Meet the team responsible for delivering Healthwatch Staffordshire.
In delivering Healthwatch Staffordshire, the ECS Board are advised by a Healthwatch Advisory Board drawn from members of the public. This group provides advice on:
- Healthwatch priorities
- The Enter and View programme to monitor the quality of care
- Identifying key public concerns
- Community engagement activity
They act as the voice of the people and make sure that Healthwatch Staffordshire adheres to the core principles of confidentiality, respect, feedback, transparency and influence.
Simmy Akhtar | Chief Officer
Simmy joined Healthwatch Staffordshire in January 2020 and is also Chief officer at Healthwatch Stoke-on-Trent. Simmy brings both legal and voluntary sector experience and knowledge. Her role is to lead Healthwatch Staffordshire strategically and operationally, on behalf of the
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Carol Hewitt | Engagement & Information Lead
Carol joined Engaging Communities in 2017 after a move to Staffordshire and a career change. Carol had spent many years working in London, with nearly 20 years working in the minor metals industry which involved establishing good working relationships
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Carol has a strong interest in health and social care matters, instigated many decades ago when witnessing someone being treated without dignity or respect at a London hospital. Carol decided to bring this matter to the attention of the Senior Hospital Management in the hope that this sort of thing could not happen again to anyone under any circumstances.
Carol now manages the Healthwatch Staffordshire Enter & View programme alongside her many other duties. She believes that the Enter & View programme is strong and now has more impact on helping services make improvements – even a small change could make a big difference to people’s experience of services. She has introduced more research and direction to the visits and enjoys working with the dedicated team of Authorised Representatives who have a large and varied amount of knowledge and experience.
Carol tries to get to know our volunteers as individuals, to understand their areas of interest and their skills in the hope that volunteering with Healthwatch Staffordshire will be a positive experience. Healthwatch Staffordshire are increasingly reliant on volunteers and their contributions are very much appreciated. less
Karren Winters-Cavalot | Information, Communications and Projects Officer
Karren qualified as a Registered General Nurse working at a large hospital for several years in Emergency Medicine before becoming a Ward Sister and then Operational Bed Manager. Karren then moved on to be a Fertility Nurse Specialist supporting patients
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Having already completed Teaching qualifications whilst nursing Karren underwent a change of career loving the buzz of teaching Junior Nurses and Nursing students. She spent the next few years as a Learning Manager, running a local centre and managing a Team of Tutors and Teaching assistants
She then went on to become Head of Learning for a local addictions Charity in 2015 initially as part of the HR team and then joined the new Strategic Development and Innovation team when it was set up in 2016.
Alongside her duties Karren was a member of the Safeguarding Effectiveness Committee providing vital reports in both Adult and Child Safeguarding.
Joining Healthwatch cumulates all the skills and training Karren has gathered in both the Nursing profession and in Teaching as she is passionate about improving people’s lives, putting people at the centre of what we do and working to ensure they are treated with dignity and respect.
She has always been an advocate for people and wants to ensure people have a voice and the right to be heard.
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Ian Wright | Community Outreach Lead
Having left North Staffs Polytechnic in 1978, Ian entered the local ceramics industry with Wedgwood. He stayed within the ceramics industry, principally at what later became Waterford Wedgwood until 2009, working as Account Manager, Sales Manager and National Accounts Manager.
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Catherine Wetton | Community Outreach Lead
Originally from Stafford, Catherine (Cat) has been involved with helping others from her teens onwards; where she volunteered for the Variety Club, then becoming chair of the Rag Society at Sunderland University. After university she had several different administration
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During a period of ill health which saw her return to her hometown, she used the time to actively volunteer in several areas to explore a new career path. Cat discovered an interest in mental health and returned to college and gained an NCFE level 3 in Counselling and Psychology, which led to her working in Primary Care Mental Health.
Resigning from the role after becoming a parent Cat volunteered and worked for Citizens Advice, and for Stafford and Rural Homes on their customer service team. She came to Healthwatch with a passion for supporting others and a background in mental health. Cat’s knowledge of Stafford and the voluntary sector came in useful when she took over the role of part time Community Outreach Lead for Stafford and surrounding area. This, along with Cat’s voluntary work with children (Girl Guiding leader, PFTA and mini rugby coach) was ideal for working on a project looking at pastoral care and emotional wellbeing in High Schools.
In September 2019, Cat became full time, and now covers ‘from Kidsgrove to Kinver’, her patch having expanded to cover West Staffordshire. She cares passionately about helping and empowering others and considers her open, friendly nature and listening skills to be a real asset in her role.
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Maggie Matthews | Chair Healthwatch Advisory Board
Maggie has a mixed background of working in Business and later trained as a teacher. In 1988 she moved from teaching into the Education Advisory service using her speciality of
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When Maggie retired she became interested in Patient Participation and became Chair of her own GP Practice group and then Chair of the Leek and Biddulph group of PPG's. She is a Trustee of the National Association for Patient Participation (NAPP). Interest grew and gradually Maggie became involved in the work of the North Staffordshire CCG and is a member of the North Staffs Patient Congress and sits on several CCG groups.
Five years ago Maggie became involved in Staffordshire LinK which eventually became Healthwatch Staffordshire joining their Enter and View team as an Authorised Representative. She is also a member of Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Partnership NHS Trust (SSOTP's) User and Carer Group. less
John Bentley | Healthwatch Advisory Member
John became involved with Healthwatch Staffordshire when he retired from the NHS in 2013. He worked in a mental health and community Trust in the North West of England,
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John is also Chair of Staffordshire Carers Partnership, and represents carers on the East Staffordshire Clinical Commissioning Group Improving Lives initiative. One of his mantras is “What difference have we made?” If the answer is “none”, then we need to take a long hard look at what we are doing.
In his spare time his interests are music (8,420 tracks on his iPod and counting…), playing mandolin, motor sport, walking the dog and he is involved in his local church team. He has just finished walking the length of the Trent and Mersey Canal, which is 92 miles from Shardlow to Preston Brook, and goes through quite a lot of Staffordshire, including the village he lives in. less
Derek Hoey | Healthwatch Advisory Board Member
I am 66 years old, married with two sons and two granddaughters. I have lived in Tamworth for the past 38 years, although I am of proud Scottish heritage, having
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Now retired, I spent most of my career in the world of advertising – although latterly I changed path and worked as a Research Officer with West Midlands Police.
I became a Healthwatch Champion in 2014, having attended a focus group they organised in Tamworth, following a controversial decision to close an operating facility at the local hospital. That decision was reversed – so it shows the potential power of the public voice! Since then, I have become an Authorised Representative and was appointed to the Advisory Group in 2016.
The remainder of my time is taken up with such things as being a magistrate on the South East Staffordshire bench and a member of the Tamworth & District Civic Society – and, of course, grandparent duties! less
Frances Beatty | Board member of ECS.
Most of my career was spent working for a membership organisation, (Country Land & Business Association – CLA), influencing national/regional government policy making: - steered by the evidence base of
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I have policy setting background in the realms of business, higher education, local government, environment, health and social care, having served/serving as a board member of various bodies, including Staffordshire Ambulance Service, Stafford & Rural Homes HA, Harper Adams University, Peak District National Park Authority.
I have the Cabinet portfolio for Planning & Regeneration on Stafford Borough Council, was previously a Scrutiny Committee Chairman. As a ward member dealing with complaints day to day, I clearly recognise the importance of representing consumer interests.
Solid experience of Governance, Audit and Risk Management, including chairmanship of ARM Committees. I worked with the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education on a national programme to monitor standards. I sit on Peak District National Park Authority's monitoring committee to scrutinise budgets, corporate performance, risk management and financial controls. I am Caldecott Guardian for ECS, overseeing effective management of handled data. less
Mike Dent | Healthwatch Advisory Board Member
I have lived in Cheadle since moving up from the South (Hertfordshire) in 1977. I am married and have 3 adult children – and 2 grandchildren. As Emeritus Professor (Staffordshire
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I volunteer for both Healthwatch and the Health Quality Improvement Programme as a Service User Network member, which is particularly concerned with issues related to clinical audit, and has developed a very effective programme of user involvement. HQIP involves me at a national level, but I really wanted to get involved at the local level too and through my HQIP links there – especially the guys from Wigan - I became more aware of the role that Healthwatch can play in championing the interests of the patient. I still have much to learn about the every evolving situation in Staffordshire, but it is good to be actively involved.
I enjoy walking and am an active member of the Leek Ramblers Association, which I represent as their Countryside Office as well as coordinating their programme of longer walks. My wife is very interested in butterflies and I have supported her in tracking down all 59 species in the UK as driver and photographer. And we still have time for the grandchildren! less
Fiona Shield | Healthwatch Advisory Board Member
My childhood was spent in Herefordshire where my father was a single-handed rural GP with the practice just off our kitchen. I, therefore, have lots of memories of working as
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My career as a speech and language therapist led to an interest in adult neurological disorders and for many years I specialised in the diagnosis and treatment of people with stroke, head injury and other neurological conditions. I have worked at all the hospitals and many community clinics in Staffordshire at different times. I particularly enjoyed a few years designing and leading the Stone Rehabilitation Service where we pushed boundaries of team working and demonstrated how care could be delivered successfully at home in the absence of a local hospital.
My operational work then moved into more strategic roles including nine years working for Strategic Health Authorities in Shropshire and Staffordshire and the West Midlands. I focused on workforce change and development including the design of new roles.
I left full-time work in the NHS last summer and now run my own life coaching business and work as an OD consultant for Health Education England.
I am very passionate about ensuring people needing care are always at the heart of all information gathering and decision making, and that care is provided in a fully integrated way that gives the best possible experience for all. less
Dave Bassett | Healthwatch Advisory Board Member
Dave has been involved with Health and Social Care since 1972, working for Cumbria, Derbyshire and Staffordshire Social Services. He has also held senior management roles in the NHS
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Previously Dave was Vice Chair of Staffordshire LINK, representing them as a non-voting member of Staffordshire County Council Health Scrutiny Committee and in meetings relating to changes to Stafford Hospital A&E. He has chaired his GP patient group and was an initial member of East Staffordshire CCG Patient Board. He is a Director of Burton and district Mind and a member of University of Derby and Burton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Recently he has started as a volunteer car driver for the East Midlands Ambulance Service.
He lives in Burton. His wife is a trainer on Parkinson’s and Dementia and his son is a Paediatric Nurse at Burton Hospital. His interests are in community health and care services for vulnerable adults and their interface with hospital services as well as patient and public involvement. He is also a season ticket holder at Leicester City. less
