The board has overall responsibility for our performance and the way we deliver healthcare, manage our finances and improve services.
The board is made up of executive and non-executive directors.
Executive directors are directly appointed by the trust and includes the chief executive, director of finance and the medical director.
Non-executive directors are appointed by NHS Improvement for the skills and experience they can bring from ‘outside’ the organisation. The board is led by a non-executive chair.
In April 2022, we formed a formal partnership with Kingston Hospital. We have indicated below which members have voting rights on the HRCH Board, and also on the Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Board, where applicable.
Phil Hall – Non-executive director
Voting member on HRCH Board
Previous roles include executive director of finance and resources for a local authority. Phil has also served as member of the Independent Audit Committee for the Wiltshire Police and Crime Commissioner. Phil was appointed in August 2018 and his term has been extended until 30 September 2022.
Ginny Colwell – Non-executive director
Voting member on both Trust Boards
Having begun her career as a staff nurse, she has worked at director level since 1997 – first as an executive director of nursing at Royal Surrey County Hospital, and since 2007 as a non-executive director, previously at Surrey Central Health and the Queen Victoria East Grinstead.
Following her Masters of Individual and Organisational Development in 2002, Ginny also trained and works as an independent coach. Ginny was also previously deputy director of nursing at Great Ormond Street, where she spent most of her clinical career. Ginny provides clinical challenge and expertise to the trust’s board of directors - supporting and shaping organisational vision and strategy and achieving a balance of board level skills. Ginny, our previous board advisor was appointed as a NED on 1 October 2019 to 30 September 2022.
Prof Durka Dougall - Non-executive director
Voting member on both Trust Boards
Durka Dougall (nee Sankararajah) was appointed in April 2023 as a non-executive director in common with Kingston Hospital, with a focus on primary health care.
She is a medical consultant and public health specialist who has been working in the NHS for 25 years. She is the Chief Executive of the Centre for Population Health and an honorary professor in public health and population health supporting two universities.
Durka is passionate about transforming the approach of the health and care system in England so that it is more joined-up, equitable, effective in prevention as well as treatment, and focussed on enabling people to be healthy for as long as possible.
For the past 10 years, Durka has been involved in a variety of roles addressing population health and tackling health inequalities across the UK and beyond. This includes work across primary care networks, acute and community trust boards, integrated care systems, place-based partnerships, national organisations and international systems.
Richard Guest - Non-executive director
Voting member on both Trust Boards
He is an experienced Chief Financial Officer (CFO), management consultant and Trustee with more than 20 years of experience working at Board level including being the Chief Financial Officer of Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust, being a Partner and leading the NHS practice at EY (formerly Ernst & Young) and being a Director at Monitor.
Richard is also a Trustee of Pathway, a charity which works with the NHS to improve healthcare for homeless and other socially excluded people.
Richard is a qualified accountant and has a PhD in Physics from Cambridge University.
Debbie Alder - Non-executive Director
Voting member on both Trust Boards
Debbie is currently Director General Corporate Transformation in the Department for Work and Pensions – a role she was appointed to in August 2023.
Before taking on this role, Debbie was Director General People, Capability and Place since 2020, having first joined the Executive Team in the Department for Work and Pensions as Director General of Human Resources in January 2014.
Debbie began her career in the private sector in HR, with 21 years of experience across retail, manufacturing and consultancy in the UK, Europe and North America. Starting in Marks and Spencer, she then moved to Ford Motor Company before working in consultancy. Debbie joined the Civil Service in 2009 and has been Group HR Director for Defra and Group HR Director for Ministry of Justice.
She was invited to become a Chartered Companion of The Institute of Personnel and Development in 2019 having previously led the HR professional development across the Civil Service, chairing the Civil Service HR Capability Board for 5 years.
Debbie is a Steering Group member of the Movement to Work charity and has previously been a Trustee of the Whitehall and Industry Group.
Dr Deblina Dasgupta - Non-executive Director
Voting member on Kingston Hospital Board
Deblina led Homerton to attain an outstanding rating from the Care Quality Commission, with focus on quality and safety, and alongside her finance and quality committee board executive membership, Deblina has had extensive involvement with the Homerton Hope Charity committee.
She trained in a number of London hospitals including The Whittington, University College London and Newham before joining Homerton. She has been a leader in developing simulation training in geriatric and general internal medicine in London and an innovator in establishing the pioneering Integrated Independence Team for City and Hackney, and leading a strategic focus on improving health and wellbeing of local communities.
Deblina has also played a key role in the successful implementation of various place based integrated services, with wider outcome improvements across the local health and care system.
She was Regional Chair of the British Geriatric Society (BGS) between 2009 and 2012 and England Council Member of the BGS during the same period. At Kingston Hospital, Deblina is a member of the quality and finance committees.
Dr Masood Ahmed - Associate non-executive director
Non-voting member on both Trust Boards
He is a respected and accomplished NHS leader with a strong focus on innovation, digital transformation, and leadership development.
With over two decades of experience in the healthcare industry, he currently serves as the Chief Clinical Information Officer and Deputy Chief Medical Officer for NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Integrated Care System, where he leads the digital clinical strategy.
Masood is deeply passionate about advancing the use of technology and innovation in healthcare and has a keen interest in systems leadership, EDI, digital health, and AI. Associate NEDs are non-voting members of the Board.
Zaheer Ahmad MBE - Associate non-executive director
Non-voting member on both Trust Boards
Zaheer is Global Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at multinational consumer healthcare company, Haleon. Prior to this, he held positions as Head of Strategic Delivery of Diversity and Inclusion at EY, where he chaired the business's Race Working Group, and Head of the Diversity Staff Support Association at the Home Office.
He is a highly decorated former police officer, serving in various departments including Uniform Policing, Force Intelligence Bureau, and CID. He is a former member of five National Police boards including the Ministerial Progression Board and National Equality, Diversity and Human Rights Board.
Surinder Birdi - Associate non-executive director in common
Surinder also has board level experience in commercial and not-for-profit sectors and is currently a Director at Ford Halewood Transmissions Ltd and a Member of the Appointments Board of the Nursing and Midwifery Council.
Jo Farrar - Chief Executive in Common
Voting member on both Trust Boards
Jo has been the Chief Executive at Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust since 2019, and was subsequently appointed as Chief Executive at HRCH in 2021. Before that Jo was Director of Finance at Kingston Hospital since 2015.
Jo, who was listed in the Health Service Journal Top 50 NHS Trust Chief Executives in 2022, is also the NHS executive lead for the boroughs of Kingston and Richmond within the South West London Integrated Care Partnership.
A qualified accountant, Jo has held a number of board level roles in the NHS including at the Homerton University NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and NHS London’s Provider Agency.
He was also Head of Compliance at Monitor, having spent the first 12 years of his career at KPMG.
Thom Lafferty - Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Strategy
Non-voting member on HRCH Board
Voting member on Kingston Hospital Board
Thom was previously Director of Strategy at Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust and has over 10 years’ Board experience in fields such as strategy, transformation, corporate governance and regulatory matters.
Over the last few years, Thom has led a number of system-wide transformation and organisational change programmes, including significant transactions.
Thom has a legal academic background and has spent his career to date either working for or with the NHS in a variety of different roles.
Dr Bill Oldfield – Chief Medical Officer
Voting member on both Trust Boards
Following qualification, he trained in General and Respiratory Medicine in North-West London and undertook a dedicated period of research at the National Heart and Lung Institute leading to the award of a PhD Degree.
He was appointed as a Consultant in Respiratory Medicine to St. Mary’s and Royal Brompton Hospitals in 2003 with a special interest in High Dependency Medicine. He subsequently held several clinical managerial positions at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust including Chief of Service, Deputy Medical Director, and Interim Medical Director before moving to University Hospitals Bristol as Medical Director in 2018.
He returned to London in 2021 as Medical Director at Kingston Hospital and was appointed as Chief Medical Officer to Hounslow and Richmond Community Healthcare NHS Trust and Kingston Hospital Foundation Trust in 2022.
Nic Kane – Chief Nurse
Voting member on both Trust Boards
Nic is Chief Nurse across HRCH and Kingston Hospital, and is also the Lead Nurse for cancer care in South West London.
Nic is an experienced senior nurse with extensive clinical, leadership, and operational experience.
Within her portfolio at Kingston Hospital, she has been responsible for cancer performance, safeguarding adults, quality and governance, patient experience, health and wellbeing including chaplaincy, practice development, safe staffing, volunteering, dementia and end of life care.
Recently she led on the roll out of the Covid vaccination programme, lateral flow and staff Covid testing.
She has worked in a variety of nursing leadership roles in NHS trusts, including Barts Health NHS Trust and The Royal Marsden Hospital NHS Trust.
Nic is Kingston’s clinical representative for the cancer vanguard working across SW and NW London, and she led a collaborative project with NHSE which led to introduction of the faster cancer diagnosis pilot.
She is also the Baby Friendly Guardian (as part of the UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative) at Kingston Hospital, is the Board Maternity Safety Champion, and is the Domestic Abuse and Violence Lead for Kingston Hospital and HRCH.
Anne Stratton – Chief Operating Officer (community)
Voting member on HRCH Trust Board
Anne has over 29 years of experience in adult and children’s services. She has worked within the acute sector, commissioning sector and community sectors in Birmingham, Kent, Sheffield and London.
Anne started her career as an administrative assistant and has held several senior general management and service improvement roles.
Kelvin Cheatle – Chief People Officer
Non-voting member on HRCH Board
Voting member on Kingston Hospital Board
Kelvin has also worked at Capsticks Solicitors where he established and developed their HR advisory service, leading work on complex employee relations, workforce modernisation and Speak Up initiatives. He was President of the HR Directors in the NHS Professional Association(HPMA) from 2008-10 and is a visiting fellow at University College London where he teaches strategic HR management.
Yarlini Roberts - Chief Finance Officer
Voting member on both Trust Boards
She has held several senior roles in NHS provider and commissioning organisations in South London, including Director of Financial Strategy for the SWL CCG. Yarlini worked as Director of Finance for Kingston and Richmond CCGs and has also supported a major mental health consultation in south west London in 2014 as finance lead.
Rosalyn King - Director of Hounslow Primary Care Networks
Non-voting member on HRCH Board
Biography to follow
Tara Ferguson Jones - Director of Communications
Non-voting member on both Trust Boards
Tara is also part of the South West London Integrated Care Board comms and engagement team, where she is the lead for the Kingston and Richmond ‘places.’
Tara has over 20 years of experience in a variety of communication leadership roles in local government and NHS organisations, including Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and West London NHS Trust. Recently, Tara has added leading on the communications and marketing for the South West London recruitment hub to her portfolio.
Non-voting attendees
The following attend our board meetings in a non-voting capacity, to represent the community's views:
- John Marshall - Healthwatch Hounslow
- Paul Pegden Smith - Healthwatch Richmond
The Committee in Common (CiC) is a collaborative meeting between board committees from HRCH and Kingston Hospital, with some delegated authority.
Committee in Common members
The meeting is designed to facilitate collaborative working between the Trusts in order to improve healthcare in the hospital and community.
As the Committee in Common will be also dealing with items that the Board has done in the past, the Board felt it was appropriate and transparent to hold these meetings in public. These are different to the agendas and content of other committee meetings.
Find out more about the CiC (includes papers and meeting recordings)
Committee in Common meeting dates and locations:
- 26 July 2023 - St Mary's University, Waldegrave Road, Twickenham, TW1 4SX
- 27 September 2023 - Seminar Room 1, Education Centre, Kingston Hospital
- 29 November 2023 - Seminar Room 1, Education Centre, Kingston Hospital
- 31 January 2024 - Seminar Room 1, Education Centre, Kingston Hospital
- 20 March 2024 - Seminar Room 1, Education Centre, Kingston Hospital
If you would like to join a meeting, please email suki.chandler@nhs.net
Attending Board meetings
Our Board meetings are held on Microsoft Teams to enable public attendance.
If you have any questions or would like the information to join a Board meeting, please email suki.chandler@nhs.net.
Our Board meets in public every other month. These meetings are an opportunity for local people to find out about our performance and updates. Any member of the public is welcome to attend via Microsoft Teams.
Questions for the board
Questions for the board should be submitted by the 10am of the Monday prior to the meeting at the latest, either by email or by post.
If you want to contact one of our non-executive directors, please email hrch.ned@nhs.net and it will be forwarded to the relevant person.
The board is supported by several committees who meet regularly to ensure that our services and systems are performing to expectations. These include:
- Audit and risk
- Charitable funds
- Executive committee
- Finance and performance
- Nominations and remuneration
- Quality governance
- Richmond Community Healthcare in Partnership (RCHiP)
- Workforce and education
Upcoming meetings
Contact Information
Telephone:
0800 953 0363.
Email:
suki.chandler@nhs.net
Address:
Board Secretary
HRCH
Thames House
180 High Street
Teddington
TW11 8HU
