NHS RESOLUTION - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Safety and Learning Lead ( Mediation )
Job Titles:
- Non - Executive Director
- Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants
Charlotte was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of NHS Resolution in September 2017. Since November she has been Chair of the Audit & Risk Committee.
Charlotte is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. She started her career in the arts, publishing and manufacturing. More recently Charlotte has held Director of Finance roles in the NHS, at Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership Trust, Great Western Hospitals Foundation Trust, Wiltshire Primary Care Trust, Cardiff & Vale University Health Board, South Central Strategic Health Authority and NHS England.
Charlotte brings to the Board a deep understanding of the NHS as well as expertise in finance, planning and performance, audit, risk and governance. She is currently a Non-Executive Director Chair and Chair of Audit & Risk Committee of the Student Loans Committee. She is also an independent member of the Audit & Risk Committees of the Department for Education, National Lottery Community Fund and the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Charlotte is a Council Member of Bath University, a Trustee and Treasurer of Comic Relief and the Chair of Trustees of Bristol Zoological Society.
Job Titles:
- Immediate past President
- Expert
Professor Dame Lesley Regan is a globally renowned expert on gynaecology and best-selling author on pregnancy and miscarriage. She is professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at Imperial College's St Mary's Hospital Campus, and Honorary Consultant at the Imperial College NHS Trust.
Professor Regan is the Immediate Past President (2016-2019) of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), only the second woman ever to hold this role and the first in sixty-four years. She is Secretary General of FIGO, the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics; and is also Chair of CHARM - the Charity for Research into Miscarriage and Chair of Wellbeing of Women (WoW), the women's health research charity. Professor Regan is also Principal Investigator of the Recurrent Miscarriage Tissue Bank, co-director of the UK Pregnancy Baby Bio Bank, and she co-chairs the Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction People and Culture Committee (Athena SWAN).
In 2015 she received an Honorary Fellowship of the American College and a Doctorate of Science from University College London for the contribution to women's health. Professor Regan was awarded a DBE for services to women's health in the 2020 New Year's Honours List. Professor Dame Lesley Regan has been appointed for three years from 6 December 2021.
Job Titles:
- Deputy Director of Safety and Learning
Dr Alex Crowe trained in medicine at St Thomas' Hospital, London. Dr Alex Crowe joined NHS Resolution in November 2021 as Deputy Director Clinical Incentives and Academic Partnerships, and became Deputy Director of Safety and Learning in October 2022. Prior to this, Alex was Executive Medical Director and Chief Clinical Information Officer at Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (WHH). Alex joined WHH from Arrowe Park Hospital and Countess of Chester Hospitals where he was Consultant Nephrologist and Divisional Lead for Clinical Governance. He was also Renal Lead for Cheshire and Merseyside networks.
Alex has also worked as a Secondary Care Doctor in Manchester, involved in promoting Healthcare Devolution in Manchester. Alex is also medical appraiser for Responsible Officers/Medical Directors for NHS England. He supports the Royal College of Physicians for a number of courses such as Clinical Director Workshops, Physicians as Educators, Mentoring, Appraisal and Revalidation and Leadership. Research interests include oxidative stress in haemodialysis.
Job Titles:
- Registered Nurse
- Director of Safety and Learning
- Director of Safety and Learning ( Executive Board Director )
- Executive Director of Nursing
Dr Denise Chaffer is a registered nurse and midwife and currently holds the post of Director of Safety and Learning at NHS Resolution.
Her PhD is in health care leadership and she has a master's degree in management and social care. She also has a first class undergraduate degree and a higher education teaching qualification. Denise is a professional clinical nursing leader with multiple years' of executive and board level experience.
Denise has been an executive Director of Nursing in two acute trusts and was a Director in a Primary Care Trust commissioning organisation. Dr Chaffer was previously Director of Nursing for the North West London area team at NHS England and also led on patient safety across the London region.
She has significant experience of working at regional, national and international level in acute and community settings, nursing, midwifery, education, and on major change and reconfiguration initiatives.
Denise published a book in 2016; ‘Effective Leadership, A Cure for the NHS?' which draws on the personal experiences of a range senior health care leaders.
Job Titles:
- Consultant in Emergency Medicine
Dr Freya Levy is a Consultant in Emergency Medicine. She is currently seconded to NHS Resolution, working as a Clinical Fellow in our Safety and Learning team.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Non - Executive Director
- Associate Non - Executive
- Associate Non - Executive Director / Professor Sir Sam Everington / Associate Non - Executive Director
Dr Mike Durkin one of our Associate Non-executive Directors. Prior to this appointment he was NHS National Director of Patient Safety at NHS Improvement and before that the Medical Director of the South of England Strategic Health Authority. He has also held Executive Medical Director positions at a Strategic Authority and at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital. He qualified at The Middlesex Hospital and has held research and teaching appointments in London, Bristol and Yale University. He has led performance and governance reviews in the UK and overseas. He was the National Clinical Director for VTE, is an appointed Expert by the International Society for Quality in Healthcare and was on the core team for the Patient Safety Campaign for England. He led the National Patient Safety Programme for England and supported the international development of patient safety systems.
He convened the Berwick Advisory Board to advise on creating the conditions to improve the safety of patients in England and he was Chair of the Expert Advisory Board that advised the Secretary of State for Health on the establishment of the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch.
He is Chair of the Management Board of the NICE National Clinical Guideline Centre and sits on research, policy and patient safety Advisory Boards. He holds Visiting Professor appointments at Imperial College, London and the University of the West of England.
Job Titles:
- Registered Nurse
- Safety and Learning Lead ( General Practice )
Ellen Nicholson, a registered nurse and Queen's Nurse, joined NHS Resolution in April 2020 as the Safety and Learning Lead for General Practice. Her role works collaboratively with general practice and the Integrated Care Systems in England, to maximize learning from claims, reduce any future harm and support early and effective engagement within primary care. As a Queen's Nurse, Ellen is passionate about improving patient care through lessons learnt, education and sharing information to the workforce to ensure safe and effective services.
Ellen has been a registered nurse since 1991. She graduated from Bournemouth University with a BSc (Hons) and an MA in Advanced Practice and has worked across directorates in primary, secondary and community care in a variety of senior roles focusing on patient safety, education and workforce. Prior to joining NHS Resolution, Ellen was previously course director and lecturer at London South Bank University in the primary and social care department and an executive nurse manager for a GP Practice at scale.
Ellen is the former chair of the Royal College of Nursing General Practice Nurse Forum steering committee and has been involved in National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines and standards committees, as well as the Queens Nursing Institute aspiring leaders programme. She is an RCNi and Health Service Journal (HSJ) finalist, a judge for the annual RCNi nursing awards and The General Practice Awards and has published journal articles on nursing and the workforce.
Helen Vernon has been Chief Executive of NHS Resolution since 2014. She has led the transition of NHS Resolution from its predecessor bodies to an organisation which places a greater emphasis on keeping disputes out of court and on learning from what goes wrong in order to support improvements in healthcare. Helen first joined the NHS Litigation Authority (NHS LA) in 1998, becoming its Director of Claims in 2013. She has an MA in Law from Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University and is a Chartered Insurer and Accredited Mediator. Prior to joining the NHS LA she had a career in insurance before specialising in clinical negligence indemnity.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Director of Membership and Stakeholder Engagement
Ian Adams is our Director of Membership and Stakeholder Engagement. He was appointed to a newly created role in March 2016. Ian has a professional track-record in public service management and strategic leadership nationally in the NHS, BBC and government arm's length bodies (education, health, welfare), plus substantial local government experience as a Councillor, including as Cabinet Member for Public Protection and Licensing, and past Lord Mayor of Westminster.
An expert in strategic communications and engagement, who operates in complex stakeholder environments which are subject to high levels of public scrutiny, Ian is adept at implementing sensitive and challenging strategy and policy initiatives, and cross-system working.
He holds an MBA (Distinction) and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (FCIM) and a Leadership Fellow at St George's House Windsor. He is also an experienced charity trustee, non-executive director and college governor, plus an engaging public speaker and social mobility advocate; he was nominated as an OUTstanding LGBT+ Public Sector Executive in 2018.
Job Titles:
- Non - Executive Director
- Clinical Negligence Expert
- Trustee at the Tropical Health & Education Trust
Janice Barber is a clinical negligence expert who has 40 years' experience as a solicitor and specialises in NHS law. She has advised the Government, NHS bodies and Royal Colleges. Janice was one of the two nominated partners at Hempsons Solicitors undertaking and supervising a full range of claims on behalf of the NHS Litigation Authority when it was formed in 1995. Janice went on to become Hempsons' Managing and then Senior Partner, and continued to specialise in the field of health acting on behalf of NHS bodies and practitioners.
Janice acted for the then Chief Medical Officer (Sir Donald Acheson) in relation to the BSE Inquiry in 2000 and also the Department of Health's Senior Leadership Team in the Mid Staffordshire Inquiry in 2013. She was a member of the then Chief Medical Officer's (Sir Liam Donaldson) Working Group which prepared the Department of Health's response to the Report into the Shipman Inquiry in 2004 which resulted in the publication of Good Doctors: Safer Patients in 2006. In 2009 she was appointed to the CMO's Working Party on Tackling Concerns Locally and chaired one of the sub-groups which contributed to the development of medical revalidation. She acted for the National Patient Safety Authority until it was folded into NHS England in 2012 and for the Trust Development Authority from 2013 until it became part of NHS Improvement in 2016.
Janice is a Trustee at the Tropical Health & Education Trust (THET), an international charity which trains health workers to ensure everybody has access to affordable and quality healthcare. She is also a Trustee of the National Enquiry Into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD) which undertakes in-depth reviews into clinical practice, publishing reports designed to improve patient care. She was formerly a non-executive director of West London NHS Trust. Janice Barber has been appointed for two years from 18 January 2022.
Job Titles:
- Director of Finance and Corporate Planning ( Executive Board Director )
Joanne joined NHS Resolution as the Director of Finance and Corporate Planning in 2016.
Joining the civil service after graduating, Joanne worked initially as a National Insurance Inspector for Department of Social Security. Following this she found herself in a finance role for the Benefits Agency, and felt like she'd ‘come home' professionally.
She worked in finance for six years before undertaking her professional accountancy qualification. After gaining her qualification she worked in a number of finance roles across Department of Work and Pensions, Department of Health and the Food and Environment Research Agency (an arm's length body of the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) gaining a broad range of technical and latterly more senior management experience.
In 2013 Joanne was promoted to the Senior Civil Service as a Deputy Director with the Department of Health, leading the financial close down of primary care trusts and strategic health authorities - a huge and challenging project, yet managing to deliver unqualified the Department's group accounts on time.
Since joining NHS Resolution, Joanne has worked with senior management colleagues to develop and deliver our new strategy and associated rebrand to from the NHS Litigation Authority to NHS Resolution. She has lead responsibility for finance, human resource and organisational development, corporate and information governance, business intelligence/informatics and change management. Alongside this Joanne is also the organisation's Senior Information Risk Owner.
Job Titles:
- Technical Claims Director ( Associate Executive Director )
John Mead is our Technical Claims Director.
After graduating from London University, John joined the insurance industry where he spent over twenty years managing a wide variety of claims against local authorities and other public bodies. Some of these were very high profile, ending up in the Court of Appeal or House of Lords.
He joined NHS Resolution in 1999 and has headed the Technical Claims Unit since it was created in 2000. The team oversees our largest and most complex claims, ranging from brain-damaged babies to allegations of non-delegable duty and abuse. It is also responsible for the technical training of our claims staff. He headed our management of equal pay claims and is our lead on scheme rules and regulations.
John is a Fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute and an Associate Editor of the Journal of Patient Safety and Risk Management.
Job Titles:
- Head of Safety and Learning
Job Titles:
- Acting Safety and Learning Lead ( South )
Neil Margerison is an Adviser at NHS Resolution working for the Practitioner Performance Advice service
Job Titles:
- Chief Information Officer
Niamh McKenna is our Chief Information Officer. She was appointed to a newly created role in August of 2020. She will be supporting NHS Resolution as we embark on a major programme to enhance our technology capability.
Prior to joining NHS Resolution, she led Accenture's Health practice in the UK, supporting the NHS in large scale & innovative programmes such as NHSmail and Secure Boundary.
Niamh has worked across many parts of Accenture's business, including management consulting to technology delivery as well as leading business operations. Niamh is a regular speaker at public events on topics such as Artificial Intelligence and also is a Trustee and Advisory Board member for several non-profit organisations.
After studying at Loughborough University, Nigel joined Midland Bank's graduate scheme in 1982. After six years progressing through the ranks, Nigel was given responsibility for managing the bank's branch in North Finchley, and shortly afterwards moved into the world of management consultancy.
Over the next five years, he worked for both Ernst and Young, and Price Waterhouse. In 1993, Nigel re-joined Midland Bank by which time the bank had been taken over by HSBC. The rest of Nigel's career was spent working for HSBC in a wide variety of roles within branch banking, operations, finance, IT, and his key specialism, change management.
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Chairman of Cafcass
Sally Cheshire CBE is the Chair of NHS Resolution and has been appointed for a 3 year term from 19 September 2022.
After a successful private sector career in industry and professional services, Sally has held senior leadership roles for almost 20 years in the health, social care, welfare and family justice sectors. She is an experienced Chair, Board member and Audit Chair and has been committed in all her roles to improving the experience, care and safety of patients and service users across public sector organisations.
Sally is currently the Chair of Cafcass (the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service), which represents the best interests of children and young people in family proceedings. She is a a member of the Departmental Audit and Risk Assurance Committee at the Department of Work and Pensions and a Board member at the Care Quality Commission. Sally is the former Chair of the HFEA (Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority), the UK's regulator of the fertility sector and embryo research and has worked with partners and clinicians over 15 years to ensure fertility treatment is safer than ever before and that patients' quality of care, experience and clinical outcomes continuously improve. She has held senior Board leadership roles across the NHS with Health Education England, NHS North, NHS North West and the Health Research Authority.
Sally's professional career was focused on organisational transformation and, in addition to her chairing experience, she brings significant expertise in governance, risk management, system leadership and transformation and large scale change. Sally's key roles in health and care have brought clinicians and staff, patients, Government and key stakeholders together to effect better care and service improvement through learning.
Job Titles:
- Director of Claims Management
Simon Hammond joined the NHS Resolution Senior Management Team on 7 January 2019 as the Director of Claims Management. Simon has a wide variety of experience in managing claims having worked for the insurance industry for over 25 years.
Simon held head of fraud roles at national law firms, before joining his previous employer, BLM, in 2009. He was promoted to partner in the counter fraud department in 2011.
Simon has experience of handling all aspects of claims, from policy interpretation, indemnity issues, litigation and prosecution matters. He sat on the Personal Injury Sub Working Group of the Treasury's Insurance Fraud Task Force, and has also presented at national conferences and edited the fraud chapter of a leading insurance text book.
More recently Simon has chaired national conferences on the subject of clinical negligence and has given evidence to the Health and Social Care Select Committee on the subject of NHS litigation reform.
Job Titles:
- Safety and Learning Lead ( South )
Job Titles:
- Director of Advice and Appeals ( Executive Board Director )
Vicky is the Director of Advice and Appeals (formerly the National Clinical Assessment Service and the Family Health Services Appeals Unit), and is responsible for leading the strategic direction and operational delivery of the Advice and Appeals services with the aim to resolve concerns about practitioner performance and offer fair handling of appeals and disputes between NHS England and primary care contractors. She has worked at NHS Resolution since 2004 when the Practitioner Performance Advice service was known as the National Clinical Assessment Service. Vicky's last role prior to becoming Director was Head of Education and Learning, where she managed the external education, internal training and development and assessor training and development functions.
Previously she worked at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development where she led on the development of new certificates and course programmes. She has a special interest in education and organisational development.