect.org.uk

Deborah’s professional background is in nursing and operational management, at Director level. As an NHS ‘lifer’ she has worked in the NHS for over 40 years, joining NHS Elect as a Director in 2013. Deborah has led the design and delivery of many large-scale, award winning, healthcare improvement programmes in the UK and overseas. Deborah has an MSc from Bath Spa University, along with a nursing diploma, RN qualifications and an ‘Aspiring Top Leaders’ programme undertaken at the University West of England business school in 2012. A Fellow of the ILM and qualified via the ILM Level 7 Diploma in Executive Coaching and Mentoring, Deborah has also undertaken short courses in Neuro Linguistic Programming and basic counselling. Deborah is a member of the Association for Coaching and is a qualified teacher in further education for adults, an external verifier in further education and has a broad range of expertise to bring to any coaching relationship.

Email: deborah@nhselect.org.uk

Jim joined NHS Elect in 2004 to set up the “Business of Healthcare” work-stream focusing on the financial sustainability of NHS services. This built on 7 years of experience in the IT recruitment business and 10 years of general management experience gained via the NHS Management Training Scheme. After a few years helping members on joint ventures, business cases, tender responses and negotiation strategies he was being asked to do increasing amounts of facilitation, change management and leadership development work. This prompted him to gain first a certificate in practice and then an MSc in Organisational Development from Roffey Park Institute. He still works on business oriented projects but a growing proportion of his time is devoted to work on resilience, conflict and culture.

Email: jim@nhselect.org.uk

Joe is a multi-award winning marketing and communications specialist with over 15 years of experience across a range of industries. He has worked for the NHS for the past 10 years, including marketing, communications and engagement roles in both acute and community settings.

He is a compulsive learner and recently completed an MBA (Distinction), having gained a Professional Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing, a Diploma in Managing Digital Media and a degree in business.

Joe directed the successful campaign to get the NHS Choir to Christmas number one in 2015, raising over £300k for charity in the process. He also led NHS Voices in 2018, bringing together 30 celebrity singers to record a song for the NHS, which was made into a documentary by ITV.

Joe specialises in strategy development and digital communication and has extensive experience in PR, stakeholder engagement and campaign development.

Email: joe.blunden@nhs.net

Piers Young is a Senior Manager and leader in healthcare, with a proven track recording in supporting NHS organisations, the Department of Health and NHS England in improvement and NHS operational management. Piers has experience at executive and board level and has worked at Chief Operating Officer level at a NHS acute provider. He has an extensive operational and service improvement background and is a graduate of the NHS management training scheme. He has overseen and been the SRO for the development and delivery of a system-wide recovery plan for elective care, which included the return to reporting for RTT and the delivery of RTT and cancer access standards. Piers has also worked for NHS England on national data quality improvement programmes, and he was part of the national 18-week programme when it was initial established.

As a director for NHS Elect, Piers leads on Quality Improvement and Strategy work in healthcare. He has led on change management programmes for members and network programmes for both elective and non-elective services. He has experience leading on national improvement programmes and he is the spinal surgery and vascular quality improvement associate for the specialised commissioning frailty network with NHS England.

Email: piers@nhselect.org.uk

Having worked in various senior NHS management roles, Robin combines a realistic outlook with the latest change management thinking to achieve results. He has a genuine understanding of the competing demands of operational health care management and the challenge of meaningfully engaging clinicians in quality improvement. He is an accomplished facilitator and enjoys the challenge of working with teams to bring about improvements for patients and staff. A graduate from the NHS management training scheme in 2002, he has an MSc in Health Care Policy and Management.

Robin leads the quality improvement faculty at NHS Elect and is passionate about supporting organisations to design and deliver organisation-wide QI improvement initiatives.  Robin is a trained coach and supports quality improvement coaches across the NHS.  Robin has supported hundreds of teams across the country and enjoys facilitating team away days, workshops and development sessions.  Having worked in the NHS since 1997, Robin understands the challenges NHS staff face and is excited to be leading the Happier Working Lives programme for NHS Elect, which uses quality improvement tools to improve working lives across the NHS. Robin is an expert facilitator with passion for service improvement, service redesign and coaching.

Email: robin@nhselect.org.uk

Email: darren@nhselect.org.uk

Lisa worked as a coach and mentor for several years before formally training as an executive coach via the ILM Level 7 Diploma in Executive Coaching and Mentoring in 2018. Lisa has a degree and post-graduate qualifications in sociology and has a particular interest in inclusion and diversity. As a Coaching Supervisor, Lisa recently completed the Professional Certificate in Supervision from Henley Business School. Lisa is a member of both the Association for Coaching and the Association of Coaching Supervisors. Lisa has coached a broad range of senior clients from a diverse range of disciplines and backgrounds in the NHS. She has previously held a variety of executive director roles in acute Trusts and the charitable sector; including Director of Strategy and Service Transformation, and Campaign Director for Patient Experience. A nurse by background, Lisa has led several significant projects including service reconfigurations and major capital builds (as SRO). Lisa has a coaching style which is action focused and draws on elements of positive psychology. Lisa works with great flexibility, compassion and empathy, adapting and challenging clients where required. Lisa will listen with deep intent and use a variety of coaching methods and supplementary resources to support coaching conversations as required. Lisa believes coaching can be fun and seeks to ensure it is a positive experience for clients. Her practice supports clients in tackling the challenges they encounter, supporting a problem-solving approach to achieve their full potential.

Email: lisa@nhselect.org.uk

Nicki began her career as a nurse. She has held national improvement leadership roles in both England and Scotland. After experience as a Director of Nursing and a Programme Director for Integration, Nicki worked as an independent improvement consultant and coach managing a varied portfolio of commissions; helping leaders solve complex problems, lead system change, implement new policy and develop new models of care, build relationships and trust and improve ways of working. Nicki is an experienced facilitator and executive coach who has a keen interest in complexity and systems. Nicki has an MSc in Management and has completed The Kings Fund Athena leadership development programme for executive women, the IHI Summer School programme and holds a Human Systems Dynamics certification. Nicki has completed the ILM Level 7 Certificate in Executive Coaching and Mentoring and is a member of the Association for Coaching, a Fellow of the Institute of Leadership and Management and is a Chartered Manager and Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute.

Email: nicki@nhselect.org.uk

Nicola has over 30 years’ experience working in a variety of senior leadership and operational roles in the NHS. As a Director at NHS Elect, she supports teams to develop change management and quality improvement skills. Nicola has also been part of a multi-disciplinary team delivering national improvement programmes.

Nicola has been using coaching and mentoring skills throughout her professional career and holds the ILM Level 7 Diploma in Executive Coaching and Mentoring. Nicola has worked with a broad range of senior leaders from a variety of professional backgrounds in the NHS. Her empathic style quickly enables her to create a safe space in which clients share their issues. Nicola uses a broad range of coaching interventions to support her clients through professionally challenging situations enabling them to analyse, reflect, plan and achieve their potential and career objectives, using their own resourcefulness.

Nicola has an MBA and is a member of the Association for Coaching.

Email: nicola@nhselect.org.uk

Simon is a Director with NHS Elect and a qualified coach and mentor, holding the ILM Level 7 Certificate in Executive Coaching and Mentoring. He has over 20 years of board-level experience working in a range of NHS provider and commissioning organisations in London and the Midlands. Simon has also undertaken non-executive chair positions in both the voluntary and educational sectors. In addition to being part of the NHS Elect coaching faculty, Simon works as a quality improvement coach supporting NHS sites and systems across the range of NHS Elect’s clinical improvement networks. Simon is a member of the Association for Coaching.

Email: simon@nhselect.org.uk

Jey is responsible collaborating with the senior leadership team in the setting of strategic priorities for some of the corporate functions within NHS Elect which include financial reporting, human resources, information governance compliance and IT infrastructure.

Jey is passionate about improving business processes, creating safe and inclusive working environment for teams to deliver to the best of their ability and continuous self improvement.

Jey can help you with the contracting aspects of commissioning the NHS Elect offer to best support your organisation.

Tima is a marketing professional with over a decade of experience across healthcare and education. She has led award-winning patient engagement campaigns, which have helped to improve patient care and outcomes. She specialises in brand and digital marketing, and her work has increased awareness for national organisations.

Tima is passionate about using good communication to create positive change and challenge the status quo. If you attend one of her training sessions, you can expect a focus on practical solutions, which you can take away to use in your work. She is also a qualified CIM digital marketer, and always on the lookout for the latest tech developments to pass on to our members.

Email: tima.moledina@nhselect.org.uk

Email: agnes.rumniak@nhselect.org.uk

Sam has a background in multimedia content production and international journalism, first joining the NHS for an acute trust in 2021. In 2023 he joined NHS Elect as the Content Creation Manager in their communications team.

Sam is passionate about accessible design, good photography, and storytelling through video, completing an MA in photojournalism in 2021. He has led award winning staff engagement campaigns, where nurses were successfully accredited to the Pathway to Excellence programme at his former trust.

Email: sam.hart@nhselect.org.uk

Saranya joined NHS Elect in 2023 as a Business Support Trainee after completing degrees in Medicine and in Biomedical Engineering and Clinical Materials. She manages activity reporting and assists with accounts payable and receivable.

Recent accomplishments have included streamlining data and activity reporting by incorporating automation, improving data recording tools and trackers, and creating new spreadsheets to record data.

Saranya can assist with creating and sending activity reports, handling invoice queries, managing room bookings, and addressing excel-related questions. She is dedicated to improving efficiency and accuracy in all data-related tasks and is always ready to provide support to colleagues.

Email: saranya.gunaseelan@nhselect.org.uk

Piers Young is a Senior Manager and leader in healthcare, with a proven track recording in supporting NHS organisations, the Department of Health and NHS England in improvement and NHS operational management. Piers has experience at executive and board level and has worked at Chief Operating Officer level at a NHS acute provider. He has an extensive operational and service improvement background and is a graduate of the NHS management training scheme. He has overseen and been the SRO for the development and delivery of a system-wide recovery plan for elective care, which included the return to reporting for RTT and the delivery of RTT and cancer access standards. Piers has also worked for NHS England on national data quality improvement programmes, and he was part of the national 18-week programme when it was initial established.

As a director for NHS Elect, Piers leads on Quality Improvement and Strategy work in healthcare. He has led on change management programmes for members and network programmes for both elective and non-elective services. He has experience leading on national improvement programmes and he is the spinal surgery and vascular quality improvement associate for the specialised commissioning frailty network with NHS England.

Email: piers@nhselect.org.uk

Julie is Deputy Director at NHS Elect, leading implementation of workforce and training innovations across healthcare systems. Julie began her NHS career as a paediatric intensive care nurse in 2000. Since 2010 she has been involved in workforce education and training undertaking senior leadership roles that support and advise health and care providers locally, regionally and nationally, more recently working for Health Education England.

She has special interest and expertise in workforce redesign and planning, inter professional education, technology enhanced learning, and human factors and ergonomics. She is an associate member of Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors, working in partnership to integrate human factors science into healthcare. She strives to lead by creating a positive, collaborative culture through the development of a system that supports the workforce to achieve their potential.

Email: julie.combes@nhselect.org.uk

Lydia is an experienced workforce specialist with expertise in clinical education. She has a background as a paediatric intensive care nurse, and extensive experience in NHS hospital trusts, international healthcare systems, academic health science partnerships, and arms-length bodies.

Lydia has designed and delivered interprofessional education, developed regional education networks, and provided system-level leadership for simulation-based education and cancer workforce transformation.

In her current role, Lydia addresses workforce and education challenges by working in partnership with stakeholders in national and regional NHS systems, commissioners, and professional bodies.

Lydia is skilled at facilitating groups and supporting teams to create solutions and resolve conflict. She is a qualified mediator with the International Mediation Institute, focused on workplace and interpersonal conflict.

Lydia completed a Master of Arts in Clinical Education at King’s College London, and specialises in collaborative practice, interprofessional education, team training, human factors and ergonomics. Lydia has previously served as President of the Paediatric Simulation Society (2020-21) and member of the Executive Committee and Board of Directors (2017-2022).

Email: lydia.lofton@nhselect.org.uk

Angelean studied Business and Finance at Oxford Brookes University. She joined the NHS in 2008 and has worked at Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust throughout that time. She started her 15+ year NHS career within the Finance team gaining experiences in transactional, reporting and project finance, with her most recent role as a Finance Manager. She has spent the last 12 months working in Project Management, originally at Royal Free London, and now at NHS Elect. She is currently completing her Association for Project Management (APM) qualification.

Email: angelean.crosdale@nhselect.org.uk

Christine has been with NHS Elect since August 2022, helping to keep the team on track over various projects, and managing the LEN inbox. She is au fait with the MS Teams suite of applications, always strives to be helpful, and knows who to ask to get things done.
 
Christine's proudest career highlight was being involved in the Nightingale Hospital Education team for two months during the pandemic. She loves to craft, especially knitting and crochet, is a complete tea snob (don’t ask her what her favourite tea is because she will tell you at great length!) and enjoys composing the odd haiku.

Email: christine.strickett@nhselect.org.uk

Claire has been working for NHS Elect since April 2023 as Assistant Director, Clinical Lead for Digital Proficiency Frameworks. She qualified at Manchester University as a Registered General Nurse 2003 with a BSC (Hons) in Nursing Studies.

Claire has spent much of her career within Critical Care working predominately in operational leadership, education, and development. She has expertise in quality improvement and implementation of change at trust and system level.

Claire has provided clinical leadership to a national project to update and deliver national digital critical care passports to support the COVID healthcare delivery plan, on behalf of Health Education England. As clinical lead, she also led digitisation and implementation of the national pilot of clinical digital proficiencies for adult critical care nursing. This work has required engagement and collaboration with national partners and stakeholders, and Trusts throughout the four nations and arm-length bodies. Claire has an interest in Human Factors and is passionate about supporting teams within the NHS to deliver safe and effective care. 

Email: claire.wroe@nhselect.org.uk

Ella studied a Health Psychology MSc at UCL, with a focus on behaviour change. On graduating she worked at an award-winning medical education agency, incorporating academic behaviour change theories. She then spent four years at KPMG in the Healthcare and Lifesciences Strategy team advising the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies internationally to develop and refine their corporate strategies - including launch, operational strategy and stakeholder engagement, across therapy areas.

At the start of the Covid pandemic, Ella joined the London Nightingale Hospital’s Training and Education team, and has spent the last 3 years working in the NHS to support national and regional workforce and education strategies across care areas, including recently supporting development of Homerton Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust’s Strategy (2023-28).

Email: ella.nuttall@nhselect.org.uk

Prior to joining the NHS, Gareth worked in the commercial sector and has a strong marketing background. Gareth has worked at a senior level in acute, community and primary care settings and was previously Executive Director of Strategy at Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and at West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust. He has a strong track record of successfully leading complex initiatives and has led on a number of significant strategic and commercial projects including corporate and clinical strategy development. Gareth’s expertise ranges across leadership development, strategic planning, system-thinking, project management, the impact of mindset and commercial skills. His passion is to help create an environment where leadership is inspired by kindness and compassion, where individuals and teams hold themselves accountable for their impact on others and where leaders see their role as being to create leaders not followers.

Recent assignments for Gareth have included, the facilitation of board development sessions, designing and delivering various leadership programmes, assisting organisational strategic reviews, and supporting transformation programmes.

Gareth is experienced in working with members on tender responses, patient & commercial strategies, approaches to mergers and acquisitions, fundraising strategies, community service benchmarking.

Email: gareth@nhselect.org.uk

Linda is a Director in the Elect Consulting team and has been with NHS Elect since 2015. She brings a background in counselling, organisation development, mediation, action-learning and team development to her coaching practice. With more than 20 years’ coaching experience she works with a range of individuals including, health sector managers, senior nurses, executives, and clinical directors. Linda has a distinct relational approach to her coaching practice, spending time at the beginning of a coaching relationship to establish rapport, understand the context, needs, drivers and best outcomes for her clients. Linda has a wide range of qualifications which support her work which include, an ILM level 7 Certificate in Executive Coaching and Mentoring, an MSc in Organisation Development from Roffey Park (University of Sussex), accredited diplomas in action learning facilitation and workplace mediation. Linda is also and a MBTI practitioner (step 1 and 2). Between 1994 and 1997 Linda undertook a post graduate qualification in person centred therapy and is a member of the Association for Coaching.

Email: linda@nhselect.org.uk

Nicki began her career as a nurse. She has held national improvement leadership roles in both England and Scotland. After experience as a Director of Nursing and a Programme Director for Integration, Nicki worked as an independent improvement consultant and coach managing a varied portfolio of commissions; helping leaders solve complex problems, lead system change, implement new policy and develop new models of care, build relationships and trust and improve ways of working. Nicki is an experienced facilitator and executive coach who has a keen interest in complexity and systems. Nicki has an MSc in Management and has completed The Kings Fund Athena leadership development programme for executive women, the IHI Summer School programme and holds a Human Systems Dynamics certification. Nicki has completed the ILM Level 7 Certificate in Executive Coaching and Mentoring and is a member of the Association for Coaching, a Fellow of the Institute of Leadership and Management and is a Chartered Manager and Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute.

Email: nicki@nhselect.org.uk

Tania has an MSc in International Health Management and expertise in patient advocacy and medical education.

During her career she has worked closely with underrepresented and often marginalised communities, including LGBTQ+ and BAME communities, women, drug users, and migrants, to gain a greater understanding of their unmet needs and deliver high-quality, engaging, and inclusive health-related activities at a European-level. ​ 

As Lead Programme Manager for Elect Consults, she plays an integral role in embedding rigorous governance and tailored project management support that best meets the needs of a diverse range of key national and regional stakeholders, including commissioners, systems, and professional bodies, to address common NHS workforce planning and education challenges. 

Tania has a keen interest in digital transformation in healthcare and has advised on a number of national clinical education programmes requiring digital innovation and scaling, including the HSJ Digital Awards 2023 Highly Commended “Digitising Step 1 programme”. 

Email: tania.shetty@nhselect.org.uk

Tim works across a wide range of projects within NHS Elect, contributing tailored solutions and guidance pulled from his experience across web development, data modelling, media production, animation, and automation. His work prioritises accessibility and ease of use, and he advocates for digital literacy and the benefits of digital solutions to the NHS workforce.

Prior to joining NHS Elect, Tim worked for over 10 years in digital roles at York Hospital providing digital and media solutions across medical, clinical and workforce education.

Email: tim.hunt@nhselect.org.uk

Deborah Thompson MSC, Dip HE, RGN is a Director at NHS Elect Director covering Urgent Care Delivery Networks. This involves leading the design and delivery of two large-scale improvement programmes across the UK; The Ambulatory Emergency Care Network and Acute Frailty Network. In addition, she also designs bespoke programme support and expertise to frontline teams to improve emergency care. Deborah has 37 years’ experience as a clinician and manager in NHS acute services.

During her career, Deborah has undertaken a variety of roles from Ward Sister through to ‘acting’ Director of Nursing. In 2003, she diversified her career path by undertaking the role of general manager in Emergency Services leading to a role as Director of Operations.

Since then she has worked on a number of national healthcare improvement programmes and since 2011 has focussed on improving emergency flow leading the improvement and expansion of ambulatory emergency care (AEC) services in over 120 organisations in the UK. This work expanded to include the Acute Frailty Network in 2015 that aims to improve the quality and safety of emergency care for frail older people in the first 72 hours.

Deborah is passionate about working with front line staff to support them to understand and improve emergency patient flow, and has a particular interest in clinical pathway redesign and working with health communities on a large scale to design processes to safely provide ‘same day’ emergency care reducing the reliance on hospital beds for treatment and ensuring frail older people don’t spend a day longer than necessary in a hospital bed.

Email: deborah@nhselect.org.uk

Lisa worked as a coach and mentor for several years before formally training as an executive coach via the ILM Level 7 Diploma in Executive Coaching and Mentoring in 2018. Lisa has a degree and post-graduate qualifications in sociology and has a particular interest in inclusion and diversity. As a Coaching Supervisor, Lisa recently completed the Professional Certificate in Supervision from Henley Business School. Lisa is a member of both the Association for Coaching and the Association of Coaching Supervisors. Lisa has coached a broad range of senior clients from a diverse range of disciplines and backgrounds in the NHS. She has previously held a variety of executive director roles in acute Trusts and the charitable sector; including Director of Strategy and Service Transformation, and Campaign Director for Patient Experience. A nurse by background, Lisa has led several significant projects including service reconfigurations and major capital builds (as SRO). Lisa has a coaching style which is action focused and draws on elements of positive psychology. Lisa works with great flexibility, compassion and empathy, adapting and challenging clients where required. Lisa will listen with deep intent and use a variety of coaching methods and supplementary resources to support coaching conversations as required. Lisa believes coaching can be fun and seeks to ensure it is a positive experience for clients. Her practice supports clients in tackling the challenges they encounter, supporting a problem-solving approach to achieve their full potential.

Email: lisa@nhselect.org.uk

Alice joined NHS Elect in September 2018. During this time, Alice has been working with NHS organisations across a range of NHS Elect’s Improvement Networks to provide measurement and quality improvement expertise. As part of this work, Alice has developed a strong interest in improving patient and staff experience, using techniques such as Experience Based Design to measure current experience and understand potential improvements. This has led to the publication of two large scale studies looking at patient and staff experience across the NHS.

While working at NHS Elect, Alice developed her skills in data protection and obtained a Data Protection Practitioner qualification. Alice now holds the role of Data Protection Officer at NHS Elect, and is responsible for monitoring compliance with GDPR and current data protection laws, including managing internal data protection activities, advising on data protection impact assessments, and staff training.

Email: alice@nhselect.org.uk

Andy is Assistant Director at NHS Elect and works across the AEC and Acute Frailty Networks.  Andrew has over 20 years’ experience in Urgent and Emergency Care, Acute Medicine and Critical Care within the NHS and internationally. 

Andy initially developed his clinical career in a number of EDs as well as other acute and critical care areas, becoming a Service Lead and Advanced Nurse Practitioner.   

Andy has previously developed and implemented a nurse-led AEC service and during his time with NHS ELect has worked with over 50 Trusts and other providers across the UK in optimising their SDEC offers. He has particular interests in Experience Based Design, nursing workforce and development, and Quality Improvement techniques. 

In addition to his work at NHS Elect, Andy has undertaken interim strategy posts and provides consultancy to nursing agencies.  Andrew has been a visiting postgraduate lecturer in Emergency Practice and is passionate about promoting Advanced Nursing.   

Email: andy@nhselect.org.uk

Ayesha joined NHS Elect in December 2023 and prior to this worked for an NHS Foundation Trust in London in recruitment. Ayesha is qualified in CIPD Human resources. She worked for one of the first Covid-19 vaccination centres in the UK during the pandemic as an administrator, where Boris Johnson, the former PM, visited at the time. In her spare time, Ayesha enjoys cooking and baking, and loves experimenting with different types of cuisines as it is her dream to travel across the globe to try different varieties of food.

Email: ayesha.piprawala@nhselect.org.uk

Lenah has been working with NHS Elect since September 2018, having previously completed her MSc. in Project Management. Prior to NHS Elect, Lenah has enjoyed working to deliver value-adding projects and programmes, strategic partnerships and continuous improvement across education, NHS and non-governmental organisations. Lenah provides project management support.

Email: Lenah@nhselect.org.uk

Mandy is an Associate Director and provides QI support to teams in the Acute Frailty, Specialised Care, Same Day Emergency Care and Patient Flow Networks. She trained at St Thomas’ Hospital and has over 30 years' experience in healthcare. She has had an eclectic career working in various nursing and management roles in primary, community and secondary care as well as a seconded post as clinical lead within a PCT. Mandy is a nurse clinician and a Non-Medical prescriber and as such was trust lead in prescribing and in the development of an academy of prescribing within Dorset. In the past, she was involved in the development of Nurse Practitioners in Emergency and Acute Medical Care, Community Hospitals and the development of one of the first Emergency Care Practitioner degree courses with Bournemouth University. She is on the Faculty of the HECTOR course in Northumbria.

Mandy was a contributor to the Silver Book, RCN BEST staffing tool and was involved in the development of competencies in AEC within Kings College Hospital and more recently in development of RCN emergency care competencies in older people. She has presented at several national and international conferences on clinical and managerial subjects and has written articles relating to older people and emergency care.

Email: mandy@nhselect.org.uk

For the last 19 years Matt has spent most of his time directly supporting healthcare organisations, working with clinical staff, board members, directs and operational managers.  Designing, promoting and supporting the delivery of products and services, such as the national analyst training programme (a 12 day course run over 6 months), the development of an improvement faculty in NHS Lothian and developing QI doctors in the Wessex Deanery, amongst many others. 

As an improvement analyst he has extensively enjoyed helping teams and individuals apply measurement for Improvement techniques within a variety of clinal areas to identify areas of concern / interest.  This process includes, assisting teams gather the correct data and appreciate variation, and spot any signals from the ‘noise’ in the system.  Linking this to return on investment principles is often a great tool to help with the change management. 

He has worked for the Acute Frailty Network (AFN) for the last 5 years, and SCFN for the last two years.  He presents at all the national events, runs the measurement masterclasses and created the tools that the sites use to understand if they have made any improvement.  He provides strategic advice on programme development and operational support to AFN and SCFN sites. 

Email: matt@nhselect.org.uk

Rosdip is an accomplished senior project manager and brings together diverse expertise in fundraising, the third sector, and currently NHS. His interest lies in leading multidisciplinary programmes and solving strategic challenges for better healthcare. 

As Head of PMO, Rosdip oversees the Improvement Networks portfolio, leading on the programme management offerings within the UK and beyond. Whilst at NHS Elect, he has successfully managed multifaceted programmes spanning mental health, learning disability, eating disorder, heart failure, as well as net zero and virtual wards.

With his deep passion for social impact, Rosdip has served as Consulting Director for 180 Degrees Consulting, the world's largest consultancy for non-profits and social enterprises. He led the consulting team to deliver quality improvement projects in areas like Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and tech for youth in Lebanon, Nigeria, and the UK. He also frequently contributes to career-related podcasts and interview panels to provide visibility for young students and early career professionals into careers in science and healthcare. 

Rosdip’s academic background is in health data analytics (University College London) and biomedical sciences (University of Kent) and is a certified PRINCE2^® Practitioner. At heart, Rosdip is a people person, and this accounts for much of his success in his career to date.

Email: rosdip.rai@nhselect.org.uk

Simon is a Director with NHS Elect and a qualified coach and mentor, holding the ILM Level 7 Certificate in Executive Coaching and Mentoring. He has over 20 years of board-level experience working in a range of NHS provider and commissioning organisations in London and the Midlands. Simon has also undertaken non-executive chair positions in both the voluntary and educational sectors. In addition to being part of the NHS Elect coaching faculty, Simon works as a quality improvement coach supporting NHS sites and systems across the range of NHS Elect’s clinical improvement networks. Simon is a member of the Association for Coaching.

Email: simon@nhselect.org.uk

Jim joined NHS Elect in 2004 to set up the “Business of Healthcare” work-stream focusing on the financial sustainability of NHS services. This built on 7 years of experience in the IT recruitment business and 10 years of general management experience gained via the NHS Management Training Scheme. After a few years helping members on joint ventures, business cases, tender responses and negotiation strategies he was being asked to do increasing amounts of facilitation, change management and leadership development work. This prompted him to gain first a certificate in practice and then an MSc in Organisational Development from Roffey Park Institute. He still works on business oriented projects but a growing proportion of his time is devoted to work on resilience, conflict and culture.

Email: jim@nhselect.org.uk

Cath Heaney joined NHS Elect in October 2022, arriving with over 20 years of experience working in the NHS in a variety of sectors, including primary care, acute hospitals, mental health, and integrated care systems.  Her aim is to nurture the skills & confidence of NHS people.    

Cath is an Improvement Advisor, a graduate of the Institute for Health Improvement’s IA programme, and an Organisational Development Practitioner, having trained with Roffey Park Institute. She is an accredited mentoring practitioner, a Healthcare Leadership Model 360 degree feedback facilitator, an MBTI Step 1 practitioner, an Affina Team Journey coach (Affina OD), and trained in the application of Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT) in the workplace (City University of London).  

With a passion for facilitation, Cath trained at Roffey Park Institute in Practical Facilitation Skills and with the Q Community (Health Foundation) in Liberating Structures and Community of Practice leadership.   

Cath’s recent accomplishments include being an Improvement Advisor to a number of clinical directorates at East London NHS Foundation Trust (ELFT) through the Covid pandemic, growing Quality Improvement practice to tackle emergent challenges and nurturing the role of the Quality Improvement coaches. In addition, she recently moved into the virtual world of facilitation on Zoom, Microsoft Teams and WebEx, designing and delivering reflective workshops for 250+ staff & service users to shape the future of services together. A personal highlight for Cath of working with ELFT was the co-production of Quality Improvement work with service users and carers, in particular in services for young people and talking therapies.   

Cath was an Organisational Development Manager through the acquisition period at Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, with a focus on organisational values, staff engagement and building effective team-based working & has been a speaker at NHS Do OD conferences. 

Cath specialises in Quality Improvement – building capacity, capability and developing strategy and infrastructure, including service user involvement. She can also help with facilitation and workshop design and with personal development - through mentoring (London and South East Leadership academies).

Email: catherine.heaney@nhselect.org.uk

Claire has worked at NHS Elect for over fifteen years, having returned to work part-time after starting a family. Prior to this, she worked in Public Relations in the private sector, both in-house and in PR consultancies, latterly as the PR Director for a large French cosmetics company. Large and small-scale event organising formed part of her previous roles.

Now heading up Membership Operations, Claire can assist on any aspect of NHS Elect membership, including scheduling, programme design and workshop content.

Email: Claire@nhselect.org.uk

Eilis is a Chartered Physiotherapist by background and has held a number of professional and general management posts in the NHS prior to joining NHS Elect in 2004. Gaining a Masters in Healthcare Management from City University and then qualifying as a coach in 2013, via the ILM Level 7 Diploma in Executive Coaching and Mentoring, Eilis was the founding member of the NHS Elect coaching faculty. Eilis also works as part of the wider OD Team with special interests in resilience, team working and helping members improve their coaching skills. She finds great reward in coaching individuals and teams; equipping them with tools and knowledge, and providing challenge, to help them to develop themselves to become more effective in what they do. Eilis is qualified in MBTI, Firo-B, and is Strengthscope Master Practitioner and a member of the Association for Coaching.

Email: eilis@nhselect.org.uk

Eleanor is an independent consultant and qualified work-place mediator, executive coach, team coach and facilitator. She has worked in both the public and private sector. She started out in research and development before moving into service improvement and change management on behalf of public sector organisations, including the MOD, county councils and the civil service. Healthcare is her favourite working environment, and she has worked in primary and community care and arm’s-length bodies for the last 12 years. Switching from process to people development, Eleanor headed up a new Organisational Development service within an NHS Trust, which quickly became a trusted partner to senior leaders, team leaders and staff throughout the organisation. She continues to have a passion for creating value-based solutions to support a culture of compassion and inclusion. She squeezes in a bit of mediation too.

Email: eleanor.clarke@nhselect.org.uk

Email: frances.leyshon@nhselect.org.uk

Email: hannah@nhselect.org.uk

Jim has worked in and around the NHS for more than 30 years. His Board-level experience has been drawn from roles in several large Trusts, a Strategic Health Authority and in the NHS Trust Development Authority.  He also spent four years as a Senior Civil Servant, in national positions in the Department of Health and later as head of the health team in the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit. Jim's experience makes him well-placed to advise on all aspects of organisational and system strategy and delivery.  Building relationships and shared priorities in complex operational and political environments has been a particular theme throughout much of his career.

Email: jim.lusby@nhselect.org.uk

Joe is a multi-award winning marketing and communications specialist with over 15 years of experience across a range of industries. He has worked for the NHS for the past 10 years, including marketing, communications and engagement roles in both acute and community settings.

He is a compulsive learner and recently completed an MBA (Distinction), having gained a Professional Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing, a Diploma in Managing Digital Media and a degree in business.

Joe directed the successful campaign to get the NHS Choir to Christmas number one in 2015, raising over £300k for charity in the process. He also led NHS Voices in 2018, bringing together 30 celebrity singers to record a song for the NHS, which was made into a documentary by ITV.

Joe specialises in strategy development and digital communication and has extensive experience in PR, stakeholder engagement and campaign development.

Email: joe.blunden@nhs.net

Leanne has worked in healthcare settings across the NHS in England, Wales and internationally. An Alumna of the NHS Graduate Management Training Scheme, she has a Masters (MSc) in Health & Public Leadership. She is an MBTI Practitioner and an EMCC Global accredited Coach.

As an operational manager, she has worked largely with challenged services and teams; leading turnaround and improvements. Leanne led her teams at her Trust in London through the Covid-19 pandemic, whilst also delivering significant improvements in staff morale, sickness absence and retention and a Trust wide digital transformation programme. Leanne was the Trust’s operational lead for the Covid-19 Vaccine Programme and SRO for SW London Mortality Management.

She completed a Global Health Research Fellowship in London; a QI Leadership Fellowship in South Africa, working with leaders including their Health Minister to improve clinical leadership development across the Country; and is currently the Partnership Lead for an HEE programme in Africa.

Email: Leanne.saddler@nhselect.org.uk

An experienced commercial practitioner, Mark started his career in the automotive industry, supporting the introduction of kaizen practices within the supply chain, before working on the Channel Tunnel project prior to its launch. He then held senior posts in the utility industry, undertaking a management buyout (MBO), prior to setting up his own consultancy company supporting Private Finance Initiatives (PFIs). A strong negotiation and supply chain relationship expert, Mark has a particular interest in complexity, integration, power, trust, and influencing.

Email: mark@nhselect.org.uk

Mike Davidge retired from the UK National Health Service in August 2017 which he originally joined in 1979 from the manufacturing industry. In the early 1980's he was jointly responsible for creating the first national performance indicators in England and between 1986 and 1992 pioneered reduced waiting times in England and Wales. He became the Analysis Director for the NHS Modernisation Agency in 2001 and left the MA in February 2005 to take up a role as Director of Analysis & Modelling within the Leeds health economy. He became Head of Measurement at the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement in 2009 until its closure in March 2013 when he obtained a post of Director with NHS Elect. He was also Senior Improvement Advisor for the 1000 Lives team in NHS Wales from 2008-2013 and then Head of Improvement Methodology in its successor, 1000 Lives Improvement until August 2015. He set up his own private company, M and L Partnership Ltd, in September 2012 to pursue invitations for work that were outside the scope of his NHS employment. He currently has clients in England, Wales, Scandinavia and Australasia.

Mike has created some new half day and day long sessions on using data effectively including how to create and use SPC charts. He has also expanded capacity and demand management material to include a half day on capacity planning.

Mike can guide you toward making better decisions by selecting the right things to measure. Mike can show you how to make sense of the data you’ve got. He can advise you on ways to improve the flow of work and also reduce access times.

Email: miked@nhselect.org.uk

Nicola has over 30 years’ experience working in a variety of senior leadership and operational roles in the NHS. As a Director at NHS Elect, she supports teams to develop change management and quality improvement skills. Nicola has also been part of a multi-disciplinary team delivering national improvement programmes.

Nicola has been using coaching and mentoring skills throughout her professional career and holds the ILM Level 7 Diploma in Executive Coaching and Mentoring. Nicola has worked with a broad range of senior leaders from a variety of professional backgrounds in the NHS. Her empathic style quickly enables her to create a safe space in which clients share their issues. Nicola uses a broad range of coaching interventions to support her clients through professionally challenging situations enabling them to analyse, reflect, plan and achieve their potential and career objectives, using their own resourcefulness.

Nicola has an MBA and is a member of the Association for Coaching.

Email: nicola@nhselect.org.uk

Richard is an Associate at NHS Elect, working three days a week with the team and at a coffee shop in Reading he owns for the remaining two days.

He spends the majority of this time facilitating sessions on topics such as Resilience, Leadership, Teams and Difficult Conversations. Prior to joining NHS Elect, Richard worked with the London Ambulance Service NHS Trust where he qualified as a mediator. Prior to this, he managed a leadership programme for a university.

Richard's passion lies in helping people to improve their capacity for self awareness so they can help themselves to greater self leadership. He believes this ultimately leads to a greater capability for people awareness and better organisational leadership.  Richard uses techniques for better breathing, mindfulness and gratitude to improve the foundations of self awareness. 

Email: richard@nhselect.org.uk

Having worked in various senior NHS management roles, Robin combines a realistic outlook with the latest change management thinking to achieve results. He has a genuine understanding of the competing demands of operational health care management and the challenge of meaningfully engaging clinicians in quality improvement. He is an accomplished facilitator and enjoys the challenge of working with teams to bring about improvements for patients and staff. A graduate from the NHS management training scheme in 2002, he has an MSc in Health Care Policy and Management.

Robin leads the quality improvement faculty at NHS Elect and is passionate about supporting organisations to design and deliver organisation-wide QI improvement initiatives.  Robin is a trained coach and supports quality improvement coaches across the NHS.  Robin has supported hundreds of teams across the country and enjoys facilitating team away days, workshops and development sessions.  Having worked in the NHS since 1997, Robin understands the challenges NHS staff face and is excited to be leading the Happier Working Lives programme for NHS Elect, which uses quality improvement tools to improve working lives across the NHS. Robin is an expert facilitator with passion for service improvement, service redesign and coaching.

Email: robin@nhselect.org.uk

Sally started her career as an NHS General Management Trainee in 2006, gaining an MSc in Healthcare Leadership and Management as part of this programme. She has worked in various operational management roles across mental health and acute services since then, mainly in London teaching hospitals. More recently she was the Associate Director for Surgery, Theatres, Anaesthetics and Critical Care at Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, successfully leading those services through the Covid pandemic surges and elective recovery phases. Sally is a qualified coach and has training in Quality Improvement methodology. 

Sally supported the opening of the Heatherwood Hospital as a state of the art orthopaedic and opthalmology elective centre at Frimley Health and increased Critical Care capacity permanently as part of the post-Covid response. Her leadership and coordination of surgical services at Frimley saw some of the first 'green pathway' elective patients treated outside of London in a Covid-safe environment against a backdrop of her Trust treating the 4th highest level of Covid patients in the country.

Sally has completed the Nye Bevan Programme and she is a MBTI Step I and Step II qualified facilitator. She also has a Post-Grad Diploma in Organisational Development Practice.

Email: sally@nhselect.org.uk

Email: sima.gafarova@nhselect.org.uk

Sue has 30 years of operational, strategic and board experience in the NHS, largely in London and the East Midlands. She is passionate about developing young people and promoting diversity in the NHS. Sue has an MBA (distinction), specialising in marketing and is a CIM Chartered Marketer. Sue is an editorial board member for the Journal of Patient Experience (SAGE) and has presented at Warwick Business School, the Institute of Directors and the 2020 Arab Health Congress. Sue holds the ILM Level 7 Diploma in Executive Coaching and Mentoring, is a member of the Association for Coaching and is passionate about coaching and mentoring colleagues from all backgrounds and disciplines in the NHS and is also keen on researching and testing use of AI in coaching. In 2024, Sue has been recruited to sit on the selection panel for the prestigious Oxford University & Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT) Ellison Scholars programme to find and fund students who will help solve some of humanity’s most challenging and enduring problems.

Email: sue@nhselect.org.uk

Anna is a senior communications professional with 30 years’ experience. Anna has held Director of Communications roles in national organisations across the public sector, in healthcare and education at organisations including the Design Council, and an acute Trust, where she led significant service change and reconfiguration communication programmes for eight years. She has advised senior teams, developed and delivered strategic communications reviews, led insight-gathering programmes and stakeholder engagement. She is a qualified educator and experienced facilitator and enjoys facilitating in person and online. She keeps her knowledge current as a qualified member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (MCIM) and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Anna is currently an NHS Elect Associate and independent consultant.

Anna has extensive experience in supporting organisations to develop their communications strategies as well as enabling teams to develop their communications skills. As an experienced facilitator and qualified educator, Anna also offers facilitation to support workshops, meetings and events and provides communications training. As a trusted communications expert, Anna supports teams with their engagement planning for change, stakeholder insight gathering, strategic communications reviews and content development.

Clementine is an Equity, Inclusion and Anti-racism specialist; an Organisational Development and Change practitioner; social researcher; coach; mentor and writer. Her publications include: ‘Dementia Peer Support: Service Delivery for the People by the People’ and ‘Daycare in the home’.

Her career spans NHS senior leadership roles; higher education, local authority; the charity sector and health regulation as a Specialist Advisor on race equality for the Care Quality Commission. She began her NHS career as one of the first Patient and Public Involvement Leads recruited to the NHS in response to the publication ‘Local Voices’.  This role catalysed her passion for ensuring that diverse patient voices shaped the commissioning and responsiveness of health services to local needs, and the importance of Inclusive Leadership.

She is also a mentor for the Promise Foundation - a schools-based charity in partnership with the Raheem Sterling Foundation.

Clementine is the Lead for Inclusive Leadership; Equity, Diversity and Inclusion; Cultural Intelligence and delivers personal impact training.

Email: clem.femiola@nhselect.org.uk

Dawn is a highly skilled facilitator and organisational development consultant with over 25 years of operational experience. She is currently an NHS elect associate and an independent consultant designing and delivering Team and Leadership programmes.

Dawn is passionate about inclusivity and delivers results through real engagement and is a confident and inspiring facilitator with a great sense of humour.

Chris has over 30 years’ experience working in health and with NHS professionals and leaders. He has worked as a GP, medical educator and in leadership positions in NHS Trusts and at the Department of Health. He was Chief Executive of a Local Medical Committee in the Midlands and has been an Associate Dean for Health Education England.

Chris believes it is important that patients and carers are directly involved in running health and social care and he has led work on the implementation of new services, building projects and reviews of corporate and clinical governance. Chris has also worked as a medico-legal adviser and clinical complaints advisers with a leading UK medical defence organisation and continues to enjoy coaching individuals and teams with complaints handling, governance and regulatory matters and in dealing with serious allegations. Chris trained as a mediator with Regents University in London and works to resolve conflict by finding a golden path for all parties to walk away with dignity. Chris is an accredited professional coach with the International Coaching Federation and has regular professional supervision.

Chris’s skills include team facilitation, service improvement, mediation and professional coaching. Chris understands the challenges for medical leaders and the context of their work.

Jan is an independent Leadership Consultant, qualified Coach, Team Coach and Action Learning Set facilitator with extensive senior leadership experience in the healthcare sector in both strategic and local settings.  A Chartered Physiotherapist by background, Jan has over 32 years' experience in healthcare. She has a track record of delivering results through excellent engagement and communication skills, leading large scale change across multiple settings, balancing business with quality targets, leading collaboration for successful partnership and building high performing, motivated teams. 

Jan is passionate about helping individuals and teams connect with their potential to achieve great results. She has extensive experience in supporting teams and organisations build purposeful cultures and draws on her experience in both clinical, operational and leadership roles to contextualise learning and support. Jan's last substantive NHS leadership role was Director of Service Transformation at a multi-site hospital leading system change built on strong engagement and partnership working.

Email: Jan@nhselect.org.uk

Jude is a highly skilled facilitator, coach and organisational development consultant with over 30 years of public sector service. She was Executive Director of Strategic Development and Partnerships in the NHS, taking the leading in vital modernisation programmes in North Yorkshire. Jude's behavioural science and psychotherapy training enables a strong rapport with her clients. She understands how the NHS and the wider system operations and how people work within it.  Jude uses a wider systems approach to enable senior leaders to explore the power of their effect with colleagues and within their organisation. 

As an experienced Organisational Development consultant, Jude is particularly interested in working with groups and teams. She is interested in group images - ie how the individual carries the picture of themself and the group in their mind and how that works with the pictures that others have in their minds.

Lucky started his medical career in A&E, however he eventually elected to train as a GP in Boston, Lincolnshire. He joined a practice as a partner in 2006 and has worked in the NHS as a clinician for over 20 years. During this time, Lucky completed a postgraduate training in medical education and has been inolved in supporting and training GPs, as well as holding leadership positions including as an executive GP in a PCT and subsequently the CCG. Lucky completed an MSc in Coaching and Mentoring and is registered as a master practitioner with the European Mentoring and Coaching Council.

Lucky's goal is to continue to develop himself and to help and support others who wish to develop themselves. He likes to work with leaders and enjoys working on strategy and planning problems. His mission in life is to work with people and teams so that they can be more productive.

Marian's early career was in HR and training management in the NHS, winning NHS trainer of the year.  She went onto lead a performance improvement team to support business transformation in local government.   She is currently an NHS Elect Associate and Independent Consultant, designing and delivering development and coaching programmes. She also works part-time as a Counsellor in the NHS IAPT service. Marian is a Trainer and Coach, specialising in communication. Her expertise includes the written and spoken word, how we communicate with ourselves and the impact of communication on relationships, influence and confidence.

Ruth has 20 years HR and OD experience in the public and private sector, leaving the NHS in 2012 to set up her own business ‘Enjoy Work’ and specialises in creative leadership development and executive coaching.

Ruth works internationally coaching and running residential leadership programmes for global organisations such as UNICEF, WHO, UN Women and PLAN International and charitable NGOs in a range of countries including, Afghanistan, Brazil, India, Kenya and Belize. 

In the UK Ruth designs and delivers workshops for mostly the NHS, on topics such as career development, resilience and positive psychology, feedback skills, coaching skills for leaders and team development.

Ruth is an ICF accredited coach and has an MSc in Innovation, Creativity and Leadership. In her work she uses creative tools such as drama, visualisation, drawing,  mindfulness and storytelling to stimulate creative thinking and develop leadership capability.

Sheryl has been professionally facilitating and coaching for about 15 years and has worked with NHS Elect on a number of leadership development and strategic review programmes since 2012. Working for the NHS for 30 years, Sheryl has worked from ward to board as a therapist, manager, executive director, coach, consultant and trainer.  She also holds a post graduate diploma in Executive Coaching and Leadership Mentoring.

Sheryl has always been drawn to work that involves creating better communication and connection, from her early days as a speech therapist, to becoming an executive director of communications and strategy, latterly as a coach and facilitator. Her approach is grounded in compassion, curiosity and a healthy sense of humour.