Board of Directors

Professor Eileen Fairhurst has been appointed as NCA Chairman to help lead the organisation in the next step of our journey and to meet the ambitions set out in our Vision 10 strategy. She is a highly experienced Chairman and has chaired a number of large, complex public and third sector organisations, including acute, specialised mental health and primary care trusts.

Having established Salford Primary Care Trust (PCT) in 2001, it then became one of the highest performing PCTs in the country. Latterly, she was the Chairman of NHS Greater Manchester. By April 2013, NHS Greater Manchester had facilitated the establishment of twelve CCGs in the ten GM Metropolitan Borough Councils. Prior to her role with the NCA, Professor Fairhurst was the Chairman of East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust (ELHT), a post she held since 2014.

She is Professor in Public Health at the University of Salford where she has an international research profile.

Registered Interests:

• Exec reviewer CQC
• Honorary Doctorate UCLan
• Honorary DSc University Salford
• Faculty Member, Good Governance Institute

Owen started in post as chief executive of the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust in November 2021. Prior to this appointment, he was chief executive of Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust (CHFT), a position he'd held since 2012. 

In 2020, he was granted the degree of Doctor of Business Administration by the University of Huddersfield following the successful completion of his thesis.

In the 2019 New Year’s Honours list, he was awarded an OBE for service to healthcare across West Yorkshire and was asked to lead a national piece of work across the NHS in England about reducing health inequalities. 

He was previously vice chair of the NHS Confederation and, prior to joining the NHS, worked across local government including two roles as chief executive at Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council and Rossendale District Borough Council. 

Before working in the public sector, he worked in commercial business including his first employment at the Yorkshire Building Society. He's passionate about reducing health inequality and ensuring that no communities - regardless of race, colour or creed - get left behind.

Registered Interests

• Chair of the NHSE/I Health Inequalities Oversight Group
• Co-Chair of the Chairs and the CEO Ethnic Minority Network
• Chief Executive member of NHS Quest
• Chair of the Local School Committee for Beckfoot Thornton School, Leaventhorpe Lane, Bradford, BD13 3BH
• Member of the NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board (ICB)

Rafik joined the NCA in February 2023 from St. George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, where he was Divisional Chair leading a wide portfolio of services.  He is a practicing Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine trained in Egypt and the UK. 

In 2002, Rafik was awarded an MSc in Health Management and has since pursued a portfolio career in clinical practice and healthcare leadership. 

Rafik is experienced in working within Integrated Care Systems and Operational Delivery Networks.  He led the Critical Care COVID-19 response for Southwest London as one of the Senior Responsible Officers in the wider London Intensive Care system and set up the Southwest London Adult Critical Care Network. He has also served as the Deputy Clinical Director for the Pan-London Adult Critical Care Operational Delivery network and led on the delegation of specialised commissioning.

Overseas, Rafik has supported leading healthcare providers with developing strategy and implementing clinical governance frameworks; served as an independent board member for a listed company; and worked on international projects in Africa, Asia, and Europe. 

Rafik is committed to bringing the clinical voice to the forefront of decision making and is passionate about developing excellence in clinical services.

Registered Interests:

• None

Ian joined the NCA on 1 December 2022, he is a qualified accountant and has more than 26 years’ experience in NHS Finance. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy. Ian has worked in Trusts, CCGs and NHS regulatory bodies, with significant Board level experience.

Ian is passionate about finance staff development and is the Chair of the Healthcare Financial Management (HFMA) North West branch committee. He also has a keen interest in strategic financial planning in support of quality and transformation.

Registered Interests:

• None

Heather joined the NCA on 12 September 2022 from Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. She has worked for over 23 years as a registered nurse, systemic psychotherapist and strategic leader in mental health as well as acute health. Early in her career she specialised in eating disorders nurse therapy.

Her previous roles include the Executive Chief Nurse of Ashford and St. Peter’s NHS Foundation Trust, as well as her role at a national level as the Director of Nursing for Improvement in NHS England where she directed national nursing and midwifery strategic planning and delivery within Maternity, SEND Programme, Safeguarding, Continuing Health Care, Community Nursing, and Urgent & Emergency Care.

Registered Interests:

• Member, CNO Strategic Advisory Group
• Lay Member, Joint Royal Colleges of Physicians Training Board (JRCPTB) – Palliative Medicine Specialist Advisory Committee
• Chair, Global Majority Ethnicity Chief Nurses’ Network
• Alumna, National Mental Health Nurse Directors Forum. 
• Steering Group Member, The Shuri Network
• Visiting Professor, Kingston University, London
• Visiting Professor, University of Surrey

Jack started his career in the NHS as a graduate management trainee and has over 20 years’ management experience in the NHS. More than half of these have been in board-level positions leading on strategy, partnership development and whole-system change.

He previously led the development of Salford Integrated Care Organisation, including the integration of community health and social care services, and more recently the transfer of community health services in Oldham, Bury and Rochdale as part of the NCA’s work to support the development of place-based services.

Jack leads the development of the NCA’s service strategy, and has overseen a range of acute service changes, including the establishment of the Greater Manchester Oesophago-Gastric Centre and the development of joined-up surgical services across our hospital sites.

Registered Interests

• None

Jude has worked in the NHS for 35 years. After completing her nurse training in the north-west, she spent 10 years working in London and overseas where she specialised in adult and paediatric intensive care. Returning to the north-west in 2002, she's undertaken roles leading teams within specialist, acute and community services, moving to operational management in 2005.

She joined Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust from 2011 to 2016 as the chief operating officer, the highlight being the move to the new Hospital in the Park. Jude was the executive lead for the major change programmes including transformation of pathways, new hospital commissioning and the safe move of all patients and services.

In 2016, Jude joined the team leading the support to the Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust and the formation of the Northern Care Alliance NHS Group. She was appointed as chief delivery officer in March 2017.

Jude is executive lead for NCA performance and planning, Group diagnostic and pharmacy, and estates and facilities services.

Her clinical and operational experience is underpinned by a strong commitment to both patients and staff.

Registered Interests:

• Husband is Employee of Lancs and Cumbria Academic Health Science Network and
• Husband is a Trustee of a Stockdales, a Manchester based Learning Disability Charity
• Trustee of St Annes Community Trust, Leeds

Nicky previously worked as director of HR at Nottingham University Hospitals from April 2015. She joined the NHS in January 2013 at Chesterfield Royal Hospital as director of workforce and organisational development. Prior to joining the NHS, Nicky worked in the private sector, spending a large part of her career in HR at Boots UK, where she worked for 20 years in a variety of roles. After Boots, she undertook interim assignments at Gala Coral and Rolls Royce in Derby.

She has a generalist HR background and has worked on several change programmes, working closely with executive teams to support them on the overall shape and design of the organisation, the organisational culture and employee engagement.

Registered Interests:

• Shareholder – Walgreen Boots Alliance
• Shareholder – Venture Capital Trust
• Non-Executive Director, NCA representative, AqUA Board
• Trustee, First Steps ED

Lorna joined the NCA in September 2022. She is a senior IT Leader with over 20 years’ experience across a wide range of business sectors including financial services, legal, telecommunications, oil & gas and heavy industries.

She started her career at the British Library, and has experience across operational IT service delivery as well as programme and project management expertise . Prior to joining the NCA Lorna was the Chief Information Officer at StepChange Debt Charity, the largest debt charity in the UK.

She was awarded membership into the CIO 100 UK for both 2021 and 2022 and was also included within the 2022 longlist of the most influential women in UK Tech.

Registered Interests:

• None

Robina joined the NCA on 1^st September 2022. She is Professor of Medical Education and Pyscho-social Medicine at the University of Manchester Medical School, a Chartered Consultant Psychologist and Past President of the Medicine and Society Council at the Royal Society of Medicine.

Robina has extensive Board level experience having held several prestigious senior leadership roles internationally and nationally across health and care.

Previous roles include Chair of Stockport NHS Acute Trust and Stockport NHS Foundation Trust from 2000 – 2012, where she was recognised as the youngest chair to be appointed and the longest serving as her tenure ended.

Registered Interests:

• Husband GP Partner at Cheadle Medical Practice
• Director Doubleday Centre for Patient Experience - University of Manchester Medical School
• Associate Director Clinical and Well Being Directorate Outcomes First Group.
• Consultancy role - Frenkel Topping

Carmen was director for HR projects and HR transformation for Sodexo in the UK. Prior to this role, she joined Sodexo in July 2013 as HR director for the HR shared services function, accountable for the smooth operation of employee relations, and HR transactional and payroll services for a multi-site, multi-services business with 37,000 employees across the UK.  

Prior to joining Sodexo, Carmen held several senior HR roles, creating and running shared services operations. She built breadth and depth in this specialism, and in business transformation, by holding the leader position for HR shared services at Royal Bank of Scotland, SPX Corporation and AstraZeneca.

Carmen has also been an HR professional and business leader in a range of sectors including the NHS as well as the pharmaceutical, banking, manufacturing and facilities management industries.

Carmen is also the Senior Independent Director of the Northern Care Alliance Foundation Trust.

Registered Interests:

• Non-Executive Director East Lancashire Financial Services (ELFS)
• Director, Carmen Drinkwater Ltd
• HR, Diurnal Group plc (via Carmen Drinkwater Ltd, engaged by Eversheds Sutherland LLP trading as Konexo)

Kieran has over 30 years’ UK and international business experience with IBM and BT operating a range of businesses in the digital sector. A substantive part of his career involved developing and managing commercial channels, partnerships and global alliances along with acquisition integration and change management. He was most recently BT Group regional director for the north of England, working with business and government leaders across the region.

Kieran formed a management consultancy in January 2020 focused on resilience and wellbeing in the workplace and at the same time became UK digital policy chair for the FSB (Federation of Small Businesses), representing the UK’s 5.8 million small- and medium-sized enterprises’ digital interests to government. In addition, he's vice chair of the government-backed committee advising on the £5bn UK digital infrastructure investment to 2025.

He's been a non-exec director with the Northern Care Alliance since December 2017 and is a non-exec director with Super League RL team and grand finalists Salford Red Devils.

Registered Interests:

• Federation of Small Businesses UK Digital Policy Chairman
• NED Salford Red Devils RL Club
• Director Incol Partnership Ltd

Tim’s career has been in the NHS for nearly 40 years with the majority of that time spent working with NHS organisations in the north-west.

He joined the NHS graduate scheme in 1981, qualifying as a CIPFA accountant and then worked in finance and audit roles in a number of health bodies in the south-east. He also undertook a secondment with the Department of Health to strengthen NHS governance following a number of corporate failures. In more recent years, Tim's led MIAA, an NHS shared service providing audit, assurance, governance, risk and advisory support to the majority of north-west Trusts and CCGs.

Tim is also an Audit Committee independent member of SCOPE, the national disability equality charity.

Registered Interests:

• Independent Audit Committee member of SCOPE
• Affiliated with AquA
• Member of Public Sector Internal Audit Standards Board
• British Red Cross Volunteer

Aziz is a leader and board member with extensive experience at the BBC, Royal Television Society and The Royal Exchange Theatre. He worked at the BBC for 30 years, holding senior editorial roles on BBC World News, national news from TV Centre, and regional TV, radio and online services in the East Midlands and the north-west. He was part of the team that moved BBC services like sport, children’s and BBC Breakfast from London to Salford.

Aziz and his teams have won national and regional awards and he has a track record of boosting audiences and improving diversity and gender equality. He grew up in a big family with a single mum in a council house in Bradford. After studying engineering sciences at Oxford University, he lived in London for 20 years before the BBC move to Salford.

Aziz loves the NHS and is really committed to excellent services and equality of outcome for all. He's also a mentor and champion for the Social Mobility Foundation.

Registered Interests:

• None

Hamish studied at St Andrews and Victoria Universities, qualifying in 1978. He's worked in most of Salford’s hospitals and has just retired after 35 years as a GP in Swinton. He continues as a part-time medical officer at St Ann’s Hospice in Little Hulton.

He recently stepped down from the Chair roles of Salford CCG and the Association of Greater Manchester CCGs, having been in post since the inception of both bodies. In the Greater Manchester role, he helped steer the combined CCGs towards the reconfiguration of acute sector services under the Healthier Together project and was a co-signatory to the health and social care powers devolved to Greater Manchester.

Latterly he was a member of the Greater Manchester Reform Board, a forum tasked with aligning public services across Greater Manchester to improve population health. This, and improving quality of care, remain his two passions. Hamish describes the collaborative work within Salford and the developing Integrated Care Organisation as the perfect way to demonstrate how this can be done. 

Registered Interests:

• Retired GP based in Salford