Trust board members and board papers

Prem Singh, Chair

Prem joined the NHS in 1975 as a student nurse as part of an international recruitment campaign. With a general and psychiatric nursing background, his senior management and leadership career has covered all sectors of the NHS and social care, for over 35 years. He has previously been a Chief Executive and an Executive Director of Nursing and Quality and has extensive experience as a Chair in community, acute and ICB roles for nearly a decade.

Prem retired from his last NHS roles as Chair of Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Trust (DCHS) and Chair of Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care Board in 2022, before deciding to rejoin the NHS as Chair of UHDB in May 2024. Having had family experiences of the services of the Trust, the opportunity to serve his local hospital Trust and community was a massive pull.  

He strongly believes in 'service to others', social justice and inclusion, and is passionate about improving healthcare services as well as improving health and addressing inequalities.  

In addition to his substantive roles, Prem has previously also held several national leadership positions including as CEO lead for inclusive leadership and as Senior Independent Trustee of the NHS Confederation. He is proud to have been part of the NHS journey spanning the past six decades - from nurse to CEO and Chairman.

Temporary change to Chair arrangements

Prem is currently away from the Trust to receive intensive treatment following a recent diagnosis of cancer, which he has been open to sharing with colleagues and the public. In this interim period, Vice Chair Ian Lichfield is serving as Interim Chair. Prem intends to keep in touch with the organisation as much as he can and hopes to return later in the year, and we continue to share our best wishes with him for his ongoing treatment and recovery.

 

Stephen Posey, Chief Executive

Stephen joined University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHSFT in September 2022. He was previously the CEO of Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in Cambridge.

During his time at Royal Papworth, Stephen successfully delivered the move to a new state-of-the-art hospital and under his leadership Royal Papworth became the first NHS hospital trust in the country to receive an 'Outstanding' rating across all Care Quality Commission (CQC) domains.

Stephen has a strong track record of delivering both quality and performance and building professional links with industry, research and academic partners. 

As CEO, Stephen is committed to working with colleagues across the Trust and the Derbyshire and Staffordshire communities to support the delivery of our strategy to provide exceptional care together and the best outcomes for patients. 

In addition to his Chief Executive role, Stephen: is a member of the national Organ Utilisation Group, established by the Department of Health and Social Care to maximise the potential for organ transplantation; A Partner Member of the NHS Derby and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board, Chair of Joined Up Care Derbyshire's Provider Collaborative Leadership Board and Urgent and Emergency Care Delivery Boards; Deputy Chair of the East Midlands Acute Providers (EMAP) Network; and Chair of the East Midlands Clinical Research Network Partnership Board.

Stephen is an alumni of Harvard Business School.

 

Ian Lichfield, Interim Chair

Ian’s expertise lies in business transformation, turnaround and growth. Ian has held a number of CEO and CFO roles in both listed and private equity-backed businesses. During this time, Ian has achieved award-winning business transformation and growth and has delivered an exceptional health and safety performance. 

As a qualified chartered accountant, Ian has expertise in finance, strategy, restructuring, rationalising and growing businesses and has led the acquisition, integration and sale of several businesses across his career. 

He has extensive Board level management and leadership experience, including managing a number of joint ventures during his international career in the commercial sector. Ian is passionate about delivering strong health and safety performance and building a culture where people get an opportunity to grow and develop, and has seven years' experience as a former non-executive director at Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust, including chairing its Quality Business and Audit and Assurance committees. 

Ian is the Vice Chair, Chair of the Finance, Investment and Performance Committee and a member of the Audit Committee. 

Sardip Sandhu, Non-Executive Director

Sardip Sandhu has over 20 years of experience and expertise in a variety of commercial, general management, strategy & transformation leadership roles at Walgreens Boots Alliance. She specialises in building strategy, operational change, brands, teams and people, and has worked with teams in UK, USA and Asia. Sardip, who has a Masters degree in Global Public Heath, is a qualified performance coach, is passionate about people, innovation and ethics in organisations. 

Sardip is also a independent Governor and board member of DeMontfort University and is a Research Fellow at the University of Nottingham medical school.

Sardip is Chair of the Charitable funds committee, Vice Chair of Finance and performance  Committee and a board member of D Hive.

Justin Shannahan, Non-Executive Director

Justin joined the Trust Board in June 2019. He has a broad finance, purchasing and commercial background and worked for over 20 years in a number of roles at Rolls-Royce, most recently as the Director of Finance of the Civil Aerospace division.

Justin holds a BA (Hons) in Accounting and Financial Management and is a qualified accountant.

Justin is the Chair of the Audit Committee and a member of the Finance and Investment Committee and the Charitable Funds Committee.

Professor Jaspal Taggar, Non-Executive Director

Professor Jaspal Taggar is a General Practitioner and Clinical Academic at the University of Nottingham.

As Head of Undergraduate GP Education at Nottingham University, Prof. Taggar is passionate about the training of the future medical workforce and innovation of medical education.

He has a portfolio of clinical and medical education research whilst supporting research delivery across the East Midlands in his capacity as Co-Lead for the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network.

Born and brought up locally in Derby, Prof. Taggar wants to use his expertise to support and develop high-quality patient care and services, enabling the health and wealth of the local community to thrive.

Professor Chris Harrison, Senior Independent Director

Chris has held senior NHS board level positions for the past 30 years. Having qualified in Medicine from Manchester he spent the following 10 years in a variety of hospital medicine, primary care and public health roles before becoming a District Director of Public Health in Lancashire in 1992. After overseeing the development of the new Rosemere Cancer Centre in Preston he moved to the Northwest Regional Office as Cancer Services Director in 1999. He subsequently held the posts of Medical Director for Greater Manchester SHA, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust as well as being National Clinical Director for Cancer at NHSE from 2016-2019. 

Following retirement in 2020 he has been providing strategy and corporate governance advice and support as Executive Director at The Christie Cancer Centre in Manchester where he also provides board leadership for the international programme, health inequalities and environmental issues. He continues to hold this role as well as being an Honorary Professor in the Department of Cancer Sciences at The University of Manchester. 

Chris chairs the Quality Assurance Committee and is member of the Audit Committee. He is also the Board’s nominated Non-Executive Maternity Safety Champion and Non-Executive with oversight of Medical Disciplinary matters. 

 

Nicky Clarke, Non-Executive Director

Nicky has over 38 years of HR and people experience in large organisations, 11 of those years within the NHS. Nicky is currently Chief of People for the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, which is a post she has held since 2019, and has previously worked as Director of HR at Nottingham University Hospitals and Director of Workforce and Organisational Development at Chesterfield Royal Hospital.

She also has extensive experience in the private sector, spending a large part of her career in HR at Boots UK, where she worked for 20 years in a variety of roles.

Nicky has a generalist HR background and has worked on several change programmes, working closely with executive teams to support them on the overall shape and design of the organisation, the organisational culture and employee engagement.

Max Jones, Non-Executive Director

Max has spent the last 20 years operating at a senior level in digital healthcare roles – in both consulting and industry and in the NHS. He’s been a a Chief Information Officer (CIO) on four occasions and has worked across various care settings.

Max started his career in industry, including working for McKesson HBOC as CIO, before spending 12 years (2003 – 2015) working in senior IT roles for NHS Connecting for Health and the Health and Social Care Information Centre.

From 2015 to 2020, Max worked for GE Partners, providing healthcare solutions to healthcare and subsequently for Agilisys from 2020 to 2025, during which he was Executive Chief Digital Information Officer (CDIO) and Director of Innovation, Research and Improvement for Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB). In September 2025, Max took up a new role as the Chief Artificial Intelligence (AI) Officer for a public sector consultancy (RPNA) building on his expertise in digital transformation in healthcare and in particular the adoption of AI to benefit workforce and patient outcomes – something he’s passionate about.

Simon Pearce, Non-Executive Director

Simon was born in Staffordshire and is an engineering graduate. He qualified as a chartered accountant and spent most of his career working in London and the south-east, initially in auditing and then in mergers, acquisitions and flotations. He then spent over 20 years working in a commercial environment, for a Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 100, FTSE 250 and private companies, predominantly in company secretary or senior financial management roles. He experienced the financial crash of 2008 as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of an investment bank before joining the Financial Conduct Authority (then Financial Services Authority) in 2012 as the organisation’s first Company Secretary and, later, Director of Corporate Governance. 
 
He retired in 2022 and returned home to East Staffordshire and was appointed as Non-Executive Director and Chair of Audit and Risk Committee at Midlands Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, a large mental health and community care trust covering Staffordshire and Shropshire and providing specialist services, including forensic services, further afield. 
 
Simon’s motivation for joining UHDB was that Queen’s Hospital Burton is his local hospital – a hospital that has served his family well for many years.

Chris Sands, Executive Chief Financial Officer

Chris joined the Trust in 2024 as Executive Chief Financial Officer. He holds a wealth of experience at a senior level within NHS finance, and nearly 20 years board level experience. 

Previous roles include Chief Financial Officer at Midlands Partnership University Foundation Trust,  Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Financial and Strategy Officer for 10 years at Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust, and Director of Finance and Compliance at Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.

Chris graduated in economics, is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and an active member of the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA).

 

Dr Gis Robinson, Executive Chief Medical Officer

Dr Robinson is a Paediatric Emergency Consultant by background who joined the Trust in 2009, just as the new Paediatric Emergency Department opened.

Gis holds a wealth of clinical knowledge and experience both in and outside the organisation, and joined the Board as Chief Medical Officer in April 2024, following a period as Interim Executive Medical Director since September 2023.

Gis also is Senior Responsible Owner for Joined Up Care Derbyshire's Musculoskeletal Group and the East Midlands Acute Providers Network Oncology Group.

 

  

Rob Hodgkiss, Interim Executive Chief Operating Officer

Rob joined the Trust in 2025, with over 30 years NHS experience, both clinical and non-clinical, and started his NHS career as a healthcare assistant. 

Rob's most recent roles include Executive Chief Operating Officer for East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust, and over 10 years at Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust as Executive Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Chief Executive. 

 

 

Garry Marsh, Executive Chief Nurse and Deputy Chief Executive

Garry joined UHDB as Executive Chief Nurse in 2022 after an extensive nursing and operational career across the Midlands, joining UHDB from The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in Birmingham where he had been Chief Nurse for seven years.

Alongside his Trust role Garry is the Chief Nurse Senior Responsible Officer for infection prevention and control across the Derbyshire system, and also works with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) as an Executive Reviewer on Well Led inspections.

 

Amanda Rawlings, Executive Chief People Officer

Amanda has worked in the NHS since 2007 and joined UHDB in March 2020. Prior to joining UHDB, Amanda worked across Derbyshire for Derbyshire Community Health Services Foundation Trust (DCHS), Derbyshire Healthcare Foundation Trust (DHCFT) and Chesterfield Royal Foundation Trust. Prior to joining the NHS, Amanda worked globally for Caterpillar – Perkins Engines Co Limited, and British Sugar PLC. Amanda is joint Chair for the Midlands HR Director Network and Vice President of the East Midlands Healthcare People Management Association (HPMA).
 

Debbie Loke, Executive Chief Digital Information Officer

Debbie has worked at UHDB since 2003, most recently working as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and EPR Director across Joined up Care Derbyshire, managing the single EPR programme across both acute Trusts within Derbyshire.  

Debbie joined the NHS from the private sector where she led a number of data and analytical development programmes for IBM and Andersen Consulting. She is also the chair for the technical design authority across Derbyshire, aligning technical solutions and supporting collaborative working with system partners.  She supports a number of regional networks such as the East Midlands Radiology Consortium and the Midlands and East Pathology Network to drive innovation through the use of technology and data.

Debbie is the vice chair of the CIO advisory panel for Digital Health, representing CIOs nationally on policy change and is also a member of the CHIME faculty supporting the development of other Digital Healthcare leaders. Debbie speaks widely on the opportunities of digitally enabled transformation and is passionate about developing people in their digital and data careers, and more widely.

 

Rebecca O'Connor, Executive Director of Corporate Development

Rebecca joined the Trust in October 2023, having been the Director of Corporate Governance at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust since 2021. Rebecca has held a number of senior roles in the NHS and local government across her career. Rebecca steered a multimillion-pound contract for Worcester Royal Urgent and Emergency Care Centre through to completion and has led the development of the governance arrangements across Worcestershire place as part of the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Integrated Care System. Prior to joining the acute sector, Rebecca led the governance behind the merger of the Birmingham and Solihull Clinical Commissioning Groups and was Operational Lead for the BSol System Operations Centre during the pandemic.