Our Board members are:
Chair
The chair is responsible for ensuring that the board of directors focuses on The Trust's strategic development and for ensuring robust governance and accountability arrangements are in place, as well as evaluating the performance of the board of directors, its committees and individual non-executive directors.
Following a 20 year career as an Environmental regulator and subsequently as an Executive Board Director of Yorkshire Water, Dr Helen Phillips now holds a number of national and regional non- executive roles.
Now in her third term as Chair of Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, she has since 2017 also chaired the Legal Services Board, the oversight regulator of the legal sector. In 2018 Helen was appointed to the Board of Social Work England, the new professional standards body for social work which assumed its powers in 2019 and served until 2021. Helen is also the first independent Chair of the Chartered Insurance Institute (appointed in 2020), the professional standards body charged with building public trust in the insurance and financial planning profession. Helen served for eight years on the Sheffield Business School Advisory Board.
Helen’s executive career included senior roles with the Environment Agency, in Wales and England, following which she was appointed as the first Chief Executive of Natural England in 2006. Educated at Mount Anville in Dublin, Helen graduated from University College Dublin as a zoologist, where she also took her PhD in freshwater biology. Helen is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology.
Current term: 2 March 2015 to 1 March 2024
Non-Executive Directors
The board's non-executive directors share the corporate responsibility for ensuring that the Trust is run efficiently, economically and effectively. They use their expertise, interest and experience to scrutinise the performance of management, monitor the reporting of performance, and satisfy themselves as to the integrity of financial, clinical and other information. The non-executive directors also fulfill their responsibility for determining appropriate levels of remuneration for executive directors.
Jayne has worked in the NHS as a nurse for more than 40 years and gained professional qualifications in nursing, midwifery, health visiting and NHS management. Throughout this time Jayne has always worked in roles requiring on-going clinical knowledge and skills. Most recently Jayne held the post of Chief Nurse working with several clinical commissioning groups across a period of six years. This involved being a Board member and also the Executive Director lead for quality with a portfolio responsibility including quality assurance and improvement, patient experience, safeguarding, infection prevention and control, medicines management and primary care.
Jayne has extensive experience in clinical governance, analysing performance and quality data as well as interpreting financial information. She has previously worked with the Trust as a commissioner and Partner Governor. Jayne also has a wealth of experience in primary care having worked with general practice in Derbyshire for over 15 years including working as Assistant Clinical Director with Derbyshire County PCT. Jayne has been a member of a number of health and social care partnership boards and was also the senior responsible officer for maternity transformation within the Derbyshire STP.
What is the role of the Senior Independent Director? (SID)
The appointment of a Senior Independent Director from the Non-Executives is best practice and is recommended by the independent regulator of NHS Foundation Trusts, MONITOR to support director-governor interaction.
The SID is appointed by the board of directors in consultation with the council of governors. The postholder acts as an open and readily accessible additional point of contact for governors, outside of the 'normal' channels' offering support with discussion or particular issues of concern.
Find out more about how directors and governors work together here
Ian holds a number of Non-Executive and Trustee roles across housing, care homes and hospices as well as with the Royal College of Emergency Medicine.
Ian is a qualified Chartered Accountant with an executive background in Investment Banking, Travel and Digital industries principally in the private sector and in private equity. His most recent executive role was as the first ever Director General of the House of Commons.
Ian has previously worked extensively overseas and is a keen supporter of diversity of all kinds. He is married with two young adult daughters and plays sport in his spare time.
Nora was previously Executive Group Chair UK of global corporate communications consultancy, Weber Shandwick, responsible for the strategic and operational management of multi-market brand accounts in the UK, North America, India and China.
A former businesswoman of the year, Nora is a past president of the British Chambers of Commerce. Her non-executive portfolio includes being Vice Chair of Council at the University of Nottingham, Board member of the International Chamber of Commerce and External Member of the House of Lords Commission.
A recipient of the First Woman of UK Media Award, she was previously managing director of Saatchi & Saatchi (North). She is a former regional Adviser to the London Stock Exchange and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.
Current term: 4 October 2021 to 3 October 2024
Jeremy’s background is in public health, having held Director or Deputy Director of Public Health roles within Wakefield Health Authority, Sheffield Primary Care Trust and Sheffield City Council since the turn of the century.
He gained extensive Board level experience in the NHS in eleven years on the boards of North Sheffield and Sheffield Primary Care Trusts, and as Director of Public Health for South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw PCTs during the 2012-13 PCT ‘clusterings’. Jeremy has also worked as a Consultant Advisor for NICE, and serves as a trustee on three charities.
As well as his medical training and clinical experience, Jeremy has expertise in clinical governance and a wealth of experience managing budgets, including shared responsibility for a £1Bn budget for Sheffield PCT, giving him a broad understanding of the needs and perspectives of patients.
Current term: 1 August 2015 to 31 July 2023
Sue has more than 20 years' experience of working in an independent capacity in leadership roles in HR and Business Transformation, predominantly in the private sector. Her career is grounded in financial services, broadened over the years in retail, utilities (gas, electricity and water), construction, energy services, leisure, pharmaceuticals, media & communications. Sue is an APMG qualified Change Management Practitioner.
Sue has worked on a diverse range of business change programmes for a number of blue-chip companies. Following her role as Interim Director of HR Services for the BBC, she went on to create an organisation-wide change management strategy & plan for a programme that brought significant changes to people, policies, systems, processes and culture. Sue has been at BT since 2018 as a HR Programme Director, where she is leading a UK-wide transformation programme which impacts more than 50000 people.
Current term: 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2024
Keith has thirty years’ experience working in healthcare markets in the UK, Europe and globally.
Keith has worked in pharmaceuticals, medical staffing and medical hardware businesses over a number of years. More recently he has worked for a number of organisations using technology to support patients and GPs in the Primary Care space. Currently he is Chief Commercial Officer for Reset Health who deliver Innovative chronic disease management programmes. Keith is also a Non-Executive Director of Dietary Assessment Ltd an organisation supporting patients with management of diet.
Keith has been a Non-Executive Director for over five years supporting private technology businesses, charities and more recently Derbyshire Health United providing urgent and out of hours care as well as 111 in the East Midlands.
Current term: 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2025
Atul’s career has spanned social housing, regeneration and regulation. His roles included Regional Director East Midlands and Director of Regulation at The Housing Corporation; Deputy Director at the Cabinet Office Social Exclusion Unit; and Chief Executive roles at ASRA Greater London Housing Association and LHA-ASRA Group in Leicester, until retiring in 2010.
Latterly, he was a Trustee of the Heritage Lottery Fund, where his roles included Chair of the Finance Committee and Investment Panel; and Trustee of the Royal College of Nursing Foundation. He was appointed MBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours 2018 for services to Heritage and the Community in the East Midlands.
Currently he is Chairman of the Charnwood Forest Landscape Partnership, Non-Executive Director of the Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Chair of the Chesterfield Hospital Charitable Funds Committee, and a Trustee of several charities. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Housing and Life Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Current term: 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2025
Executive Directors
Executive directors are experienced NHS professionals with specific management and operational skills. They are responsible for the day-to-day operational management of the trust.
Dr Spencer was appointed to the position of Interim Chief Executive from Friday, 1 April 2022, before taking up the post substantively on Monday, 30 May 2022.
Hal had been our Medical Director at Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust since 2018 - after spending two years as the Divisional Director for the hospital’s Medicine & Emergency Care Division.
After undertaking his training in Cambridge and London, he went on to work as a junior doctor in Nottingham, Middlesbrough and Australia. He then completed his General Medicine and specialist Gastroenterology training in and around Sheffield, including a year as a Registrar in Chesterfield, where he joined the consultant team in 2004.
Michelle Veitch was appointed as the Trust’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) in March 2023; having joined from the role of COO for Rotherham Doncaster & South Humber NHS Foundation Trust (RDaSH), which is a mental health, learning disability and physical health community services provider. Michelle joined the NHS as part of the NHS General Management Training Scheme before being successfully appointed into a variety of senior roles in different Trusts and Systems.
Mr Kevin Sargen took over as Acting Medical Director on Friday, 1 April 2022 before taking up the role permanently on Thursday, 8 September 2022.
Kevin graduated from Sheffield University in 1991, and undertook his initial junior doctor posts in Sheffield and Chesterfield. He then completed his basic surgical training rotation in Stoke on Trent in 1995.
After completing his MD thesis at the University of Plymouth in 1998, he trained within the East Anglian General Surgical rotation in hospitals including the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital and Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge.
He completed a Fellowship in Colorectal Surgery in Adelaide, Australia in 2004-5, before returning to the UK in 2005 where he was appointed as a Colorectal and General Surgery Consultant at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, where he worked for over ten years. He has been at Chesterfield Royal Hospital since 2015.
Caroline took over as Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development in June 2022. She joined Chesterfield Royal in January 2022 as Deputy Director of HR and OD and has recently been appointed as the Co-Chair of the regional branch of the Healthcare People Management Association (HPMA). She joined the NHS after a 25-year career in the British Army where she latterly held senior HR and OD appointments including leading national change and transformation. Prior to this, Caroline gained extensive experience in HR, logistics and training in the UK and overseas, including several operational tours.
Caroline has an Executive MBA and is a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). She was awarded in MBE in 2018 for service to improving the lives of the Armed Forces community.
Krishna joined the Trust and our Board of Directors in October 2020 from the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust, where she was first Deputy and then Interim Chief Nurse, taking up the latter position to cover for long-term maternity leave.
With an NHS career spanning more than thirty years, she developed her nursing and senior leadership career to Executive Director level in a range of roles in the county’s hospitals, including the former Derby City Hospital, Queens Hospital in Burton and Royal Derby Hospitals. Thanks to her connections, she has brought a wealth of knowledge of the Derbyshire health and social care system (and beyond) to Chesterfield Royal.
Krishna has responsibility for the Trust’s 2800 nursing, midwifery and allied health professionals with a priority to ensure that the voice of all professions is strengthened and ensuring colleagues have appropriate access to any health and wellbeing support. Krishna is a member of the Global Majority Chief Nurses Group which involves working collaborative with both Chief Nursing and Chief Midwifery Officers for England to provide strategic and operational advice relating to race and ethnicity.
As a Visiting Professor for University of Derby, Krishna works in partnership supporting both current and future workforce in promoting evidence-based practice and our workforce pipeline of talent.
Krishna describes herself as ‘passionate about improving patient experience, patient safety and our patient’s clinical outcomes’. Krishna leads on clinical governance, quality of patient care and patient experience and health and safety across the organisation. Krishna also works alongside the Medical Director to lead clinical performance and effectiveness.
Steve Heppinstall was appointed to the role of Director of Finance and Contracting in April 2023, after taking the role on an interim basis from June 2022.
Steve has worked in the NHS since 2003 in a number of finance roles, starting at Wakefield and Doncaster before moving to Chesterfield and has a proven track record of not only working across the Trust but the wider system.
In his spare time, Steve is a keen environmentalist and cyclist. He originally graduated from the University of Hull with an honours degree in Maths, is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and completed an MBA in Healthcare Finance in 2020.
Jon has been a consultant in Intensive Care Medicine at Chesterfield Royal Hospital since 2002. He is the Trust Chief Digital Officer with responsibility for the delivery of the Digital Transformation agenda for the Trust and our Integrated Care System. Jon is committed to a clinically led Digital First approach to the transformation of healthcare, enabling staff to deliver best care by ensuring digital systems and processes are interoperable, intuitive and safe. Jon is the informed client for DSFS to Trust Interface.
Register of Directors' Interests
The Trust holds a single register of interests which includes any interests declared by members of the board of directors. They must disclose details of company directorships or other positions held, particularly if they involve companies or organisations likely to do business, or possibly seeking to do business with the Trust. A board of directors register of interests is disclosed at each board meeting and can be found in the agenda pack.
How to contact our Chief Executive or Chair
To contact or Chief Executive or Chair, please contact helen.cooke3@nhs.net.