Chair – Charles Howeson

Charles is well-known within the public, private and voluntary sector, serving in the Royal Navy for nearly 25 years before setting up his own successful property development company, followed by a retailing, wholesaling, warehousing and distribution company group.

He is currently chair of the First Great Western Trains Advisory Board, Chair of the UK Seafish Industry Authority and Chair of the Consumer Council for Water in the Western Region.  In the private sector, he Chairs the Board of the Rowe Group and is Regional Chair of Coutts and Co bankers.  Locally, Charles is Chair of the Plymouth Area Business Council.

Alison Ryan – Non-Executive Member

Alison Ryan is Chief Executive of the Weldmar Hospicecare Trust, and was formerly Chief Executive of the Princess Royal Trust for Carers and a Non-Executive Director of the Somerset Partnership NHS and Social Care Trust.

Jonathan Vickers – Non-Executive Member

Following a private sector career in the international oil and chemicals industries, Jonathan now holds a portfolio of non-executive positions in the public sector.

He has served on the Boards of a variety of organisations, including agencies - NDPB’s, Connexions Partnerships, and a Government office. He has also participated in the Capability Reviews of the DTI and the Home Office.

His other Board positions currently include: The Children’s Workforce Development Council, Dairy Co Ltd, UK Sport and the Fire Service College.

Professor Steven West – Non-Executive Member

Professor Steve West is currently Vice-Chancellor at the University of the West of England.

He was educated and trained in London as a Podiatrist and Podiatric Surgeon working in the NHS and private/commercial sector from 1980.

In 1995 he began work at the University of the West of England and over the past ten years has established one of the largest faculties of Health and Social Care in the UK, and built a vibrant academic teaching and research community which is closely linked to the NHS and local health communities.

Professor Steve West is a Fellow of the Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine.

Geoffrey Wilkinson – Non-Executive Member

Geoff Wilkinson was Chief Executive of the South West Regional Development Agency from December 2001 to May 2006. Prior to that he was Finance Director and then, from 1994 to 2001, Managing Director of The Laird Group plc, a UK, multinational manufacturing company.

He has a degree in economics from the London School of Economics and an MA in Economics from Stanford University in California. He is currently a Non-Executive Director of The Eden Project and a Member of the England Committee of the Big Lottery Fund.

Chief Executive – Sir Ian Carruthers OBE

Sir Ian was formerly Acting Chief Executive of the NHS in England. Prior to this he was joint Chief Executive of the Dorset and Somerset Strategic Health Authority and the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Strategic Health Authority.
Sir Ian has spent 39 years in the NHS, and is actively involved in many national initiatives on health and healthcare.
Married with a son and daughter, Sir Ian is a keen sportsman who won County Caps for Cumbria in Rugby Union, cricket and soccer.

Andrew Millward – Director of Communications and Corporate Services

Andrew began his career as a journalist, before moving into corporate public relations. He has experience of managing internal and external communications for a range of public and private sector organisations, including Reed Business Publishing, the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority and AEA Technology plc. 

Andrew previously worked for the Department of Health for four years, managing strategic communications and change management.

Bill Shields – Director of Finance and Performance

Bill Shields is Director of Finance and Performance at the South West Strategic Health Authority, a post he commenced in January 2007. Prior to this he was Deputy Chief Executive/Chief Financial Officer at Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust where he led organisational financial recovery, turning an £8 million projected overspend in 2003/04 into a £5 million actual surplus in 2005/06. In 2005, he spent time as Acting Director of Finance with the South East Hampshire Primary Care Trust Cluster where he turned a £30 million projected deficit into a small surplus in the space of nine months.
Bill has worked in most aspects of NHS finance in his career, ten years of which have been as a Finance Director in six different organisations. He is currently Chair of the Healthcare Financial Management Association.

Liz Redfern – Director of Patient Care and Nursing

Liz Redfern has 34 years experience of nursing. She entered the profession as a cadet nurse in 1970 before qualifying in general and paediatric nursing in Manchester. Her career has taken her to Edinburgh, Cambridge and London and has included spending time as a ward sister, clinical specialist and clinical manager in neurosurgery and neurology; teaching and managing pre and post registration students. She is currently Director of Patient Care and Nursing at NHS South West where she was appointed in July 2006. Prior to this she was Director of Patient Care and Nursing at Taunton and Somerset NHS Trust whilst fulfilling her responsibilities to Dorset and Somerset Strategic Health Authority as Chief Nurse on a part-time secondment basis.

Dr Gabriel Scally – Director of Public Health

Dr Gabriel Scally has a joint role working as Director of Public Health for NHS South West and Regional Director of Public Health for the South West Regional Public Health Group at the Government Office for the South West.

Prior to this he was Regional Director of Public Health for the South West region of England since 1994. He was born, brought up and educated in Belfast and having studied medicine went on to train in general practice and in public health.

Gabriel is a Non-Executive director of the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse and Independent Co-Chair of Community at Heart, the New Deal for Communities project in Bristol.

Apart from public health, major interests are family, cycling and London Irish Rugby Football Club.

Mike Durkin – Medical Director

Mike was previously Medical Director for the former Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire Strategic Health Authority.

A graduate from the Middlesex Hospital Medical School, University of London in 1974, Mike undertook his postgraduate training in anaesthesia and intensive care at St Thomas’ and The Middlesex Hospitals.

He is Chair of the Genetics Steering Board for the South Specialist Commissioning Board, and of the Vulnerable Tertiary Services for Children Board for the South. He has also been recently appointed to act as the External Advisor to the Regulatory and Quality Improvement Authority for Northern Ireland.

John Bewick – Director of Strategic Development

John was appointed as Director of Strategic Development for NHS South West in July 2006. Before this, John worked as an Executive Director of the South West Peninsula Strategic Health Authority since 2002, first as Director of Performance Improvement and Modernisation and subsequently as Director of Development.

John moved to the South West to join the NHS in 1992, after spending ten years working in local government on inner city regeneration.

He was recently seconded part-time to the NHS Confederation’s Policy Team, supporting system reform nationally. He chairs the SHA Directors of Service Improvement Group and is a member of the national Integrated Service Improvement Leadership Team.

Richard Caves, Director of Information Management and Technology

Richard Caves has worked in NHS Information Management and Technology for almost 20 years (since 1990).  Previously he worked as a Lecturer in Behavioural Sciences, teaching professions allied to medicine and postgraduate students.

He has worked at Director of Information Management and Technology level for Somerset Health Authority (from 1997), Dorset and Somerset Strategic Health Authority (from 2002) and NHS South West (from 2006).

He has experience in developing corporate and clinical information systems, formulating Information Management and Technology strategies, procuring systems and managing IT suppliers.