The Board
The Board is made up of Executive Directors and Non-Executive Directors. Non-Executive Directors are appointed by the Secretary of State to bring an independent view to the decision making process of the Board.
The role of the Board is to ensure the delivery of the PCT's aims and objectives; to ensure the organisation meets its legal obligations for accountability; probity and public involvement and to set the corporate culture and direction of the PCT in line with the needs of the communities they serve.
The PCT Board is the ultimate decision making body within the PCT.
Meetings of the Board are held in public. Members of the public are welcome to attend any of the meetings.
The Trust is managed overall by a Trust Board comprising Non-Executive and Executive Directors, chaired by Tony Barron.
The executive team
The executive team is responsible for the day-to-day management of the Trust in accordance with the Trust's policy and national, statutory or other relevant guidance. The Executive Directors are employees of the Trust.
The non-executive team
The non-executives are drawn from the local community and are appointed by a special Appointments Commissioner who selects them following advertisements in the local press. They bring their expertise and experience, as well as their particular knowledge as a member of the community to the work of the Board.
The executive members
Ed Macalister-Smith - Chief Executive
Ed joined NHS B&NES & NHS Wiltshire PCT as interim CEO in January 2012. In addition to leading NHS B&NES & NHS Wiltshire through to April 2013 when commissioning services are handed to clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), Ed is currently the Chair of the Education and Training Change Process at South Central Strategic Health Authority, whilst also providing executive coaching support to emerging leaders.
He started his NHS career in Bath and in Wiltshire 15 years ago. Since then he has been Chief Executive at NHS Isle of Wight and at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre NHS Trust in Oxford. He was chief executive of NHS Buckinghamshire until 2011, when it merged with NHS Oxfordshire as part of the government’s reorganisation of the NHS in England. Most recently he has led reviews for clinical networks and major trauma across South Central Strategic Health Authority. His early training was in Environmental Sciences at Wye College, London University, followed by an MSc in Forestry from Oxford.
Jennifer Howells - Director of Finance
Jenny was appointed to the post of joint Director of Finance in March 2011. Jenny has a number of years experience working in the NHS and joined NHS B&NES and NHS Wiltshire from Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre NHS Trust in Oxford.
Suzanne Twekesbury - Director of HR, Communications and governance
Suzanne’s NHS career started in 1995 when she joined Princess Margaret Hospital now the Great Western Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, in 2003 she joined the Ambulance service and also spent a period of time working for the Strategic Health Authority before joining NHS Wiltshire in 2007. Prior to joining the NHS Suzanne worked for THORN EMI. A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development, Suzanne gained a Master of Arts in Human Resource Management in 2002, having started her career in Personnel Management in 1983.
Christina Button - Director of Commissioning Development
Christina was appointed to the post of joint Director of Commissioning Development in September 2011. Christina has a number of years’ experience working in the NHS and has previously worked with NHS Wiltshire and Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust. Prior to joining the NHS, Christina worked in consultancy services with Inventures (project management and health care planning) and Ove Arup and Partners (chartered mechanical engineer).
Dr Pamela Akerman - Director of Public Health
Dr Pamela Akerman has been a Consultant in Public Health for the Department of Health South West since 2002 participating in shared work programmes with Government Office South West and NHS South West. During that time she has twice undertaken secondments to PCTs as Acting Director of Public Health to West Wiltshire PCT in 2004 and as Interim Joint Director of Public Health to Swindon PCT and Borough Council in 2009.
Pamela studied medicine at Somerville College Oxford and initially specialised in general practice before training in public health medicine. She was appointed Consultant in Public Health Medicine in 1995 to the South and West Regional Health Authority and then in 1996 to the Department of Health South West Regional Office. Dr Pamela Akerman is jointly appointed by the PCT and the Council as Acting Joint Director of Public Health.
Dr Richard Wharton - Medical Director (job share)
Richard Wharton has been a GP in Bath at Newbridge surgery since 1984. Special interests include minor surgery, training and education, and drug addiction. He has been involved in GP education in various roles since 1993, and was GP tutor from 1998 to 2008. Since 2008 he has worked at Severn Deanery as an educationalist specialising in GP Education, Appraisal and Revalidation. He has worked with the South West SHA and English Revalidation support team nationally and regionally supporting the introduction of 5 yearly Revalidation checks for doctors.
Richard will be working as part of an integrated directorial team in B&NES and Wiltshire working towards a smooth handover to CCGs in 2013. He will take the role of Responsible Officer overseeing the medical workforce in the B&NES area until 2013.
Stephen Rowlands - Medical Director (job share)
Steve Rowlands has been a GP in Trowbridge man and boy since 1985 following his return from the Solomon islands in the South Pacific where he first got involved with public health and medical politics. He has been involved in medical management in this country since the days of the FHSA , originally sitting on the 'medical service committee' and has always had an interest in quality.
He has worked for the PCG and latterly PCT as a PEC and board member and clinical governance lead. He has worked as appraisal lead for Wiltshire and instigated the current appraisal system in Wiltshire. Stephen is very keen to support the transition from PCT to clinical commissioning as smoothly as possible and sees success in his current role as being measured by working himself out of a job by April 2013. He will act as Responsible Officer until the transition in April 2013.
Non-executive members
Tony Barron - Chairman
A civil engineer by background, Tony is also a fully qualified fixed wing and helicopter pilot. His interest in aviation stems from his teenage years when he won an RAF flying scholarship on leaving school in Sandbach. He went on to have a highly successful business career, spending five years as Managing Director of the Seymour Group of construction and engineering companies and working as an industry trouble shooter in Africa and the Middle East for an American group of companies. He also has a long history in local politics, health, local government and charitable sector having stood as a UK and European parliamentary candidate for the Liberal Democrats. His health background stretches back to the mid 1980s and is extensive, having served as Non-Executive Chairman of Hampshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, a Non-Executive Director of the former Basingstoke District Health Authority and Southampton and South West Hampshire Health Authority and was also a member of a local Community Health Council. He has also served as a Hampshire County Councillor, Chairing the Education Committee, and chaired a number of charitable trusts.
John Holden - Non-Executive Director
John was previously a non- executive board member and audit committee member with the Identity and Passport Agency and, until recently, with the Criminal Records Bureau. He is a member the Audit Committee of the Independent Police Complaints Commission. John spent 29 years working in the oil and natural gas industry with BP, where he was ultimately responsible for a pan-European manufacturing-to-marketing business. John achieved a second career ambition of a significant public sector challenge by joining the Civil Service in April 1996 as Chief Executive of Companies House, a DTI Executive Agency and Trading Fund. He led the Agency over two three-year terms to much better performance and service delivery while driving a programme aimed at transforming its activities to electronic technology and thus becoming a leading exemplar of e-Government.
David Smith - Non-Executive Director
David Smith is a Fellow of the Institute of Administrative Management and a member of the Association of Chief Police Officers. His background is in the Royal Air Force and the Police Service where - in both services - he has been responsible for operational planning and the direction and control of logistics support to air and ground operations [financial, personnel, supply, security, defence estate and information systems]. Appointments have been both in the UK and overseas in Australia, Cyprus, Bahrain, Germany, Nigeria and the Falkland Islands.
Following retirement from the RAF he took up the appointment of Director of Finance and Administration, Avon and Somerset Constabulary, with strategic responsibility for finance, human resources and police training, information systems, procurement and supply. He has also held a national appointment on the Association of Chief Police Officers’ (ACPO) Cabinet in London, the principal policy making forum for policing in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and was a Director of the ACPO Company. Now retired from the police service, David is active in the charities field, where he is Chairman of St John’s Hospital (Bath) - one of the largest and oldest almshouse charities in the UK. He is also Chairman of the Bath Municipal Charities and is a Non-executive director on the board of the NHS Bath and North East Somerset. He has a particular focus on NHS information systems, security and the Care Network.
David Loosely - Non-Executive Director
David Loosley joined the UKHO as Head of Operations in April 2007. He is responsible for the operational delivery of maritime safety information to the British Government and the world-wide maritime community. In addition to leading a 600 strong team, he is also Executive Sponsor of a £50m transformation programme to improve efficiency and productivity whilst ensuring product safety and quality is maintained.
David became a Non-Executive Director of the Bath and North East Somerset Primary Care Trust in October 2006. He has been the Chair of the Community Health and Social Care Committee.
Peter Lucas - Non-Executive Director
Peter is a retired senior business executive with a background in international and investment banking, and engineering. He was previously Chair of the Audit Committee for Dorset and Somerset Strategic Health Authority, and worked closely with its officers to ensure strong financial performance in the health economy. Peter is a school governor and parish councillor and lives in Donhead St Mary in south-west Wiltshire.
Christine Reid - Non-Executive Director
Christine joined Wiltshire PCT from Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust, where she was Chair for nine years. A former secondary school teacher, Christine has a strong background in the public and voluntary sectors.
She is one of the leading members of the Rural Commission of the Local Government Association, and also has wide experience in working with disadvantaged groups.
David Stevens - Non-Executive Director
David is a Member of the Institute of Management and of the Institute of Fund Raising Managers. Formally Area Director West for Nationwide Building Society, David is a Business Development Consultant and has served as a magistrate for over 10 years.
David has considerable experience as a non-executive director of NHS organisations with a particular interest in performance; effectiveness of delivery matched to local needs and the strategic planning that underpins the leads the operational activity. As a non-executive director of Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire Strategic Health Authority he chaired the Audit and Risk Management Committee and was a member of the Clinical Governance Committee. He was previously an associate non-executive director of East Wiltshire Healthcare Community Trust and also a Mental Health Act Manager.
David has been involved commercially with the voluntary sector for many years, as the Group Community Affairs manager for Nationwide Building Society where he implemented a new community involvement strategy and more recently as Deputy Controller SSAFA Forces Help which is closely involved in the support and training of volunteers to support ex-service personnel.
Elisabeth Woods - Non-Executive Director
Elisabeth and her husband James came to live in Salisbury in 1998, after her retirement from the Board of Customs and Excise, where she was Director, Operations. Before that she held senior posts in what are now the Department of Health, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Treasury.
Lisa is a former member of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority and of the former South Wiltshire Primary Care Trust. She is a volunteer adviser at Salisbury Citizens Advice Bureau and a member of several other local organisations in Salisbury.
Clinical commissioning (NHS reforms)
The NHS is changing. In line with the Government’s reforms primary care trusts are being abolished with the planning and management of local health services, called commissioning, moving to local GPs and clinicians. The new structures will be in place by April 2013.
In Bath and North East Somerset clinical commissioning arrangements to replace the PCT are well developed. Locally a team of six doctors are working in shadow format with the PCT to support this programme.
In the interim primary care trusts have been brought together into larger groups called clusters to manage the transitional period. NHS B&NES is working in partnership with NHS Wiltshire under a single chief executive and management team.
To find out more about the NHS reforms read the Health and Social Care Bill .
B&NES Clinical Commissioning Group
Dr Ian Orpen - Chair
Dr Orpen is a practising GP at St James's Surgery, Bath. He is the Chair of the newly emerging clinical commissioning group in Bath and North East Somerset.
Dr Simon Douglass - Accountable GP (designate)
Dr Douglass joined the PCT during its inception in 2001 and has lead on numerous programmes. He is currently the clinical lead for the Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention workstream. Previously Simon was on the executive committee and chair of the primary care development programme. Simon is also a practising GP at Hope House Surgery, Radstock.
Dr Ruth Grabham - Clinical Director
Dr Grabham is a practising GP at Newbridge Surgery, Bath, and clinical director of the emerging B&NES Clinical Commissioning Group.
Dr Elizabeth Hersch
Dr Hersch is a practising GP at Midsomer Norton.
Dr Shanil Mantri
Dr Mantri is a practising GP at Newbridge Surgery, Bath.
Dr Jim Hampton
Dr Hampton is a practising GP at St Michael's Surgery, Bath.