About us > Board Members
Andy Williams, Chief Executive
Andy Williams is the CEO of the Integrated Care Board, Andy will work with colleagues, communities and partners to deliver a long-term strategy to achieve these ambitions whilst continuing to focus on shorter-term priorities including the continued vaccine rollout and elective waiting list recovery. An experienced and hugely respected NHS senior leader, Andy possesses a wealth of experience in both NHS commissioning and provider organisations – both in his native Wales and in England. He previously led Sandwell and West Birmingham CCG since its inception in 2013. During his tenure, that organisation was twice awarded the prestigious CCG of the Year accolade at the industry-wide Health Service Journal (HSJ) Awards. Since arriving in Leicester in November 2019, Andy has worked with clinical leaders to bring the CCGs together and promoted partnership working within the NHS as part of the journey to forming the new Integrated Care Board. He has also worked with local government to reset relationships leading to significant investment in health and social care as part of a partnership plan for LLR.
David Sissling, Independent Chair
David lives in Leicestershire and started his career in the NHS some 30 years ago. He has wide-ranging leadership experience at organisational, regional and national level. He was Chief Executive of the Leicester Royal Infirmary, Northamptonshire Health Authority, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland Strategic Health Authority and Kettering General Hospital. David also held prominent roles in the devolved administrations; Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Health and Social Care Authority, Chief Executive of the Welsh NHS and Director General of the Welsh Government Department of Health, Social Care and Children. He was also Programme Director for Healthcare for London - a major transformation programme across the capital city. David’s areas of particular interest include leadership development, integration, prevention, research and clinically-led service change. He currently works as the Independent Chair of the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Integrated Care System and as a Senior Leadership Advisor for NHS England, offering coaching and mentoring support to those in leadership roles. Nationally he is a member of the Senior Salaries Review Body.
Dr Caroline Trevithick, Chief Nursing Officer and Deputy Chief Executive
Caroline has a wealth of experience gained over many years and in a variety of healthcare settings, at local, regional and national level. She has worked in NHS quality management/clinical governance since 1995. Caroline brings extensive knowledge of the NHS from the frontline services to senior and strategic level and her primary focus has always been quality, safety and patient experience. She has an extensive background in nursing management and leadership, most recently in 2020 she was appointed as the single Executive Director of Nursing, Quality & Performance and Deputy Chief Executive for all three CCGs in Leicester, Leicestershire & Rutland and retains her responsibility for all aspects of high quality, safe patient care. In July 2021 Caroline was delighted to be awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Loughborough University for her leadership of the LLR COVID Vaccination Programme. She believes that high quality, safe care should be the basis of all we do, to improve outcomes for patients and improve the cost effectiveness of the NHS, both of which are essential. Outside of work, Caroline has a range of hobbies including dog walking, motorbiking and wild swimming
Sarah Prema, Chief Strategy Officer
Sarah has had a career in the public sector since leaving school. Prior to 2001 this was in local authorities and since then she has worked in various roles in the NHS mainly within commissioning organisations. She joined Leicester City Clinical Commissioning Group in 2011 as Director of Strategy and Implementation where she had corporate responsibility for strategic development; operational planning; service redesign commissioning; and medicines optimisation. In 2020, Sarah was appointed as Executive Director of Strategy and Planning for the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Clinical Commissioning Groups where she has corporate responsibility for strategic development; operational planning; strategic estates; strategic Business Intelligence; place planning; population health management; and health inequalities. In February 2022 Sarah was appointed to the role of Chief Strategy Officer in the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Integrated Care Board.
Caroline Gregory, Interim Chief Finance Officer
Caroline has over 20 years of NHS experience and has spent more than 80 per cent of that period at senior management and board level. Her extensive career with numerous provider and commissioner organisations has provided her with an in-depth knowledge across a range of key NHS areas including mental health, community, learning disabilities, primary care groups and most recently clinical commissioning groups. She initially worked in the NHS across Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire and has spent the last 10 years in the Bath, Northeast Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire health system. As a highly experienced financial director, Caroline has a passion for achieving results and better outcomes for service users.
Dr Nil Sanganee, Chief Medical Officer
Dr Sanganee has been a GP since 2004, working as a Partner at Castle Medical Group in Ashby. Being passionate about medical education, he has also worked as a GP Trainer, Medical Student Tutor, GP Appraiser and Examiner for the Royal College of GPs. He has been a longstanding Board Member for West Leicestershire CCG (WLCCG) and since 2020, was the Vice Chair of the CCG, leading on a wide range of clinical pathways and driving improvements in the quality of care. In his role as Medical Director for the LLR Integrated Care Board, Dr Sanganee will oversee the Clinical Strategy and priorities for the transformation of high quality, accessible services within primary, community and hospital sectors to ensure that we are delivering the highest standards of care and achieving the best outcomes for our patients. He is keen to champion the role of a broad range of health and care professionals both at the frontline of patient care and in leadership roles across the system. Using his experience as a clinical leader in LLR, he will continue to listen and respond to patients’ views to improve the service that our citizens experience locally and to optimise the health of our population overall, whilst driving down inequalities in health and care outcomes.
Angela Hillery, Community / Mental Health sector representative
Angela is the shared Chief Executive of two NHS Trusts, providing Mental Health and Community health services in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland (Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust) and Northamptonshire (Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust). She was appointed to LPT in July 2019, when NHFT provided a buddy trust support relationship to LPT. In April 2020 both trusts formed a group model recognising mutual opportunities to continue to learn together. Angela’s NHS career spans 33 years and she has led many leadership positions, including Director of Operations. She has also been listed in the HSJ Top 50 rated CEOs three times and was a finalist for 'Chief Executive of the Year' at the HSJ Awards. In July 2019 Angela was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Northampton for her leadership contribution. Alongside other CEOs, Angela is part of a pioneering East Midlands Alliance for mental health and learning disabilities, working together to improve the quality and effectiveness of services. Angela is committed to working in collaboration with system partners to create high quality, compassionate care and wellbeing for all.
Richard Mitchell, Acute sector representative
Richard re-joined UHL as chief executive in October 2021 having worked as the chief executive of Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for four years. In 2020, SFHNFT was voted HSJ Acute/ Specialist Trust of the Year and its Acute site was rated Outstanding by the CQC. In 2021 the Trust finished third out of 119 NHS Acute Trusts in the NHS Staff Survey. Richard previously worked as deputy chief executive and chief operating officer for four years at UHL and before that, he worked at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in senior management roles. Richard is married with two children and is the Chair of the East Midlands Cancer Alliance and Midlands Regional and Talent Leadership Board.
Professor Mayur Lakhani, Clinical Executive Lead
Professor Mayur Lakhani, CBE, FRCP, FRCGP, SFFMLM, RCPathME, is a practicing GP and experienced medical leader. He is Chair Designate of the ICS Clinical Executive team where his role is to spearhead excellence in clinical leadership, coordinate and represent the voice of health and care and professionals. He has been a GP partner at Highgate Medical Centre in South Charnwood, Leicestershire, since 1991. He was a senior clinician on the national covid clinical assessment service (CCAS-1) and has recently completed training to be a Medical Examiner (RCPathME). Mayur led work leading to the publication of the 10 principles for recovery and restoration post COVID in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. He is former Chairman and President of the Royal College of General Practitioners, roles in which he promoted high quality general practice. He was also Chair of the National Council for Palliative Care from 2008 to 2015. He is currently Chair of the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management (FMLM).
Professor Azhar Farooqi, Non-Executive Director
Professor Azhar Farooqi qualified from the University of Manchester Medical School in 1983 and has been a GP at the East Leicester Medical Practice since 1987. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) in 1991. Professor Farooqi’s main research interests have been in diabetes and ethnic mi-nority health issues. He has published around 100 peer reviewed papers, as well as a book on diabetes in primary care and several book chapters. National work has included advisory work for Diabetes UK, the British Heart Foundation and the Department of Health. In 2007, Professor Farooqi was awarded an OBE for services to medicine and health services. In 2011 he was elected by Leicester GPs to chair the Leicester City Clinical Com-missioning Group. He was re-elected three times and served in this role up to the formation of the LLR ICS in 2022. His other roles include Clinical Director of the EM CRN (NIHR) and co-Clinical Di-rector of the NHSE Midlands Diabetes and Vascular clinical network.
Darren Hickman, Non-Executive Director
Darren was the Finance and Relationship Director for the Insurance Company of Santander Bank, until December 2019. During his 37 years at the bank, he gained a broad experience, holding a variety of executive positions including Operational Management, Marketing, IT and Change Management. Since, January 2014, he has served as a Non-Executive Director (NED) and Audit & Risk Chair for Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust. Stepping down from this position to become the NED and Audit & Risk Chair for ICB. Since finishing his substantive career he has focused on NED and board advisory roles. The majority of these have been centred in the Midlands region, working for the Earl Shilton Building Society and Northampton Children’s Trust.
Pauline Tagg, MBE, Non-Executive Director
Pauline has had a long and successful career in the NHS and In 2022, celebrated her 50-year anniversary of working in the NHS. She worked in the acute sector for over 35 years as a nurse, midwife, and senior leader. During this time, she held executive nurse director posts in three NHS hospital trusts, the most recent being the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust from November 2000, until she retired from her Executive career at the end of July 2008. Then followed a brief period of consultancy in the then Trent Region and Lay member roles in primary care in Leicestershire. In January 2009, Pauline was awarded an MBE for her contribution to healthcare in Leicestershire. Pauline joined East Midlands Ambulance NHS trust Board as a Non-Executive Director in 2011 and was appointed to the role of Chairman in November 2013 and will complete her last term of office at the end of July 2022. Pauline also held a Trustee role at LOROS for seven years until she joined VISTA (the local LLR charity for people with Visual impairment) as the Chairman of Trustees in January 2020.
Simone Jordan, Non-Executive Director
Simone is an experienced Executive working at Board, system and national levels for almost thirty years in the NHS – as a Chief Executive, Executive and Non Executive Director. She also has significant Board development and governance expertise. Her other UK experience includes service and hospitality sectors, manufacturing, health, higher and further education and other public sector organisations. She has also worked internationally advising government on healthcare reform and has been a speaker at international conferences on change and improvement. Simone now works independently as a consultant and coach, and is a Visiting Fellow at Nottingham Business School and an Honorary Senior Lecturer at De Montfort University. With professional qualifications in HR and OD, an MBA and significant expertise in quality improvement, Simone has led major organisational change programmes and is passionate about workforce and staff experience and wellbeing.
Dr Nainesh Chotai, Primary Care Partner Member
Dr Nainesh Chotai has been a county GP since 1995. He continues in full-time practice working as executive partner, GP trainer and medical student tutor at a large sub-urban practice. He is also clinical director of G3 PCN. Over the last seven years he has been chair of the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Local Medical Committee (LLR LMC) and will continue in this role until his term comes to an end. The Local Medical Committee represents the interests of GPs in LLR and Dr Chotai has formed constructive relationships with leaders across the system in his role with the LMC. He is honoured to have been put forward by his GP colleagues for his position with the LLR ICB and hopes to use his personal experience to further the seamless care of patients by realising true cohesion with system partners.
Mike Sandys, Local authority sectoral representative
Mike Sandys is Director of Public Health (DPH) for Leicestershire County Council and Rutland County Council, being appointed to the post in February 2014. Mike has worked in public health since the early 90s in a number of public health intelligence, research and development, manager and consultant roles for both the NHS, local government and academia. Mike moved to the East Midlands in 2005. Before that he spent most of his career working across Greater Manchester and Merseyside. Mike’s public health interest lies in the health improvement capability of asset-based community development approaches, moving public health from a focus on disease and illness to one that recognises the context in which people live their lives. Mike is a passionate advocate for physical activity and is vice chair of the LLR Active Together partnership and a trustee of the national active partnerships body. During the COVID pandemic Mike played a leading role in the response from LLR organisations.
Martin Samuels, Local authority sectoral representative
Martin has responsibility for the full range of adult social care, children’s social care and education services. He has been with Leicester City Council since March 2020 and has had a varied career, having started his working life in the Civil Service, with a number of years spent working in Whitehall. Martin then worked in the NHS for almost a decade, undertaking roles at national, regional and local level, including as Director of Commissioning for a PCT. Martin moved to Local Government in 2011 and has been a statutory Director of Adult Social Services (DASS) since 2015 and a statutory Director of Children’s Services (DCS) since 2018. He is active both regionally and nationally with the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS).
Mark Andrews, Local authority sectoral representative
Mark Andrews became the permanent Chief Executive for Rutland County Council in in June 2021, after taking on the interim role in August 2020. He has worked in local government for 20 years, with over 14 years in senior leadership roles. He has successfully led a wide range of services in his career, predominantly in the Children’s and Adult’s sectors, and has held the position of Vice Chair for the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services in the East Midlands. In his spare time, Mark coaches the local U16 Rugby team, as well as being a keen trail runner.
Participants
Alice McGee, Chief People Officer
Alice started her NHS career in 2007 as a national NHS Graduate Trainee on the HR programme. She has worked across a range of NHS organisations focussing on the People agenda, predominately in the Black Country and Birmingham. In 2020 Alice joined the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland CCGs as the Executive Director of People and Innovation focussing on transformation for our people, our population and the technology we use to deliver care. Alice is passionate about using insights from our population and our staff to drive strategy and decisions about how we deliver care ensuring that our success criteria is focussed on experience of working and living in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.
Rachna Vyas, Chief Operating Officer
Rachna began her NHS career in Leicester City in 2005. Since then, she has had a variety of single commissioner posts working in the Leicester City area. She has also held a number of system lead posts covering elective and non-elective services within the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland footprint. As the LLR health and care system has developed, her transformation portfolio has developed into whole system transformation, across all sectors. Since June 2020, Rachna held the position of Executive Director for Integration and Transformation for the three CCGs in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. In this role she was responsible for the design and delivery of transformed models of care at system level for urgent care, elective care, children’s services, all age mental health and learning disability services, as well as integration of services at place and neighbourhood level and Emergency preparedness for the LLR system. Rachna also holds an Honorary Lecturer position at the University of Leicester in recognition of ongoing work around health equity, and is also a Trustee for Growing Points, a charity focused on social mobility.
Richard Henderson, Representative from Ambulance Trust
Richard joined the Ambulance Service in 1996. He is a qualified paramedic and has extensive experience having held clinical and operational senior managerial roles including as a divisional director for the Lincolnshire Division, and Director of Operations for EMAS. In March 2016, Richard became the Acting Chief Executive of East Midlands Ambulance Service before becoming the Chief Executive in October 2017.
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