Our governors

Peter Ashley-Mudie

Alongside being a service user, Peter has a background in social working which involved helping children and families and holds an advanced diploma in counselling and psychotherapy. He is also a lived experience connector for CWP along with being a volunteer for the Trust for the past 10 years. Peter is also a trustee of Wirral Churches’ ARK project which focuses on service delivery for the homeless. Peter is keen to ensure the service user's voice is heard in the continued development of CWP services in both community and hospital settings.

Beverly Greenwood

Beverly has experience of being a therapist for children with autism. She has personal experience of mental health and has been a service user in the past. Beverly decided to become a governor as to help advise doctors and specialist in the NHS of the services and provide from a patient and users point of view. Together we can help improve the service the offer to their patients. This way both the NHS and user can get the very best outcomes.

As someone who has used many different departments of the NHS for herself and especially on the mental health side for her son, Beverly feels that she has a knowledgeable insight into how the service is provided and where improvements could be made. Beverly would like to use this knowledge to help other people who may need advice how to gain the best outcome for themselves or others they know.

Elaine Marsh

Elaine has 10 years’ experience as a business manager working within CWP. After leaving CWP, Elaine took up a post as a manager with North West Borough Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust for two years before joining the clinical commissioning group (CCG) as an executive support officer, from which she has recently retired. The roles in which Elaine has undertaken through her career have enabled her to understand the needs of the local community. Elaine’s connections with CWP remain through her husband who is a service user, the experience from which enables her to bring balance and an independent view.

Rob Robertson

Rob has previous experience as non-executive director of a primary care trust and six years as a public governor for CWP. In supporting and representing service users and carers, he plans to work in his governor role to actively help children and adults. Two areas of interest are co-operation between local statutory services (eg local authority, police and NHS) and encouraging help for people, through peer-to-peer support, before they need a clinical diagnosis.

Elizabeth Stanley

Elizabeth is a parent carer to a young adult with severe learning difficulties and epilepsy.

Elizabeth has worked in a variety of settings, including special educational needs within secondary education and has more recently set up a social enterprise supporting families of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. Elizabeth is also a member of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence’s (NICE) committee for children and young people with severe complex needs and integration services.

Elizabeth is also an active member of various panels within the Greater Manchester area.

 India Blakemore

India has strong experience with various elements of CWP services to include helping co-deliver personality disorder training with the complex needs service and utilising her lived experience in the development of the personality disorder pathway. She is also an expert by experience for EmpowerED Lead Provider Collaborative, presenting to audiences about comorbidity and teamwork, as well as a bank clinical support worker. India is passionate about helping others understand the importance of the lived experience voice and hopes to use her current psychology studies and knowledge of services, to positively influence the future of the Trust.

Chris Siewierski

Chris has a keen interest in patient welfare, which was his motivation to become a governor at CWP. Chris has a vast amount of academic experience, including university studies in zoology and applied biology at the University of Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores University. Chris is now retired and is keen to become involved in the governor community at CWP.

Stephen (Steve) Bell 

As a past and current user of CWP mental health services – and in showing gratitude for the treatment received - Steve feels it is now time to give something back. Steve’s varied career and extensive undergraduate and postgraduate education have enabled impressive insight of how organisations perform and how to gain further improvement. 

Steve’s career, amongst other varied roles, has included management consultancy in various large organisations, which has required skills and experience in processing and presenting information, and in prompting relevant solutions. Steve is now retired and would like to assist local communities by sharing his experience and knowledge. Steve is passionate about championing mental health care, ultimately contributing to the overall wellbeing of the population.

Nigel Hickmott

Nigel is a user of NHS services and is very keen to help improve all services of the NHS. Nigel is a member of Cheshire West and Chester Council Housing Management Board, and is also an involved tenant at For Housing, having previously served on For Housing's excellence and scrutiny panels. Nigel is keen to use his knowledge to help people within the CWP footprint and local communities. 

Natasha Taylor

Natasha is a service user / carer governor, and has cared for an individual with complex mental health needs. As such, she has a passion to support carers and anyone with mental health needs.

Natasha also has experience of working within CWP as a volunteer, including supporting the Recovery College, sitting on interview panels, and undertaking official service visits. For 25 years, Natasha has been a member of a local support group where she volunteers, and would like to use her experience and first-hand knowledge to help others.

Craig Blackburn

Craig is a service user / carer governor who, for the last 39 years, has worked full time for a chemical company. Craig also cares for his autistic son who has over the years faced a range of challenges. Craig is therefore keen to help others navigate unforeseen challenges within healthcare and has become a governor to make positive changes using his experience and knowledge.

Kevin Bradburne

Based in Cheshire, Kevin is currently a director within a charity that provides specialist support to voluntary organisations working with young people. Kevin’s interests have focused on non-formal education, mental health, infrastructure support and ensuring young people have their voices heard. Kevin has written numerous articles on a variety of educational topics and has presented lectures nationally with regards to young people who are at risk of dropping out of education employment or training.

Within his role as CWP governor, Kevin is keen to combine his professional and personal experiences to represent and advocate for people in Cheshire West and Chester (CWAC) who use the services. As a passionate supporter of the NHS, Kevin wants to help the Trust get key messages out to the public and consult with the community to provide feedback to the Trust on services they receive.

Area: Cheshire West and Chester

 Helen Nellist

Helen’s experience includes working for high-profile companies in roles focused on corporate marketing. Currently, she is acting as Deputy Principal and CEO at South Cheshire College and West Cheshire College, managing business development and apprenticeships, marketing, PR and communications, and also international recruitment and provision. Her leadership and impact has been recognized by Ofsted in December 2016, as Helen led West Cheshire College to a successful merger with South Cheshire College, ensuring a strong financial foundation for the college. Helen is also a member on the Trustee Board for Blacon High School, a governor at Upton High School and a director of the West Cheshire and North Wales Chamber. In her role as a CWP governor, she aims to actively contribute to addressing mental health issues for the benefit of service users.

Area: Cheshire West and Chester

Louise Dooks

Louise grew up and has lived in Cheshire East most of her life, so she has a good understanding of the needs of the communities, and is keen to learn more and increase connections with neighbouring areas. Many of Louise's friends and family have experience of using CWP’s services and she is looking forward to working with other governors in a constructive and collaborative way, to help support CWP be the most effective it can be.

Louise has a passion for health care, having worked for Mind charity for over 14 years. Louise has also been a trustee for Visyon and volunteered for Anxiety UK and SANEline. Her experience enables her to work daily with people concerning both physical and mental health, locally, regionally and nationally.

Area: Cheshire East

Sarah Moss

Sarah is a public governor for Wirral and has a wide range of experience within the healthcare industry. She is currently training to be a mental health counsellor. Sarah has lived in the Wirral area for the last two years and is keen to get more involved with her local community. Sarah is passionate about the NHS and wants to help her local mental health and community Trust be as successful as it can be.

Sarah brings a range of knowledge and experience of the healthcare sector as well as good communication and influencing skills, a positive can-do attitude and an enjoyment of working with people from all walks of life.

Area: Wirral

Lisa Hulmes

Lisa has been a clinical psychologist for 22 years, 20 of which have been with CWP.  During her career she has worked predominantly with older people (over the age of 65) and has worked in a variety of different settings.

She is currently the clinical lead for older adults in the step 4 primary care psychology service.

Lisa is looking forward to working with fellow staff, governors and the public to enable the Trust to meet the inevitable challenges it faces going forwards with optimism and innovation.

Area: Clinical Psychology

Richard Banahene

Richard has over 20 years’ experience as a mental health nurse within CWP. Alongside his role as Clinical Lead, Richard is a qualified non-medical prescriber.

Richard is confident that his experience will enable him to represent the views of nursing staff at governor and Trust Board meetings. Richard has a passion for ensuring that staff are able to reach their full potential and that effective services are delivered to the population CWP serves.

Richard is grateful to his colleagues for electing him as governor. He believes that the role of governor is an exciting opportunity and that happy staff provide excellent services. 

Area: Nursing

 Paul Jones

Paul is a Specialist dietician, working within the Eating Disorders Service at CWP.

Paul has more than 10 years’ experience within the dietetic field and has worked in a variety of settings.

Area: Therapies

Amy Edisbury-Williams

Amy started working for CWP as an ambitious volunteer who was highly motivated and keen to learn. Since being at CWP, she has developed into a confident and competent staff member within a mental health inpatient hospital. Amy’s current role has given her valuable experience working with various client groups as well as working within several different healthcare teams, such as an acute therapy team and the wider ward team.

Amy will always strive to advocate for her patients, their family/carers, and her colleagues in her daily role. As a governor of the Trust, the great opportunity to provide a voice for others will help her further to provide the compassionate and person-centred care that she feels is so vital in her current role within CWP.

Area:
 

Charlotte Patel

Charlotte is a staff governor and has worked passionately for CWP for over 15 years. She is very  enthusiastic and sees herself as a fair, compassionate leader, with an aim to ensure equity and inclusion for all. 

During her time with CWP she has worked across various CWP departments including HR, adult's mental health, education, learning and development, emergency planning, COVID mass vaccination and facilities as a senior manager, and now as Deputy Head of Facilities.

Her work experience within her various roles has given her a firm understanding of the challenges that all areas of the Trust face, both in terms of geography and departments, along with identifying gaps of understanding between clinical and non-clinical teams.   

Taking her learning, experience, and passion forward, Charlotte would embrace the opportunity of being a staff governor, representing a cohort of staff that are pivotal to the delivery of care although they may not always be seen as 'front line'. 

Area:

Sophie Evans

Sophie started her career in the NHS in 2009 as a trainee assistant practitioner within community nursing. She worked her way up to become a district nurse clinical lead, before joining CWP's Research department in 2021. Sophie has worked with nurses and staff from all care groups and across the CWP footprint. Sophie feels staff have a great understanding of the needs of their patients and services, and should have a voice and say in the future of CWP. As a governor, Sophie would like the opportunity to engage and represent nursing staff from across the Trust, ensuring that the experiences and ideas are heard by the executive team, staff groups and public governors. She is strongly motivated by excellence in patient care, improving services and reducing inequalities. Like all of us, she has experience of the NHS, as a patient and as a carer / family member.

Sophie fiercely supports the NHS and is proud of what is achieved everyday but is also acutely aware of the challenges the Trust faces. Sophie’s nursing experience has given her the passion to fight for excellence in patient care, while her research experience has taught her to be analytical, evidence and solutions-focused.

Area:

Jenny Holmes

Jenny is a staff governor for the Medical constituency. She has worked for CWP since 2010 and currently works as an acting consultant. Jenny has a wealth of knowledge, having worked across both community and inpatient services, and was keen to become a governor to help make sure the medical workforce feels listened to and well supported at work. Jenny feels that a happy workforce is what leads to excellent patient care and she would like to ensure the staff voice is heard. 

Area: Medical

Sean Boyle

Having experience of working with CWP in its various forms, for the past 25 years, Sean acquired valuable knowledge and understanding of the full circle regarding the organisation – previous and current state of play, medium and long term action points. Working in the front line of a crisis resolution home treatment team keeps him in touch with issues CWP staff is confronted with. Over the past five years, Sean’s role as a staff side RCN steward offered him the opportunity to negotiate amicable resolutions to problems which have arisen for staff in their workplace. He strongly believes that treating staff with fairness and respect is the key to providing quality care to service users.

Area: Staff side

Christopher French

Chris is currently Head of Technology, Infrastructure and Environment at The University of Liverpool, supporting research and teaching activities in the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences. He has worked in partnership with NHS Trusts, academics and patients to develop and deliver research and training to address clinical needs of local and national importance.

Prior to his current role, Chris has held other senior operational roles at the University in Life Sciences and Psychology.

Chris’s academic background was in Environmental Science. Previously, Chris was an Environment Consultant and Project Director for sustainability and environmental research programmes. Through his roles, he has developed skills in project and risk management, audit and using research and innovation to drive change – which he hopes will be useful to his CWP role.

Chris lives on the Wirral and is a longstanding Chair of Governors at a local school. Through this role, he is passionate about access to support for children with additional needs.

Area: University of Liverpool

We have three new further appointed governors who have joined us.

• Sally Holland – Cheshire East Local Authority
• Michael Garvey

Governors declaration of interests

Governors by constituency

Governors code of conduct

CWP constitution