The Board

John Goulston is chair of the Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust.

He has a wealth of experience working in non-executive and executive roles. John is currently also chair of NHS London Procurement Partnership. He was interim chair of Kent and Medway, Integrated Care System (ICS) from April 2020 to November 2021. Formerly, John was chief executive of both acute and community health providers in London. He has been an executive director of NHS London, the strategic health authority for London, plus director of finance at two London teaching hospitals during his career.

As part of his role as chair of Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust, John chairs the West Kent Health and Care Partnership Development Board and is a member of the Kent and Medway Integrated Care Partnership Joint Committee.

He is also co-chair of the Kent and Medway Mental Health, Learning Disabilities and Autism Provider Collaborative Board.

Much of his early career was in Kent, working in Maidstone during the 1980s.

Mairead is an experienced NHS director with 35 years in the NHS. She is an emergency nurse by background having trained in her native Northern Ireland.

She has spent the majority of her career with the NHS in the UK but has also worked in other health and care systems in Australia and
New Zealand.

Prior to becoming chief executive, she was the deputy chief executive and chief operating officer at Kingston hospital.

In this period the trust moved from a CQC rating of requires improvement to outstanding. She also operationally led the trust through the pandemic and early recovery.

She has a national reputation for her improvement work in emergency care, working with NHS England to support systems to embed good practice.

Moving from acute services to community services was motivated by her interests in preventing ill health. She is driven by improving outcomes and plays an active role in working with local people to shape health and care for the future.

Kim Lowe has spent most of her career at John Lewis Partnership and for more than 37 years she has worked across people, customer service, employee engagement, human resources and business.

She progressed through various operational and general management leadership roles, being appointed managing director of John Lewis Bluewater in 2014. In 2007, she was appointed partnership board director and also as a member of the audit and risk and remuneration committees.

Her final role was to lead the pension review at John Lewis before leaving in 2020 to continue to build her portfolio non-executive director career in the public and private sector, including John Lewis Partnership, Central Surrey Health, Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust, as well as a council lay member at the University of Kent and joint trust chair of a school’s academy trust in Medway.

Kim, who lives in Canterbury, said: “I am passionate about employee engagement; I truly believe it lies at the heart of a successful enterprise. An empowered workforce delivers better service and a happier working environment for all. That’s why I was attracted to KCHFT, it has strong values and understands the importance of an inclusive culture.”

Paul is a chartered accountant with extensive management, financial and regulatory experience. From 2001 to 2020, Paul had been managing director of Mid Kent Water and subsequently South East Water. Previously, Paul worked as group financial controller of Mid Kent Water and he has been a non-executive director of Water UK, the water industry trade body and Chairman of UKWIR, a research organisation for the water sector.

Razia has more than 26 years’ experience in the social sector, public sector and in higher education at the national and local level in
the UK. She has worked on the management and strategic level for the past 15 years and has worked with marginalised communities throughout her career.

Razia is chief executive officer of Kent Refugee Action Network, a regional charity working with separated refugee and asylum seekers in the care system since 2016. She was previously Head of the ESRC Third Sector Research Centre Knowledge Exchange Team, and a member of the Children in Need South East Grants’ Panel.

In 2020, she was awarded a PhD in international politics focusing on critical social moments and the capability approach. She has also worked with NICE to develop national guidance on community engagement in health and was a founding trustee of the People’s Health Lottery.

Karen has more than 25 years’ experience leading research teams examining the challenges facing healthcare and life sciences organisations and publishing her findings in order to improve services for patients, carers and the public.

She established Deloitte UK’s Centre for Health Solutions in November 2011. The centre is the independent research arm of Deloitte’s Life Sciences and Health Care (LSHC). It practices and combines creative thinking, robust research and industry experience to develop evidence-based perspectives on some of the biggest and most challenging issues to help clients transform themselves and, importantly, benefit the patient.

Before joining Deloitte, Karen was the Director of Health Value for Money Audit at the National Audit Office delivering reports to Parliament on health-related issues. In 2002, Karen received an OBE for her work on Health Value for Money Audit work.

Karen is a member of the Institute of Chartered Public Finance and Accountants and has extensive experience in leading research into healthcare and life-science issues in the UK and internationally. She also spent 10 years as a non-executive director at Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust, where she chaired the Audit Committee.

Karen, from Sevenoaks, said: “The NHS has faced the most challenging and unprecedent circumstances; which has exposed amazing strength and a willingness to adopt innovation and work differently. The next few years will be challenging but there will be opportunities for service transformation, adoption of innovative technologies and new business and operating models. I look forward to being part of this.”

Pippa Barber brings a wealth of experience with a strong clinical background and focus on governance, quality and improvement from 40 years’ experience in the NHS. She has spent the past 20 years in various board roles including most recently as a non-executive director.

Pippa has significant executive experience working in clinical roles including chief nurse and Clinical director, with a number of different
organisations across the system – acute, community, primary care, clinical network, mental health and commissioning. She recently completed 6 years working as the independent nurse for a clinical commissioning group in London, where she maintained an essential focus on system learning, health inequalities, quality and performance and is also currently a trustee for a Kent and London -based charity. Pippa lives in Kent.

Pippa is Senior Independent Director at Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust.

Peter has a background in banking and finance spanning 28 years, latterly as a finance director with Barclays Bank PLC.

He has been a non-executive director with the NHS since 2006, and is currently a non-executive director and audit chair of Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust.

He has held a portfolio of public sector roles in the past including:

• non-executive director and audit chair, Rural Payments Agency
• non-executive director and audit chair, NHS West Kent
• independent member of the Audit Committees of the Home Office, Ministry of Justice, DEFRA, Health and Safety Executive and Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission
• trustee director, Citizens Advice North and West Kent.

Nigel is a group human resources director and business transformation consultant with a proven track record in leading contemporary transformational peoplechange UK and globally.

His career has included leading the people agenda of the £400million digital transformation of Argos before its sale to Sainsbury’s. He is also attributed with the lead ‘people’ role in the government-funded modernisation of the Royal Mail up to its 2014 privatisation and providing
strategic support to the HR director at Northern Rock following the financial crisis of 2008. Nigel also led the people strategy at Spire Healthcare plc. Nigel is currently involved in a major global business transformation project as a consultant with Jaguar Landover.

Mercia joined as our permanent Chief Nurse in January 2020 following a 13 month secondment from NHS Improvement.

Mercia has worked in the Health Service for 35 years and describes herself as a ‘passionate champion of the NHS and the values it embodies’.

Her clinical experience includes transplantation, coronary care, renal and cardiothoracic nursing. Mercia holds a Batchelor of Science degree in applied and human biology and Doctorate in clinical research.

During her career Mercia has delivered a number of senior leadership roles within the NHS at both an operational and strategic level. She has led a number of large scale national improvement projects and supported the development of a range of tools that have focused on improving the safety of patients. She has worked for a number of provider organisations including University Hospitals Birmingham
NHS Foundation Trust, as well as the Department of Health, the Trust Development Authority and NHS Improvement.

Sarah is a GP at Newton Place Surgery in Faversham, Kent.

Prior to joining KCHFT as the medical director, Sarah was clinical chair of Canterbury and Coastal Clinical Commissioning Group and chair of East Kent Strategy Board.

The Board was set up by local health and care commissioners to spearhead the drive to determine how best to provide health and care services to the population of east Kent. Its work is now part of the wider Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board agenda. Sarah’s work on the East Kent Strategy Board included reviewing issues around staff retention, the use of technology, buildings and estates, and clinical pathways such as maternity, paediatrics, end-of-life care and mental health.

Until April 2017, Sarah was also commissioner co-chair of Kent and Medway Sustainability and Transformation Partnership Clinical Board, which was set up to make sure the NHS future plans met the health and social care needs of the communities it serves. Sarah’s professional interests include Quality Improvement and medical leadership.

Sarah is Caldicott Guardian for Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust.

Gordon is a fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants (FCCA) and has a professional background in NHS finance spanning 39 years. Following an early career with health authorities, his director experience is with acute and community trusts and has been at the trust since 2011.

His responsibilities include financial management and control, capital and audit, IM&T and performance and business intelligence.

Appointed December 2022: Previously Director of Participation, Experience and Patient Engagement (non-voting) and Chief Nurse (Board).

Ali qualified as a registered general nurse in 1994. She completed a number of postgraduate studies, qualified as a registered mental health
nurse in 2004 and graduated from the NHS Leadership Academy Nye Bevan Executive Healthcare Leadership Award in 2014. She has worked in the NHS for more than 30 years, holding a variety of senior posts in London, Devon, Kent, Surrey and Sussex.

Ali is passionate about making sure patients and their carers are equal partners in their care and receive the best experience possible. She has a clinical background in acute, community and mental health nursing, as well as holding a national position with NHS England, providing clinical leadership to the National Ebola Team.