Our People

John Brewin, South Notts PBP Convenor and Chief Executive Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

John Brewin is the South Nottinghamshire PBP Convenor and the Chief Executive of Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. John, a consultant psychiatrist for 23 years, was CEO at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust (LPFT), where he had been in that role for four years and had been their Medical Director for three years prior to this. John previously worked for Nottinghamshire Healthcare in a variety of senior clinical roles between1995-2011 and he also trained in Nottingham.

John has an extensive career history of leadership and managerial roles, with experience as an associate medical director and clinical director before he joined LPFT. John’s achievements during his time at LPFT include the Trust moving from ‘Requires Improvement’ in 2015 to ‘Good’ in 2017 in the CQC ratings. He also helped the Trust improve quality, deliver strong performance and meet financial targets year on year.

Some of John’s other skills are around culture, leadership and staff engagement.

Dr Nicole Atkinson, Eastwood GP and Clinical Lead

Nicole is the Clinical Lead for the South Nottinghamshire PBP. She has been working in the Nottinghamshire system since graduating as a Doctor from the University of Nottingham in the late 1990s.

She started her career at Nottingham University Hospitals before moving into General Practice, and is well respected across the patch, having held a number of senior clinical roles including lead for PCN Development and Clinical Lead for Nottingham West CCG, a position she has held for the last three years.

Nicole has a lot of experience working in South Nottinghamshire, and in addition to her Clinical Lead role she is a GP Partner at Eastwood Primary Care Centre, an outstanding GP Practice in Eastwood.

A mother of four boys (aged between 9 and 14), Nicole’s free time is spent getting involved in family activities, including swimming, football, hill climbing and watching lots of superhero films!

She’s also a passionate long-distance runner, having completed a number of ultra marathons, her most recent challenges are to raise money for NUH’s long covid clinics.

Nicole is as energetic and passionate about improving outcomes for patients across South Nottinghamshire as she is running. The area is particularly close to her heart as not only does she work as a GP on the patch, but she and her friends and family live locally.

Read more about Nicole here.

Dr Jo Levene, Clinical Psychologist at Nottinghamshire Healthcare and a PBP Clinical Lead

Jo currently leads the Physical Health Psychology Team at Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (SFHFT) and John Eastwood Hospice, where the team works with patients with complex physical health problems, as well as providing support to staff to develop their psychological skills.

She has a wealth of experience, having worked in health and social care across Nottinghamshire and the East Midlands for nearly 30 years. Her career has spanned NHS, local authority and voluntary sectors, 25 years of which have been focused on mental health.

Jo is also a lead for the City Step 4 Adult Mental Health Psychological Health Team, providing psychological assessment and therapy to adults with complex mental health needs, especially complex trauma. Jo views health and wellbeing as strongly embedded in a socioeconomic context and is keen to highlight and address structural inequalities as part of her work.

She is currently Macmillan Psychology Clinical Lead for the East Midlands Cancer Alliance, part of NHS England, and is passionate about delivering an integrated approach to healthcare, aiming to move ‘No Health Without Mental Health’ from policy to reality.

Jo is looking forward to working with a wide range of disciplines and organisational partners to understand and improve the health and social care needs of the South Notts ICP area, and regularly provides training on wellbeing and resilience to NHS colleagues.

When she’s not working, Jo enjoys spending time with family and friends, especially if it involves eating good food! She dabbles in various exercise regimes to keep fit and has developed a love of online yoga during lockdown. Jo also volunteers in community activities and, when time allows, is a fan of watching musicals.

Find out more about Jo here.

Dr Aamer Ali, Consultant Geriatrician at Queens Medical Centre and an PBP clinical lead

Aamer is a consultant geriatrician at Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham with interface and front door frailty as his main area of clinical practice.

He runs an outpatient clinic in falls and bone health and offers a virtual clinic for the community falls and bone health team. He provides mentoring and educational lead role for the community falls team as well. He is also a lead in the elective trauma and Orthopaedics SCOPES service.

Aamer is Nottingham University Hospitals Trust lead for dementia and in-patient falls. He has co-authored the Nottingham University Hospital’s dementia strategy and working with the community services to develop a county wide strategy. He is also working with the EOLC team in Nottingham working on introduction of Respect forms.

He is one of the clinical leads of the South Notts PBP.   His interests are End of life care, management of patients with delirium and dementia and social isolation and he is Royal College of Physicians, London’s regional representative for East Midlands.

Aamer is especially fond of Urdu poetry and likes to listen to Urdu classical music and masters.

Carolyn Perry, Chief Executive Officer at Rushcliffe Community & Voluntary Service (CVS)

Carolyn’s role is to lead and develop Rushcliffe CVS as a key local development agency, and as a key local resource agency promoting independent living in South Nottinghamshire.

Having worked in the voluntary sector for over 20 years she has a breadth of knowledge and experience of working with the VCS, patient and public engagement and supporting communities to be effective and resilient. She has strong belief that the sector makes a huge contribution to improving health and wellbeing in local communities with the ability to identify and meet community need, and their changing needs. And providing support to the most vulnerable in society

She is a strong advocate of collaborative working, utilising innovative approaches to change people and communities for the better.

Jonathan Bemrose, Finance Director at Primary Integrated Community Services Ltd (PICS)

Nottingham-born, and with a passion to provide good care for local people, Jonathan has over 30 years’ experience of working in health and social care including senior finance roles in local authority Social Services, NHS commissioning (PCT and CCGs) and NHS providers.

He is currently Finance Director at Primary Integrated Community Services Ltd (PICS) which provides a wide range of NHS community health services and runs several high performing GP practices across Nottinghamshire. Previously, he was NHS Chief Finance Officer for Greater Nottingham, which served 4 CCGs with an annual budget over  £1bn.

Jonathan qualified as a Chartered Accountant in Nottingham and has been a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants since 1994. He is committed to making finance open and understandable for managers, healthcare professionals and patients whilst adding a little humour along the way.

He has over 10 years board experience in both NHS provider and commissioning organisations. Currently on the Board of PICS as executive member, and Futures Housing Group as an independent member supporting the audit committee and providing financial support to the Nottingham City GP Alliance board and is highly experienced at delivering agreed outcomes and improvements with the appropriate governance and assurance.

Jonathan is married with a grown-up son and an interest in cars and local history.

Helen Smith, PBP Programme Director

Helen is the Programme Director for South Nottinghamshire PBP. Her role is to work on behalf of all partners and to support and progress their collaborative working for the benefit of the local population.

She qualified as a Physiotherapist in 1996 and started her career at Nottingham City Hospital, then on to Australia and London before returning to Nottingham in 2007.

In her clinical roles she was drawn to work in areas that require multi-disciplinary and multi-agency working where interventions need to be meaningful to patients and carers in achieving their goals; in particular, older people’s services, neurology and mental health services.

Helen’s passion is to enable the most vulnerable groups of people to access the care and support they require for example working with people from the indigenous population in Australia and people with enduring mental health conditions whose diagnoses often overshadowed their access to high quality physical healthcare.

Her management career has included service management, project management . All Helen’s work is underpinned by the values of person centred care, team working and providing support and supervision to her teams.

She maintains her link to direct care through being the co-Principal Investigator for the Nottingham site of the Promoting Activity Independence and Stability in Early Dementia (PrAISED) study.   She supports the therapists delivering the intervention, ensures the links between clinical practice and the research team in order to test the delivery of an intervention to support people to live well with a diagnosis of dementia

Helen is excited by the potential of partners across South Nottinghamshire working more closely together for the benefit of their shared population.

Claire Culverhouse, Deputy Director of Integration at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust

Currently Claire is the Deputy Director of Integration at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) and is supporting NUH to integrate functions and services with partner organisations across the local health and care system.

Claire has worked in the NHS for over 12 years, starting her career on the NHS Management Training Scheme in 2008. Over that period she has worked across a variety of organisations across the health and care system, undertaking roles in operations within a mental health trust, strategic roles within two acute trusts, development of commissioning strategy and out of hospital services within a CCG and within a policy development and advisory role at the Department of Health. This experience has given Claire a breadth of understanding of how health and care systems operate and a strong desire to improve and better co-ordinate services across organisational boundaries.

Claire holds a BSc in Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry and an MSc in Management from Loughborough University and an MSc in Health and Public Leadership from the University of Birmingham Health Service Management Centre.

Ruth Hyde, Chief Executive of Broxtowe Borough Council

Ruth Hyde OBE is Chief Executive of Broxtowe Borough Council, a position she has held for 16 years.

A lawyer by profession, (she specialised in both planning and social services litigation) she worked with Bedfordshire County Council, Bedford Borough Council and Charnwood Borough Council before being appointed to Oadby and Wigston Borough Council as Chief Executive in 1991. While in Leicestershire she served as a governor of Leicester University for 6 years. Ruth was appointed chief executive of Broxtowe Borough Council in 2006. She was a governor of Broxtowe FE College for six years.

She is a non-executive director of Solace in Business Ltd and chairs the European Board of AIM International (a Christian Mission organisation serving across Africa). She was awarded the OBE for services to local government in Leicestershire in 2004.

Dr Adam Connor, Clinical Director, Byron PCN

Dr Adam Connor is a GP in Hucknall, Nottingham and has experienced locum, salaried and (long term) partnership, working in practices ranging from 2,500 patients to 51,000!   The majority of his GP career has been caring for students in Nottingham and Lincoln Universities and with this he developed (through necessity) a passion for and considerable experience in mental health care.   He has a strong interest in self harm and suicide assessment developed along with roles as a section 12 approved mental health doctor.   Dr Adam Connor was a knowledge broker for CLARHC Nottingham in mental health research/suicide risk assessment.

Other areas of medical interest include running a private medical company for Occupational Medicine, Diving Medicine, Offshore Medicine and Medico-legal Expert.

Ali Rounce, Managing Director, PICS

Ali has spent 25 years in primary care working as a local GP non-clinical partner and is passionate about providing good quality services in Nottinghamshire.

This is why 10 years ago she established Primary Integrated Community Services Limited (PICS), a GP owned organisation that delivers out of hospital, community and extended primary care services.

Being Director of PICS has meant Ali has a lot of experience in managing change and leading innovative projects in primary care. She particularly enjoys project work and working with clinicians on service redesign.

David Banks – Deputy Chief Executive and Director for Neighbourhoods, Rushcliffe Borough Council

David started his career in Environmental Health and Licensing in 1992 holding a number of positions at Nottingham City Council, Charnwood Borough Council and Rushcliffe Borough Council whereupon in 2003 he was appointed Head of Environmental Health.   Since then David has held a number of senior management roles at Rushcliffe Borough Council and his portfolio has expanded to include waste and environmental services, community safety and housing services along with environmental health and licensing.

During his career David has also been shared with South Kesteven District Council in Lincolnshire for a period of 18 months. This ‘Shared Head of Service’ role resulted in benefits for both authorities in terms of financial savings and sharing expertise.

Last year David was appointed Deputy Chief Executive at Rushcliffe and an impending reorganisation at the Council will see the Communities service, which includes health development, joining the neighbourhoods directorate. During the pandemic David has been responsible for helping to coordinate the local authority response across Nottinghamshire in his role as Chair of the Local Authority Cell and working with a wide range of multi-agency partners.

David represents Rushcliffe Borough Council on a number of strategic groups including Safer Nottinghamshire Board, South Nottinghamshire Community Safety Partnership, Nottinghamshire Joint Waste Management Committee and the South Notts ICP Board.

Dr Gurvinder Sahota, GP at Village Health Group and Deputy Clinical Director Rushcliffe PCN (North Neighbourhood)

Dr Sahota is Clinical Director of Rushcliffe Primary Care Network working in the leadership team. He is a working NHS General Practitioner at Village Health Group and Clinical Assistant Professor at the University  of Nottingham. He also works as the National Institute of Health Research GP Research Champion for the East Midlands.

He has expertise in primary care management, population health, and medical education.

Dr Sahota joined Village Health Group in August 2015 after having completed his General Practice speciality training in Nottingham. He qualified from the University of Birmingham in 2009 and initially trained in surgery before moving into General Practice.

He currently works between Keyworth and the University of Nottingham Medical School, where he is a Clinical Assistant Professor. He has a keen interest in undergraduate teaching, research and medical ethics.

Lucy Dadge, Chief Commissioning Officer, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire CCG

Lucy Dadge is Chief Commissioning Officer at Nottingham and Nottinghamshire CCG. She has previously worked as a director in acute and mental health trusts, as well within the strategic health authority and the civil service. Lucy has undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, including an MBA in health services management. Lucy has non-executive experience in the education and housing sectors. She has broad experience of transforming health and care services, including being involved in the establishment of the mid-Nottinghamshire Better Together programme.

Matthew Elswood, Chief Pharmacist, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Matt has been Chief Pharmacist of Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust since 2015. Despite this, he still works as a clinician, running innovative medication review clinics as part of the Rushcliffe Local Mental Health Team, which were recently featured in a Rethink Mental Illness publication: Keep Thinking Differently.

Matt also works as part of the University of Nottingham Pharmacy School, as an Honorary Associate Professor, where he is passionate about supporting the next generation of Pharmacists to have better knowledge and skills about Mental Health, and challenging stigma.

Previously Matt has served as a member of the Council of the College of Mental Health Pharmacy (CMHP) and a member of the Hospital Expert Advisory Group of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS).

When asked about why Matt wanted to join the PBP team, he said “I am really excited about contributing to the multidisciplinary leadership of the partnership, and bringing my experience as a pharmacist, an eternal mental health enthusiast and a leader to the table. It is great also to have an opportunity to step outside of the ‘typical’ role of a pharmacist and into something new and forward, and ‘outward’ thinking”.

Dr Richard Stratton, GP partner with the Belvoir Health Group

Dr Richard Stratton is a GP partner with the Belvoir Health Group, working from the Cotgrave Surgery. A late convert to medicine he has previously been a pharmacist, enjoying a successful career in management, leadership and organisation development with Boots. He is a founding member of PartnersHealth LLP. Richard was clinical lead for clinical variation for Rushcliffe CCG, working to improve access to best care and reduce health inequalities, and medicines management lead for Principia Rushcliffe MCP.

When not working, Richard enjoys his garden and cycling the lanes of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, during the winter he will often be found in far flung locations within the UK watching his beloved Wrexham AFC languishing in non-league football.

Sarah Furley, Director of Partnerships, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Sarah Furley joined Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust as Director of Partnerships in March 2020. She was previously STP Programme Director in Lincolnshire, hosted by the Lincolnshire East Clinical Commissioning Group. She has a wealth of experience in improving patient outcomes through integrated care and partnership working. A Registered General Nurse by background, Sarah holds a Master of Science in Commissioning from Lincoln University. She has worked in several senior strategic positions.

Dr Stephen Shortt, Chair, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Clinical Commissioning Group

Dr Stephen Shortt has been a GP at East Leake Medical Group since 1992 and was chair of Rushcliffe CCG for seven years. He is currently Joint Clinical Leader (Chair) of Nottingham and Nottinghamshire CCG. In 2006 he founded Principia, a social enterprise integrated care organisation and became clinical chair. Stephen has been the implementation lead for the Greater Nottingham accountable care system.

Additional achievements include establishing Nottingham Emergency Medical Services (NEMS) in 1998, NHS Direct in 1999 (becoming its medical director) and the Nottingham Walk-in Centre in 2000. He has previously been a GP advisor to the Department of Health including a two-year secondment as a senior policy advisor in the Department of Health Strategy Unit.

Suzy Lyon, Business Manager, PartnersHealth

As Business Manager of PartnersHealth, Suzy’s role is to deliver the vision and strategy of the organisation working in partnership with clinical leads and member practices.

Suzy started her career in the NHS as a drug worker in North Nottinghamshire and held a number of roles within the substance misuse field, most recently as the Service Manager for Nottinghamshire County Services where she led significant transformational change to service provision delivering an innovative model with third sector partners.

In 2014, she took a role in a local CCG to gain commissioning experience before moving to take on the challenge of setting up PartnersHealth in December 2015.

Dr Tim Heywood, Nottingham West PCN Clinical Director

Tim qualified as a GP in 1998 became a member of the Royal College of General Practitioners in 1999. He worked as a full-time partner in Worcestershire for 10 years after that, chairing the Wyre Forest General Practitioners Association and working as a Clinical Lead for Commissioning for Wyre Forest Primary Care Trust.

In 2010 he moved to Nottingham and worked as a Clinical Teaching Fellow at the University of Nottingham School of Medicine, working in the Medical Education Unit on assessment setting, curriculum development, admissions, clinical skills teaching and remediation of struggling students. In January 2016 he left academia and returned to partnership in Chilwell where he still works half-time as a GP. Tim became a GP Appraiser in 2016 and still appraises about 10 colleagues a year.

Since March 2020 he has been the Clinical Director of Nottingham West Primary Care Network covering Broxtowe. He represents PCN CDs for South Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Partnership on the boards of the ICP and Nottingham and Notts ICS Boards. He is passionate about locally-driven, generalist primary care, and about working across traditional organisational boundaries to redesign the citizen’s journey through health and wellbeing support services, to make it seamless and effective.

Theresa Hodgkinson, Director of Place and Communities, Ashfield Borough Council

Theresa has worked in Local Government within Nottinghamshire for over Thirty years, predominately in the Mid Notts area and employed at Ashfield District Council since 2006.

As the Director of Place and Communities, Theresa is responsible for the Council’s primary external facing services and the corporate lead for the Health and Happiness, Place and Economic Growth, Safer and Stronger and Cleaner and Greener agendas.

Theresa passionately leads the council’s aspiration to improve the health and well-being of the residents and works in collaboration to build stronger, more resilient communities that can come together to provide help and support to each other. Her focus is working on some of our most deprived neighbourhoods to make sure that everyone has the same opportunities to achieve their goals and lead happy and healthy lives.

Umar Ahmad, Clinical Director, Arrow Primary Care Network

Clinical Director, Arrow Primary Care Network

Tom Diamond, Integrated Care System Director of Strategy, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire CCG

Integrated Care System Director of Strategy, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire CCG

Fiona Callaghan, South Notts Locality Director, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire CCG

Biog coming soon...

Dr Kate Evans, GP at Stenhouse Medical Practice Arnold and Clinical Lead Arnold and Calverton PCN

Lance Juby, Service Manage Community Relations, Gedling Borough Council

Tim Guyler, Director of Integration, Nottingham University Hospitals