43. Main Entrance - external shot.jpgThe Trust is managed by a Board of Directors and constantly reviews the skills and expertise of the Board and considers there to be a balance of appropriate skills amongst the Board members with a sufficient breadth of skills to ensure balance, completeness and appropriateness to the requirements of the Trust.

If you would like to observe Board meetings, please register your interest with the Corporate Governance Team at corporate.governance@mcht.nhs.uk or by telephone to 01270 612128.

Board of Directors

Non-Executive Directors

Professor Carolyn Wilkins OBE.jpgProfessor Carolyn Wilkins OBE was appointed Chair following ratification by the Council of Governors on 13th April 2023. Carolyn was previously Chief Executive of Oldham Council and Accountable Officer for NHS Oldham Clinical Commissioning Group. She has significant public sector experience, and a long-time commitment to understanding public service delivery from different perspectives. This includes involvement in the Civil Society Future Inquiry and the Centre for Policing Research and Learning at the Open University.

Carolyn is a Trustee of the Kings Fund, a member of the NHS Assembly and Chair of Centre for Local Economic Strategies. She is also currently a Professor at the Birmingham Leadership Institute at the University of Birmingham where her academic interests include systems thinking, leading across boundaries, impactful leadership, and effective leadership teams. Her doctorate explored the relationship between trust, distrust, and control in organisations. She supports a range of senior executive and graduate development programmes as well as supporting leaders through coaching and mentoring.

Her national experience includes Expert Adviser Health and Care, Number 10, Downing Street and Director of Contain, NHS Test & Trace. In this role, she led the team supporting local government and local systems with their Covid response and worked across government to champion a joined-up approach, liaising on a regular basis with local authorities across the country. At the city region combined authority, she undertook a range of system leadership roles including for complex dependency and population health.

Carolyn was awarded an OBE in June 2016 for her services to local government and public service reform.  She has a Masters in Literature from the Open University and a Masters in Public Administration from Warwick Business School.

Elaine Billington MBE.jpgElaine has worked across a variety of sectors and held senior HR roles at United Utilities, VERTEX, Cable & Wireless Communications and Rentokil Initial. She has extensive experience of people strategy development and delivery as well as leading organisational change and transformation   programmes. Elaine is a Chartered Fellow of the Institute of Personnel and Development (FCIPD).

Elaine has championed the importance of apprenticeships throughout her career, including chairing the North West Employer Apprentice Ambassador Network and becoming a member of the Apprentice Diversity Champions Network.

In January 2020 Elaine was awarded an MBE for services to industry and skills, in recognition of raising the profile of apprenticeships.

Elaine is currently Executive Director of HR and Organisational Development at National Highways and lives in Holmes Chapel.

Tony Bristlin.jpgTony lives in Cheshire and has spent the majority of his executive career working for a FTSE 250 Aviation focused PLC, from 1995-2017.

His roles have included Head of Internal Audit, Group Financial Controller, Transformation Project Director and US-based Vice-President for the company’s global shared service centres.

Since 2018, when he left his executive position, Tony was a Non-Executive Director at Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust and his roles have included that of  Deputy Chair and Chair of Audit. He has also serves as Audit Chair at Belong Ltd, a charity supporting elderly people with a focus on those living with dementia.  

Lorraine Butcher.jpgPrior to joining MCHFT, Lorraine was a joint appointee across the NHS and Local Government, working for Manchester City Council and the Manchester Clinical Commissioning Groups in developing a single strategy for the city to integrate health and social care within the context of the devolution of health and care in Greater Manchester. Formerly Lorraine has held senior roles across a number of Local Authorities in the North West, in education, children’s and adults services and strategic commissioning. In these roles Lorraine has led strategic conversations across health and care partners with the aim of delivering person centred care and improving health and care outcomes for patients and residents. 
 
Lorraine lives near Northwich, has a strong commitment to public service and the values of the Trust. She is an experienced leader and will bring the wider experience of working within adult and children’s services in Local Government, and the development of integrated health and care systems to the Board.

Lesley Massey.jpgAppointed as a Non-Executive Director in 2018, Lesley brings over 35 years' experience of working in the NHS; from the early years as a clinician and Occupational Therapist, through to a range of acute hospital sector senior operational and executive leadership positions.

Before stepping down in 2022, after 12 years, Lesley had been part of the startup and later, Chief Executive Officer for 'AQuA', The Advancing Quality Alliance. A northwest based NHS membership improvement agency, working with organisations across the country and accountable for large scale transformation programmes at local, regional, and national levels.

As an expert continuous improvement practitioner, Lesley brings extensive experience of designing and delivering complex change programmes and facilitating multi agency partnerships. As a qualified Executive Coach, Lesley continues to value and promote the importance of empowered, compassionate leadership and staff well-being.

Putting quality, safety, and best possible patient experience at the forefront of attention, Lesley remains committed to a relentless ambition of excellence in care for all.

Andy Vernon.jpgAndy brings over 35 years of practitioner experience of digital strategy, change management, and business transformation to the Trust. He has experience across the full public sector including health, but also in financial services, manufacturing and energy. Following a degree in mathematics at the University of Cambridge, Andy’s early career was leading software engineering programmes and business units in the UK and Europe.  

Andy then started a 20-year career in management consultancy (10 as a partner) in a major consulting firm.  After leaving full time consulting, Andy was interim Director of IT at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals where he led improvements in delivery, service performance, and staff engagement.

In addition to his role as a Non-Executive Director at the Trust, which started in February 2020, Andy still regularly works as a strategic advisor on digital healthcare and provides voluntary services in the charity and university sectors.

Andrew Wilson RT low.jpgDr Wilson trained as a pharmacist and completed an MPhil by research in pharmacology before training in medicine, graduating from the University of Birmingham in 1996.

He worked as a hospital doctor at both Leighton and Macclesfield hospitals before completing his training as a GP practice in Sandbach.

After times as a locum GP, salaried GP and then GP Partner in Crewe he returned to Sandbach where he's been a partner for the last 13 years. From 2013 until 2020 Andrew was the Clinical Chair of NHS South Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and then in 2020 elected as the Clinical Chair of the then newly merged NHS Cheshire CCG, a post he held until 2022. Dr Wilson has been involved within quality improvement work for several years and was one of Advancing Quality Alliance’s (Aqua) Leadership for Improvement Fellows, he was also previously a board member of the Alliance.  

As well has his varied clinical interests which include musculoskeletal medicine and holistic approaches, he is interested in quality improvement and leadership. He is particularly passionate about the value of generalist like district nurses, practice nurses and GPs and about the use of the front line the care professional voice alongside those that use the services, in the redesign and improvement of services.

Executive Directors

Ian Moston.jpgIan has 18 years’ NHS Board level experience with an exceptional track record of NHS service improvement and innovation. 

Ian began his career in NHS finance at Crewe Health Authority and since then he has operated in Finance Director roles in primary care, acute and specialist provider settings before moving onto a year with the then regulator, NHS Trust Development Authority (now NHS Improvement). 

He returned to the North West to join The Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust in 2014 as Chief Finance Officer. 

Denise Frodsham RT low.jpgDenise has worked in the NHS for over 40 years and began her career as a biomedical scientist with a national higher certificate in Medical Laboratory Science followed by a Fellowship in Microbiology, Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety and accreditation as a clinical pathology assessor.

Following further development with a post graduate diploma and Masters in Business administration, Denise moved into general management at MCHFT and progressed from Divisional General Manager to an Executive Director, holding a number of portfolios included Chief Operating Officer until 2017 at which time she moved into developing the Community Services and other service developments for the Trust.

Denise continues her role with MCHFT undertaking a number of key projects and service developments as well as continuing the Executive lead for CCICP and taking a provider support role for both East and West Place, fulfilling her passion for continuous service development and improvement programmes.

Russ Favager (use this one).jpgRuss has more than 28 years’ experience in the NHS in a variety of sectors, prior to which he worked in Local Government. He joined the Board of Directors in 2019 from Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, where he was the Executive Director of Finance for the largest health organisation in Wales.

He previously worked at the Cheshire, Warrington and Wirral Area Team of NHS England where his responsibilities included commissioning £1.9bn of specialised services for the whole of the North West and prior to this, he held a variety of Finance Director posts in the acute and commissioning sector. Russ is the Executive lead for Finance, Estates & Facilities, Procurement and Contracting. He is also the Senior Information Risk Owner (SIRO) for the Trust and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance Accountants (CIPFA).

Clare Hammel RT low.jpgClare was appointed as Medical Director in June 2022, having previously held the post of Deputy Medical Director at the Trust. Clare graduated from the University of Liverpool and undertook postgraduate training in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine in the Mersey Deanery. She was appointed as a Consultant in these specialties at the Trust in 2013.

Clare has a keen interest in quality improvement and service transformation work and has completed fellowships in support of this. She is passionate about developing clinical leadership and has herself recently completed an MBA at The University of Exeter.

Clare is also the Trust’s Caldicott Guardian and maintains the role of Responsible Officer for the medical workforce within the Trust.

Scott Malton.jpgScott has enjoyed a successful NHS career spanning more than 20 years. He has held several senior nursing leadership roles in large acute providers across the east and west midlands.

Scott holds a Diploma in Nursing, a Postgraduate Diploma in Advancing Practice, a Master’s in Leadership and NHS Management, and has published research into the role of the Clinical Nurse Specialist.

Claire Liddy.jpg Bio coming soon

Nicola-Price_129x194.jpg *Starting January 2024*

Dylan Williams.jpgDylan has more than 20 years' experience in NHS senior digital leadership roles in England and Wales. He joined Mid Cheshire from the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board in North Wales, where he was Chief Information Officer.

Prior to working in the NHS, Dylan held technical and analytics leadership roles in financial services and the electricity generation industry.

Dylan is passionate about applying data, digital technology, and quality improvement methodologies to improve outcomes and experiences for staff and patients.