Our Board is made up of six Directors and up to six members of the Company’s membership scheme who have been co-opted as Board members. The co-opted members attend the Public Board meetings of Healthwatch Worcestershire as ‘non-voting participants’ as they are not Directors of the Company.
The Directors, in accordance with the Company’s Act, are responsible for decision making, Those decisions which relate to the operational activities of Healthwatch Worcestershire are known as Relevant Decisions and are taken in accordance with the company’s Relevant Decision Making Policy which ensures the public are involved. A record of ‘Relevant Decisions’ are published by Healthwatch Worcestershire in the Relevant Decision log.
There are six public board meetings per year, and you can see the dates in the event section of the website. For previous meetings the minutes can be found in the news and reports section of the website.
Our Board
Jo Ringshall, Chair
Jo Ringshall qualified as a chartered accountant with KPMG London and has worked in a variety of roles in the private sector. She has worked in the voluntary sector in the county and volunteered with the Citizens Advice Bureau in Worcestershire for many years. She has been a Director of Healthwatch Worcestershire since 2014.
Simon Adams, Managing Director
Simon is responsible for the day to day operation of Healthwatch Worcestershire and advising its Board of Directors. Before taking up this role Simon was employed by Worcestershire County Council to support the Council in its community leadership role and prior to that, as a police officer with West Mercia Police, having served as the Divisional Commander in Herefordshire and then South Worcestershire. His career has provided him with significant experience of community engagement, and of partnership working across public sector services and with the voluntary and community sector.
John Taylor, Director
John has worked in the voluntary and community sector in Worcestershire since 2004, most recently as a Business Consultant in Health, Wellbeing and Social Care for a sub-regional infrastructure charity. During his career he has worked in the public, private and voluntary sectors, with both children and adult services. He trained initially as a Social Worker, working in both residential and fieldwork settings, prior to specialising in health and social care regulation for about 17 years. His main role in registration and inspection was as Chief Inspector of the County Inspectorate in Herefordshire and Worcestershire, and then as Area Manager for the National Care Standards Commission (one of the predecessors of the Care Quality Commission) when responsibility for this element of work moved from local authorities to a national agency.
He has a strong interest in quality issues, standards of care and user/patient engagement, and maintains links with training of the health and social care workforce through his role as an Associate Lecturer at the University of Worcester
Chris Byrne, Director
Chris has worked for many years in a range of sales management and marketing roles for major pharmaceutical companies bringing innovative and transformational solutions to the NHS. After treatment for tongue cancer in 2018 he set up the Worcestershire branch of The Swallows Head & Neck cancer charity in Worcestershire. He is also an advocate with The Swallows for Head & Neck cancer patients and carers. During lockdown Chris became involved with the agency running the Covid-19 Investigational study that reported the background rate of Covid-19 to the Office of National Statistics (ONS). More recently Chris has become involved with CRUK and GSK providing insights and feedback using his experiences as a patient with lived experience of cancer
Debbie Lamont, Director
Debbie previously worked in the Banking sector for 35 years before taking voluntary redundancy. Since then, she has worked for Action for Children and also helped run a very successful support group for parents of children with additional needs (South Worcestershire Additional Needs Support – SWANS) as a volunteer. She brings with her a wealth of experience and she is passionate about ensuring children and young people get the help and support they need to thrive.
Don Beckett, Director
Don has worked in the NHS for over 40 years, starting his NHS career as an Internal Auditor in Cheshire, then moving to Worcestershire in 1990 as an accountant working for Hereford & Worcestershire Family Health Services Authority. Don is a qualified public sector Accountant with CIPFA. He became a practice manager with Northumberland House Surgery in Kidderminster in 1997, retiring from this role in 2017. Don has performed various other roles within the county in health (Primary Care Trust Executive Committee Member, CCG Audit Committee Member & Primary Care Information Lead), education (Governor at Kidderminster College) and the charity sector (trustee of two local charities: Woodgreen Church and Kinship Carers UK). He has also worked for the CQC as a Special Adviser and supported various struggling GP Practices.
With over 40 years of experience within the NHS, Don brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to his role as a Healthwatch Worcestershire Director, and he is particularly interested in primary care.
Past Board papers
We make the papers for our public Board meetings available online. We also publish a summary of what was discussed. Go to our news and reports section to find past papers.
Co-opted Board Members
David Saunders (Volunteer)
St Pauls Hostel (Reference & Engagement Group)
Swallows Head & neck Cancer Support Group (Reference and Engagement Group)
Worcestershire Parent Carer Forum (Reference & Engagement Group)
Young Solutions (Reference & Engagement Group) represented by Pete Sugg, Chief Officer
The Sandycroft Centre (Reference & Engagement Group) represented by Lee McKenzie, Chief Executive Office
Membership Scheme
Healthwatch Worcestershire is a company limited by guarantee and its Articles of Association (see document below) require the company to establish a Membership Scheme which will entitle Members to vote at company meetings in accordance with the Companies Act. Healthwatch Worcestershire has agreed a scheme which will extend membership of the Company to those organisations or ‘Experts by Experience’ who belong to the Reference & Engagement Group, and Healthwatch Volunteers as those who play an active part in the business of Healthwatch Worcestershire. Membership is limited to one place per organisation.
Reference and Engagement Group
Our Reference and Engagement Groups is a virtual network of local voluntary organisations and Experts by Experience with an interest in health and/or social care who are actively involved in the work of Healthwatch Worcestershire and represent the views of their patients, service users and carers.
If you would like to join the group, you can apply to join us by using the forms below; one is for organisations, the other for individuals who are Experts by Experience.