Term of office: 01.03.2020 – 28.02.2023

Christopher is a Paramedic Practitioner working out of Ashford in Kent, he has been with the Trust for 30 years. His experience in the Trust extends to employment as a Team Leader across many regions, an operative with HEMS, our Hazardous Area Response Team service and as a Paramedic Practitioner for 9 years. Christopher is passionate about progressing the Trust into a dynamic and ever improving service.

Declared interests: Locum Instructor at IQARUS Healthcare Ltd, Herefordshire.

Term of office: 01.03.2022 – 29.02.2024 – 2nd term  

Stuart is an Emergency Care Support Worker in the Medway area and previously worked for The British Red Cross as frontline ambulance crew on contract for SECAmb.

Stuart is keen to see the Trust continue to deliver a better working environment via it’s estates programme and is particularly interested in safety at work.

Prior to working for the Trust Stuart previously served as a Public Governor for the Medway area.

Declared interests: none.

Term of office: 01.03.2022 – 28.02.2025 2nd term  

Nick has worked in varying roles within the ambulance service for nearly 17 years. He is a Critical Care Paramedic Team Leader and also works within our Kent Emergency Operations Centre on the Critical Care Desk. This is his second term of office as a Staff Governor.

Nick is keen to see wider staff voices included in decision making and is particularly interested in the improvement of staff welfare.

Declared interests: none.

Term of office: 01.03.2022 – 28.02.2025

Kirsty is the Business Support Manager for the Medical Directorate and has worked for the Trust in a variety of roles for 18 years. Kirsty notes that non-Operational staff provide a vital service to the Trust and are often the forgotten workforce as without these staff, our operational workforce would not be able to deliver the care they do for our patients.

Kirsty is particularly interested in improving systems and processes and supporting the wellbeing of all our staff.

Declared interests: none.

Term of office: 01.03.2020 – 28.02.2023

Leigh has served as a volunteer Community First Responder (CFR) for coming up to 10 years and is a senior CFR Team Leader alongside his role as a Public Governor. His professional background is in aviation as the Director of Operations for a large airline.

Declared interests: Community First Responder and CFRTL at Paddock Wood.

Term of office: 01.03.2022 – 29.02.2024

David lives in Brighton and has been an active member of our Trust for the past twelve years. During that time, he has attended numerous board and governor meetings, raised various questions, and made suggestions. He was previously a governor for Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust.

He is also a longstanding trustee/volunteer of SERV Sussex, the Sussex Blood Bike Charity that provides urgent overnight transport of blood products free of charge to Sussex Hospitals.

Declared interests: none

Term of office: 01.03.2022 – 28.02.2025

Patricia’s background is in nursing (health visitor) and although retired from NHS she still feels connected to all aspects of the service. She has direct experience as a user of the ambulance service as her husband needed urgent care at times during his last illness.

She has previously worked as a volunteer to deliver health care in a Township in South Africa and her last volunteer role was as a Parish Councillor in Willingdon, Ninfield.

Patricia notes that liaising with, and listening to stakeholders, is vital to efficient and effective service delivery.

Declared interests: none

Term of office: 08.12.2020 – 28.02.2023 – 2nd Term

Colin was the first Governor to represent Medway when SECAmb became a Foundation Trust. He has since worked for SECAmb in our 111 service and re-joins the Council to bring an independent voice. He is keen to see our response times improve.

Declared interests: none.

Term of office: 22.11.2021 – 28.02.2023

Michael lives in Hoo, Kent and has over 20 years of experience either in or working with the Emergency Services.  He has been an active volunteer in the Trust for some time, as he is a member of our Inclusion Hub Advisory Group which is made up of a diverse selection of our Foundation Trust members. Michael is keen to support the Trust further in his new role as a Governor.

Declared interests: none

Term of office: 01.03.2022 – 28.02.2025

Linda lives in Gillingham Kent and has worked in a variety of NHS roles and organisations across Kent and Medway over a period of 26 years.

Linda’s main areas of work are in managing and developing services and quality improvement with a particular interest in involving stakeholders in project development.

She currently works for an NHS Integrated Care System where the main emphasis is still to continue to achieve the best of services for the population of Kent and Medway. With more system working she is keen to bring her experience to SECAmb via the Governor role.

Declared interests: none.

Term of office: 01.03.2020 – 28.02.2023

Declared interests: None.

Term of office: 01.03.2022 – 29.02.2024 2nd term  

Brian lives in Windlesham in Surrey. Brian’s career to date has been in Finance and General Management most of which was at Board level in private and public organisations. He is currently a Non-Executive Director for a media company and works part time as a Finance Director for a biomedical start up research company. His key area of interest is finance and the effective and appropriate use of NHS funds.

Declared interests: Non-Executive Director at Viewsat Ltd, Finance Director at Great North Finance & Innovation Ltd, PPG member at Lightwater Surgery.

Term of office: 01.03.2022 – 29.02.2024

Martin has been a resident of Surrey for 26 years. From 2004 to 2019 he worked for the London Ambulance Service as a Service Development Manager then as a programme/project manager. Prior to this he had a career in the Post Office then Royal Mail.

He has user experience of ambulance services, and believes this two-sided perspective, as an NHS worker and as a patient/relative, gives him a broad perspective on the challenges to the ambulance service.

He is particularly interested in the Trusts recruitment and retention work and is keen for the council to embrace the ‘critical friend’ role while acting as the voice of the public in a constructive way.

Declared interests: none

Term of office: 01.03.2022 – 28.02.2025

Ann lives in Guildford and has been a member of our Trust for 10 years and a member of the Trusts Inclusion Hub Advisory Group for a similar period.

She notes that being involved with the ambulance service as a volunteer has been a steep learning curve, but one she has enjoyed and she is now keen to take that knowledge with her into the Governor role.

Her background is as a programme and systems IT analyst for 20 years and then the education sector for a further 25 years as a lecturer in Computer Science.

Declared interests: none

Term of office: 01.03.2020 – 28.02.2023

Nigel was an operational fire officer for a total of 32 years in both Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Services in many roles. Since retiring he is now a visiting lecturer at the National Ambulance Resilience Unit Command Faculty and a qualified Event Safety Officer for large scale public events.

Declared interests: Visiting lecturer at National Ambulance Resilience Unit.

Term of office: 01.03.2022 – 29.02.2024 – 2nd term  

Matt lives in Billingshurst and has worked with many NHS trusts and local authorities over the past 15 years. He is a community first responder for the Trust, and this is his second term as a public governor. Matt is passionate about ensuring that the public receive the best service possible from the NHS. He is looking forward to representing the public of West Sussex in this role and helping SECAmb deliver on its values of Taking Pride, Striving for Continuous Improvement, Acting with Integrity, Demonstrating Compassion & Respect and Assuming Responsibility.

Declared interests: I work with NHS trusts across the south east area on workforce planning but not with SECAmb. I am a community first responder for the Trust.

Term of office: 01.03.2022 – 28.02.2025      

Andrew lives in Crawley and leads the Crawley Community First responder scheme which he set up in that area.

Previously he had a successful business career as Chief Executive of three companies.

His involvement with the Trust goes back for over thirty years as he has been a St John Ambulance volunteer for decades. In that role, he assisted the Trust by providing emergency ambulance support in peak times. Throughout the pandemic he has continued to support the Trust on a St John Ambulance weekly attending mainly C3 calls.

Andrew is keen to work constructively and support, question, challenge and help the Trust to move ahead and improve where needed.

Declared interests: none

Term of office 18 April 2019 – 17 April 2022

Sarah has worked in the NHS for 23 years and currently works as the Business Manager for the Chief Operating Officer at East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust (EKHUFT). Prior to moving to this role in April 2019, Sarah undertook a one year secondment in EKHUFT’s Emergency Department Programme Management Office (PMO) to support the head of PMO to take forward the improvement of emergency pathways and length of stay, gaining a reasonable level of insight into the operational pressures the acute Trust faces on a daily basis. Sarah’s background, however, is in governance working as Assistant Trust Secretary for approximately 9 years at the same Trust.

Declared interests: None

Term of office 06.12.2021 – 05.12.2024

Sinead is the Staines Conservative Cabinet Member for Adults and Health at Surrey County Council.

Declared interests: none

Term of office 8 July 2019 – 7 July 2022

This branch of Age UK supports those aged over 50 living in Thanet to remain independent. They also work to reduce loneliness and isolation. Vanessa has worked in the Health and Social Care Sector for over 30 years. She has been a Registered Manager both in the UK and in South Australia. She worked with the South Australian Government and set up the first Supported Residential Facility for Adults with Mental Health Issues, offering rehabilitation, inclusion and independence. She has also worked with the British Red Cross and supported Asylum Seekers, Unaccompanied Minors and Refugees to find their loved ones when contact had been lost through war, conflict or natural disaster. She has also worked for Social Services supporting adults over 65 with Mental Health Issues and has been an Investigating Officer in Safeguarding alerts.

Declared interests: none

Term of office: 06 September 2019 – 05 September 2022

Howard has worked in the NHS for 29 years.  He has a background as a Nurse and Health Visitor before going into Public Health and then into operational management. He is now the Associate Director for Quality and Safety at Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust. Howard is a Florence Nightingale Foundation Scholar and Queens Nurse.  He is particularly interested in the benefits of partnership working to improve patient outcomes and safety.

Declared interest: none

Lisa has spent her full 30 years working for Sussex Police working across a number of departments and disciplines including Divisional Commander for Brighton & Hove, and the Strategic Change Team. More recently she was Temporary Assistant Chief Constable with responsibility for the Sussex Police Force Contact, Command & Control Department and the Surrey Police and Sussex Police collaborated Operations Command including Gatwick Airport.

Lisa is a Strategic Public Order and Firearms Commander and has been the Gold Commander for significant events across the county, including the large scale bonfire celebrations and Royal visits. Currently, she is Head of the Professional Standards Department.

Outside of work Lisa is kept busy with family and friends, spending time in her garden and taking care of a range of both furry and feathered friends on her smallholding.