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Formerly: St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and Southport & Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust

Our Trust Board Structure, please click the image to open a PDF version

Meet our Trust Board and Senior Leadership Team

Rob Cooper

Rob has always worked in health and social care, starting his career in a care home, whilst completing his nursing degree at Liverpool University back in 1997.

He then went on to work in A&E, vascular surgery, and intensive care as a nurse, before moving into a site management role. This led to him joining the Trust in 2015 as Assistant Director of Operations for Medicine, before progressing to Director, then Managing Director (Strategy and Operations), and then being appointed to his current role as Chief Executive in 2024.

Richard Fraser

Richard has over 30 years’ experience as a board director of a number of large companies and has been part of the NHS for over 15 years.

Richard studied mechanical and civil engineering at college, with his first senior job as site manager on the construction of oil tanks at the Stanlow Refinery. As Richard’s career progressed, he became managing Director of a gas contractor in Preston for 18 years, and late became MD at Enterprise PLC.

After retiring from his career as a contractor in the utility and engineering service, he served as Non-Executive Director at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. He became Chair of St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals in May 2014.

Anne-Marie Stretch

Anne-Marie started her career in the public sector at the age of 17 joining the Civil Aviation Authority where she transcribed the tapes from black boxes in aeroplanes. She then moved to Mersey Regional Health Authority, as a higher clerical officer.

Working in the NHS for 35 years, Anne-Marie has worked across a wide-range of HR roles in a variety of NHS settings. She joined the Trust as Director of Human Resources in 2003, becoming Deputy Chief Executive in 2010.

In addition to this, Anne-Marie was Managing Director at Southport & Ormskirk hospitals between September 2021 – July 2023.

Gareth Lawrence

Gareth started his career in the NHS 20 years ago, joining Alder Hey Children’s Hospital as a Management Accounts Assistant, where he seized the opportunity to become a qualified accountant.

He has undertaken many finance roles at various Trusts, and in 2018 joined the Trust as Deputy Director of Finance, before progressing to Director of Finance.

Sue Redfern

Sue’s career began at the age of 16, as she worked one day per week at Walton Hospital whilst studying at pre-nursing college.

She then moved on to work in Infectious Diseases at Aintree Hospital, where she spent 20 years progressing her career from an enrolled nurse up to a Divisional Nurse then Deputy Director of Nursing, before moving to this Trust as Director of Nursing, Midwifery and Governance.

Dr Peter Williams

Peter has dedicated 25 years to the medical profession after studying at Liverpool Medical School.

Throughout his training he regularly worked at Whiston Hospital and officially joined the Trust in 2008, as a consultant in Acute and Emergency Medicine. Shortly after joining, he took over a Clinical Director role, then progressed in his leadership career to become Medical Director in 2022.

Lesley Neary

Graduating from university in 1997, Lesley took on a role as a computer programmer, before joining the NHS as a Database Developer in Liverpool Health Authority.

She soon moved into operational performance at Sefton PCT, before joining NHS Improvement in Leeds as the Operational Lead for Emergency Care for the North of England. She took the Deputy Chief Operating Officer role at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals for 2 years, before joining Southport & Ormskirk hospitals in 2021 as Chief Operating Officer.

Nicola Bunce

Starting her career back in 1987, Nicola took on her first role at Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield as a Higher Clerical Officer, processing nurse bank requests, and very quickly went on to progress in her career in HR and business planning.

She later relocated to the North West and has worked in a number of different Trusts and NHS organisations, until joining the Trust in 2013, and being appointed Director of Corporate Services in 2017.

Malcolm Gandy

With an NHS career spanning 25 years, Malcolm has held a number of senior leadership positions at different NHS Trusts across Greater Manchester and Cheshire and Merseyside.

Holding a postgraduate degree in Digital Health Leadership, Malcolm has demonstrated strong strategic leadership, digital strategy implementation, and innovation in technology usage within the healthcare sector. In 2022, he became the first Chief Information Officer (CIO) in the country to attain Level 3 Excellence in Informatics (Informatics Skills Development ‘ISD’ Networks) accreditation for his Trust.

Malcolm is passionate about improving patient care through advanced informatics solutions and digital enablement and is dedicated to leading our Trust's digital transformation.

Wayne Longshaw

Wayne started his career as a laboratory assistant in the pottery industry. He then moved to local government and worked there for 25 years, before joining the Trust ten years ago as Director of Service redesign.

Dr Kate Clark

Kate trained at Liverpool Medical School, before joining Whiston Hospital in 1997, working across medical and surgical care, as well as critical care, A&E and paediatrics. As an A&E consultant, she worked at both the Royal Liverpool Hospital and Warrington and Halton Hospitals, where she became Deputy Medical Director.

Kate then progressed to Medical Director for the 3 acute hospitals in North Wales, and before joining Southport & Ormskirk hospitals in 2021, was deputy executive medical director for the North Wales Health Board. Prior to formation of the integrated care boards, Kate was also a governing body member for Trafford CCG for 5 years.