Board of Directors
Board of Directors
The Trust Board consists of the chair, executive and non-executive directors, including the chief executive. They are collectively responsible for the performance of the Trust.
The role of the Trust’s Board of Directors is to consider strategic, managerial and performance issues facing the Trust. Directors are accountable for meeting national standards, performance targets, and governance and financial targets. The executive directors are responsible for the day-to-day running of the organisation working with the non-executive directors to translate the Trust’s strategic vision into operational practice. The non-executive directors provide an independent view on strategic issues, performance, key appointments and hold the executive directors to account.
The Trust Board is made up of the Chair, five non-executive directors, the Chief Executive and six executive directors. In order to maintain stability, the overall numbers can be increased slightly at time of transition. During 2022/23 a number of changes occurred and these are shown in the directors’ profiles on the next page.
The Board’s business was conducted through eight meetings a year of the Board of Directors, which were held in public. The minutes and other papers from these meetings are published on the Trust’s website you can find these on our website by using this link .
In addition, the Board has a range of Committees to provide further scrutiny and assurance. A review of their terms of reference in September 2022 determined they remained fit for purpose and details are included in the governance section of this annual report.
The people who served on the Board of Directors for the year ending 31 March 2022 are as follows.
Kevin Lockyer
Chair
Appointed 1 May 2021 for a three-year term
Kevin has spent more than 30 years working as a prison governor, as a commissioner of offender management services in custody and in the community, as a senior civil servant and at board level in the public and voluntary sectors.
He has held non-executive roles in the NHS in Lincolnshire for seven years.
He also works as an independent consultant, providing expert support to organisations in the public, private and voluntary sectors. He specialises in service development, bid management, change management, strategy development and mentoring/coaching.
Sarah Connery
Chief Executive
Appointed September 2021
Previously been the Director of Finance and Information from September 2017 and acting Chief Executive from October 2020.
Sarah joined the Trust from Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust as Deputy Director of Finance in April 2015.
She has worked in the NHS for 20+ years in various senior finance and leadership roles and has wide business management experience from working in the retail and audit sectors.
Chris Higgins
Director of Operations
Appointed October 2019
Permanent contract with three-month notice period.
Chris joined the Trust in 1998 and has been qualified mental health nurse for over 25 years. Chris also went on to gain additional clinical and health leadership qualifications.
He has had a range of clinical and non-clinical roles in the Trust including nursing, business development, strategy and operations, and has a passion for developing individuals and teams.
He has led the implementation of a number of service improvements, including integrated working, developing specialist inpatient services, and advancing out of hospital programmes of care.
Anita Lewin
Director of Nursing, Allied Health Professionals and Quality
Appointed October 2019 and left the Trust April 2023
Anita joined the Trust in 1986 and has been qualified as a nurse for over 30 years.
Anita has senior management experience of leading clinical teams within the Trust and has led the implementation of numerous innovative projects particularly around the Trust’s crisis response. She was acting Director of Nursing and Quality from xxx 2019, before being formally appointed in October 2019.
Anita led the Trust’s COVID-19 response during the pandemic as the executive lead for infection prevention and immunisation.
Mark Platts
Director of Finance and Information
Appointed October 2021
Permanent contract with three-month notice period.
Mark joined the Trust in 2008 having started working in the NHS in Lincolnshire as a graduate trainee.
Mark is a qualified accountant with over 16 years’ experience and knowledge of working within the local healthcare system. Mark has supported the development of the Trust to maximise funds available for service delivery.
As the executive lead for many key projects across the healthcare system Mark continues to use his experience to focus on enhancing patient care whilst balancing this with the financial pressures faced by the NHS.
Dr Ananta Dave
Medical Director
Appointed May 2019 and left the Trust in May 2022
Ananta’s previous management experience included being Clinical Director for Quality and Safety and interim Clinical Director for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.
Ananta is a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, holds an MD in Psychological Medicine and a Masters in Medical Ethics and Law. She is also an experienced clinician and medical educator who has established and led new services.
Dr Girish Kunigiri
Medical Director
Appointed October 2022
Permanent contract with three-month notice period.
Dr Kunigiri joined the Trust Board in October 2022 as Medical Director, having worked as a Consultant Psychiatrist in Leicester for 18 years, most recently as Deputy Medical Director, with a period also acting as Medical Director.
In addition to his clinical director roles in Leicester he is also clinical director for the East Midlands Mental Health Clinical Network and a clinical advisor for the Midlands Clinical Senate.
Dr Jaspreet Phull
Acting Medical Director
May 2022 to October 2022
Dr Phull is a Consultant in Forensic and General Adult Psychiatry, currently working in low secure and rehabilitation services. During his time on the Board, he was acting up from is substantive role as Deputy Medical Director.
Jaspreet is experienced in all aspects of General Adult and Forensic Psychiatry and has worked for the NHS in high, medium secure units, community forensic services as well as a prison visiting psychiatrist.
Jaspreet holds the qualifications of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery and is a Member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. He is also an honorary professor at the University of Lincoln.
Jenna Davies
Director of Corporate Governance
Appointed August 2022
Permanent contract with three-month notice period.
Jenna has worked at director level at a number of NHS trusts across mental health, and acute services, predominately in the corporate and clinical governance fields.
Having studied law at the University of Birmingham in 2008, she joined the NHS soon after qualifying.
Jenna has led and contributed to a number of large-scale improvement programmes, including highly complex organisational development projects and preparation for foundation trust application status.
Jane Marshall
Director of Strategy, People and Partnerships
Appointed February 2012 and left the Trust in January 2023
Jane was an Executive Director at LPFT for just over 10 years having had an NHS and Civil Service career of 35 years.
Jane was responsible for leading the strategic development of Trust services for the benefit of patients and carers, leading the delivery of the NHS People Plan and collaborating with partners across the Lincolnshire health and care sectors.
She held board level director posts in mental health, acute services, commissioning, and service development since 1999.
Amy Beeton
Director of People
Appointed 1 November 2022
Permanent contract with three-month notice period.
Amy joined the Trust in 2021 as Deputy Director of People, joining from United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust where she’d been working in a senior HR role.
Amy has 20 years’ experience of working in the NHS, working in senior leadership roles for over 10 years.
She is an experienced people professional and qualified professional coach. As well as other NHS providers, Amy has also worked at Health Education England, leading on workforce transformation at both local and regional level.
Sharon Harvey
Director of Nursing and Quality
Appointed February 2023, substantive in post from March 2023
Permanent contract with three-month notice period.
Sharon re-joined LPFT in February 2023, having worked as the Deputy Director of Nursing and Quality with the Trust in 2020.
She is a dual registered mental health and learning disability nurse and has held previous roles in the national learning disability and autism team at NHS England, as well as with local Lincolnshire commissioning services.
Non-Executive Directors
Philip Jackson
Appointed June 2016 and left May 2022
Served two-terms and was the Senior Independent Non-Executive Director between August 2021 to May 2022
A Chartered Chemist and Chartered Health and Safety Practitioner with over 20 years’ experience in technical and managerial roles. Philip is a freelance health and safety consultant specialising in chemical safety and the transport of dangerous goods.
Philip has previously held a non-executive director role for Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust for ten years, four as Deputy Chair.
He also previously held roles as Chair of Humberside Probation Trust and Non-Executive Director of West Yorkshire Community Rehabilitation Company, as well as being an elected member of North East Lincolnshire Council.
Sharon Robson
Appointed February 2019
Re-appointed for a second term of three years from 1 February 2022
Appointed as Senior Independent Non-Executive Director and Deputy Chair from 1 May 2022 to 31 January 2025
Sharon is a registered nurse with 37 years’ experience. She has a wide variety of clinical leadership positions within NHS commissioning organisations, including board level executive nurse roles.
Sharon has led a range of portfolios at board level and since retiring from the NHS in 2015, has worked independently and was appointed as an Independent Nurse for Nottingham clinical commissioning groups’ (CCGs) governing body.
Andy Spring
Appointed May 2021 and left the Trust in July 2022
For a three-year term
Andy is a qualified accountant, coach and master practitioner in NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming). He is an experienced director with over 24 years’ experience as an Executive Director within NHS organisations.
He has also worked in the private sector and as an independent consultant with a variety of organisations supporting sustainable transformation, governance, programme management and performance improvement.
Dr Di Bailey
Appointed May 2021 for a three-year term
Previous Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation (Interim) at Nottingham Trent
University, and latterly Emeritus Professor of Mental Health at Nottingham Trent University.
Di has over 30 years' experience as a mental health academic, researcher and practitioner.
She is also a trained social worker and qualified as a professional coach.
Dr Tim Harry
Appointed May 2022 for a three-year term
Scientist by background with a first degree in biology and doctorate in renal medicine.
Tim is a senior manager and civil servant with a career of over 40 years, covering a wide range of roles up to executive and board level in both the private and public sectors.
Chris Wright
Appointed May 2022 for a three-year term
Chris has extensive experience of leading large service delivery organisations in the `not for profit’ sector. He has a strong track record for increasing turnover while delivering efficient and cost-effective public services, including for children and young people, families and adult offenders.
With a career spanning 35+ years as a practitioner, manager and strategic leader he has experience of delivering change management programmes on a national scale.
Ian Orrell
Appointed August 2022 for a three-year term
Ian has a wealth of experience in the public sector, particularly with large and complex councils and experience working within senior corporate leadership teams to help reshape and deliver quality frontline adult and children social care services.
He has been qualified as an accountant for over 30 years and has previous experience in non-executive roles where partnership approaches were taken to improve service provision.
Changes to Board membership
2022/23 has seen the appointment of four new executive directors, and the recruitment of two new non-executive directors, who were appointed in May and August 2022.
The changes are listed below:
Executive directors
- Jenna Davies was appointed as the Trust’s new Director of Corporate Governance, with effect from 1 August 2022.
- Dr Girish Kunigiri joined the Trust on 17 October 2022 as the new Medical Director.
- Amy Beeton, the former Deputy Director of People, became the new Director of People on 1 November 2022.
- Sharon Harvey was appointed as the Trust’s new Director of Nursing and Quality, with effect from 20 March 2023.
Non-executive directors
- On 1 May 2022 Chris Wright was appointed as a non-executive director for a term of three years.
- On 5 August 2022 Ian Orrell was appointed as a non-executive director for a term of three years.
All the Trust’s non-executive directors are considered independent. The non-executive directors constructively challenge the executive team and work together to develop proposals on strategy. The Board and its Committees scrutinise the performance of the Trust’s management in meeting agreed goals and objectives and monitor the reporting of performance. They satisfy themselves on the integrity of financial information and that financial controls and systems of risk management are robust and defensible. The non-executive directors are responsible for determining appropriate levels of remuneration of executive directors and have a prime role in appointing, and where necessary, removing executive directors, and in succession planning.
The non-executive directors are the custodians of the Trust’s governance process. Whilst they are not involved in the day-to-day running of the organisation, they do monitor the executive activity and contribute to the development of strategy.
The senior independent non-executive director provides a sounding board for the Chair and serves as an intermediary for the other directors when necessary. The senior independent non-executive director is available to governors if they have concerns that contact through the normal channels has failed to resolve, or for which such contact is inappropriate.
The Board of Directors ensures that adequate systems and processes are maintained to deliver the Trust’s annual plan, measure and monitor its effectiveness, efficiency and economy, and delivery high quality healthcare. The Board Assurance Framework and performance reports enable continuous and comprehensive review of the Trust’s performance, against agreed strategies and priorities.
Board members’ other commitments and interests
Company directorships and other significant commitments held by Board members are outlined above. All Board members are required to disclose their relevant interests in the register of directors’ interests which is formally received by the Board of Directors at the beginning of each of the meetings. The full register is available from the Director of Corporate Governance and is publicly listed on the Trust’s website by using this link
Appointment and removal of Board members
In accordance with the requirements of the NHS Act 2006, the Foundation Trust Constitution outlines the respective responsibilities of the directors and governors in appointing and removing Board members.
The Council of Governors is responsible for appointing, and if necessary, removing the Chair and non-executive directors, as well as approving the appointment of the Chief Executive.
The Council of Governors’ Nominations and Remuneration Committee is in place to make recommendations to the Council on the appointment and remuneration of these positions, including identifying suitably qualified candidates for appointment. These duties were effectively discharged in the selection of two new non-executive directors, Chris Wright and Ian Orrell who started at the Trust on 1 May and 5 August 2022, respectively.
The Nominations and Remuneration Committee includes:
- Kevin Lockyer
- Debbie Abrams
- Michael Regan
- Andy Rix
- Jacky Tyson
- Mark Gresswell
- Emma Slack from November 2022.
Well-led reviews
In January 2023 the Trust embarked on a well-led self-assessment process, which will commence in June 2023. The Trust will be commissioning an external well-led review in 2024.