The Board

John became Chair of Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust on 1 November 2018 and he is due to complete his term on 30 October 2025. From 1 June 2024, he also chairs of Medway NHS Foundation Trust. He has a wealth of experience working in non-executive and executive roles, and currently also chairs the Kent and Medway Provider Collaborative Board, West Kent Health and Care Partnership, NHS London Procurement Partnership and advises a private healthcare company.

He was interim chair of Kent and Medway Integrated Care System from April 2020 to November 2021. John was chief executive of both acute and community health providers in London, and 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.

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.

Caroline joined KCHFT in June 2024.

She has worked as a nurse for more than 20 years and has held a range of senior nursing roles across the NHS.

The mum-of-three has worked extensively in acute care and was divisional director of nursing for medicine, cancer and emergency care at Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust.

After studying to become a nurse at King’s College London, Caroline worked at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust on the stroke unit as a newly qualified nurse, before returning to Kent as a nurse at Sittingbourne and Sheppey community hospitals.

She then went on to specialise in stroke and has fulfilled specialist stroke nurse roles at Medway Community Healthcare and Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust.

In 2016, Caroline joined Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust for her first head of nursing role as lead nurse for specialist medicine, where she gained a huge amount of experience, before expanding her portfolio in corporate nursing roles, including associate director of risk and compliance, and divisional nurse for cancer and clinical support.

Two years later, Caroline returned to Dartford and Gravesham where she has developed from head of nursing for medicine and emergency department (ED), to associate director of nursing and therapies for medicine, cancer and emergency care, and then into her current role as divisional director of nursing. During this time, she oversaw ED and medicine moving from being rated ‘requires improvement’ by the Care Quality Commission to ‘good’.

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.

Rachel Dalton joined Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust as our new chief allied health professions officer (CAHPO) in September 2023

A physiotherapist by background, Rachel has more than 25 years’ clinical and leadership experience in Australia and the UK. A graduate from the NHS Leadership Academy’s Clinical Executive Fast-track Scheme, she was group director of AHPs and psychological professions at Barts Health NHS Trust in London before joining us.

Rachel is passionate about improving patient experience, pathways and outcomes with multi-disciplinary clinical leadership and making sure colleagues have a great work experience.

Faham came to the UK as a refugee and through his own lived experience he was inspired into youth work straight from school. As part of youth offender programmes, he became one of the youngest youth workers in the capital and has used that insight to bring value to a range of advisory committees. This includes youth work in challenging inner-city boroughs such as Newham and Tower Hamlets, as well as advisory panels on agendas such as child protection, social housing and more recently health.

He has become a Lay Chair for the Appointments Committee at Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (BHRUT). Faham is particularly attracted to community services and, having moved to Dartford, he wants to work closer to communities he knows.

His passion for ensuring equality of access to opportunities and health equity are key drivers in the application. He is also a trustee of local charities, such as MIND, and part of the England Rugby Inclusive Leadership Delivery Group – seeing how the power of sport can engage communities.

Olu is an experienced non-executive board member, chair, business leader and speaker who has held positions in the public, charity, and private sectors. He currently serves as a non-executive for Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust, Sanctuary Housing and the Royal College of Nursing. With a focus on providing strategic guidance and expertise, Olu operates as a trusted independent advisor, trainer, and interim C-Suite executive.

His areas of specialisation include cybersecurity, information security and digital transformation.

Additionally, Olu serves as a business mentor with the Government ‘Help to Grow’ scheme and at the University of West London Enterprise Hub, where he assists with commercialising start-up ideas. Olu is also a professional member of BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, a Young Enterprise judge, and a Magistrate. Olu recently co-founded CXB Limited, a not-for-profit forum focused on equipping board members for effective cyber governance.

His previous roles include being regional leader for a global technology company, CEO and chair of a chamber of commerce, chair and trusteeship for several charities, non-executive director for the Federation of Small Businesses, and a board member for the Government-sponsored Science and Innovation Audit on Sustainable Airports led by Brunel University.

Caroline has recently retired from a 40 year career in local government.

She has adapted well to leadership roles in public service across a diverse range of different local authorities – this ranges from work with Kent County Council leading Highways Services, to being the Chief Officer leading on Environment and Enterprise in Rotherham, Harrow and Northumberland and across to more recent work in the London Borough of Southwark where part of her remit was Public Health.

Caroline also held a big leadership role in Southwark during the pandemic, working with emerging ICS arrangements in a diverse borough with complex partnerships.

Andy is a GP, with a strong clinical and leadership background and who sees the future of community services as central to the future of health systems. Andy has successfully progressed into leadership roles in systems. He became a successful chief executive officer at a clinical commissioning group, before spending time in 2021/22 in the national NHS England team.

His work in the national chief operating officer directorate was at a time of developing guidance for the new integrated care boards – with Andy’s focus particularly around place-based working and clinical leadership. He stopped being a GP Partner in March 2024, but still does some sessional work as a GP.

Is passionate about continual learning and has undertaken a Masters in International Health, as well as carrying out wider work with the King’s Fund, publishing a document about moving care closer to home.

MaryAnn undertook her medical training in Liverpool before moving to Australia in 2008 and spending the next 12 years in a different health system.

She progressed via her specialty training into roles with an increasingly senior medical leadership remit, while remaining clinically active in emergency medicine. Maryann was a full-time Director of Medical Services for Calvary Mater Newcastle; this is a tertiary level hospital in Hunter New England local health service. She sat in a health district that provides healthcare across primary, secondary and tertiary levels, with an operating budget of $2.3Billion.

MaryAnn moved back to the UK in 2021, initially with IC24 in the Kent and Medway system, before moving into her current role – one that afforded her the opportunity to go part-time and pursue a doctorate, while also joining the Board of neighbouring Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust.

MaryAnn is a non-voting member of the Board until she takes over from Pippa Barber on 1 December, 2024.

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.”

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.”