Meet the team
Staff
Andy - Chief Executive Officer
Andy is our Chief Executive Officer. His role is to lead Healthwatch Birmingham strategically and operationally, on behalf of the Healthwatch Birmingham Board.
Andy has a depth of experience in the Voluntary and Community Sector working in a health and social care setting. Working as CEO and senior management team roles has built specialist knowledge in tackling inequality, community development, engagement and public involvement, creating flexible innovative services and quality assurance.
Jane - Head of Operations
Jane is in charge of the smooth running of Healthwatch Birmingham. She is accountable for our people, operations, budgets, and project delivery; ensuring these support the CEO’s vision. A key responsibility is to make sure that our staff members have everything they need to complete their roles, are operating efficiently and are happy at work.
Jane joined the team in 2015. She has previously worked in a wide variety of health-related research settings including major teaching hospitals, Education for Health, Brunel University, and the University of Birmingham.
Chipiliro - Research and Policy Manager
Chipiliro leads our research and policy team. This team listens to people’s experiences of health and social care services in Birmingham; identifying and investigating those services members of the public have raised concerns about. Data collected in these investigations is used to work with decision-makers to reduce the unintended consequences of their policies. She also makes sure our work is informed by the latest national and local policy developments and leads on our engagement with policy decisions that will impact on health inequities and Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) in Birmingham. She coordinates our consultation responses, develops our position statements on different policy issues, and provides day to day advice to other members of the team.
Chipiliro is a governance, public policy, and development management professional and has worked as an analyst, grant/project manager, researcher, communication expert, and lecturer. She has extensive experience influencing people, policies and decision-making processes and empowering communities to demand services. Her various roles have involved ensuring that policies and programmes aimed at improving the social, economic and political conditions of people are informed by research evidence.
Paul - Marketing and Communications Manager
Paul’s job is to spread the word about Healthwatch Birmingham’s work, making more people aware of our impact and success in improving health and social care services in the city.
He was previously Head of External Affairs at Brightside, a charity supporting disadvantaged young people into higher education, and has also run HIV Awareness programmes in Tanzania as an NGO volunteer. Before moving into the non-profit sector, Paul was a freelance writer for clients including the BBC and Metro.
Ghazanfar - Research and Engagement Officer
As Research and Engagement Officer Ghazanfar’s role is to document and record people’s experiences of health and social services in Birmingham and to identify research themes and trends by analysing the collected data and carrying out literature review to further clarify the issues at local and national levels.
Ghazanfar has worked in wide variety of health and social care settings since 2014 as a public service interpreter.
This interaction with different stakeholders within health and social care sector (GPs, Practice Nurses, patients, commissioning and third sector & social services managers) has helped him in understanding the complex concepts of how people get access to health & social care and what happens to them as a result of this contact, how social factors, financing systems, organizational structures and processes, medical technology, personal behaviours & awareness affect access to health & social care, the quality and cost of health & social care.
Di - Office Co-ordinator (PA to the CEO and Secretary to the Board)
Di is Office Co-ordinator (PA to the CEO and Secretary to the Board). Her role is to co-ordinate the office ensuring all team members have the resources they need to fulfil their roles in a safe and effective environment and ensure the efficient and smooth running and governance of Healthwatch Birmingham. Di works closely with the CEO and the Board, helping them to perform their roles effectively and is the first point of contact for enquiries. Di ensures that the CEO’s time is prioritised, negotiating meetings and appointments accordingly and provides secretariat support to the quarterly board meetings.
Di has worked in administration roles throughout her working life and has predominantly worked in the Third Sector. In previous roles she has worked for multiple managers and worked closely with the CEO and provided Board support in a Birmingham Charity. Di is passionate about working for organisations that play a major part in making a positive difference to people’s lives
Sarah - Data and Insight Officer
Sarah is our Data and Insight Officer. She takes the lead on ensuring we have quality data, and giving Healthwatch Birmingham the insight to help achieve our strategic objectives.
Sarah has worked in a variety of roles across sectors and most recently within Local Government. Sarah is passionate about the people of Birmingham receiving the best services they can.
Max - Information and Social Media Officer
Max is our Information and Social Media Officer. His role is manage our Information and Signposting service, helping healthcare users to understand the options available to them, and ensuring their experiences are being heard. He also promotes our work and collects feedback through the Healthwatch Birmingham social media accounts.
Max previously worked for Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council on the Employed for Success project which helped local people with their employability skills. He has a Master’s degree in Global Citizenship, Identities and Human Rights from the University of Nottingham.
Kca-Sey – Community Engagement Officer
Kca-Sey is our Community Engagement Officer. She can be found out and about all over Birmingham gathering the views of people who use health and social care services. She also ensures that we reach and engage vulnerable adults, carers, children, young people and families in all of the city’s diverse communities.
Kca-Sey previously worked in differing roles across sectors and her last role was working in a small team as a Research Assistant. She also has a Bachelor’s degree in Health and Social Care from Newman University.
Georgina - Volunteer Coordinator
Georgina’s role involves recruiting and supporting our volunteers to engage with different communities in Birmingham and ensure people’s voices are heard.
Georgina graduated in BA (Hons) Business and Advertising. She has previously worked for Birmingham City Council and enjoys helping people and listening to their thoughts and experiences.
Samantha - Data Entry Officer
Sam is responsible for making sure all the feedback we hear is accurately recorded. She gained experience in reaching out to diverse communities and supporting vulnerable people to have a voice through providing advice, guidance and signposting to patients, public and professionals at advocacy service Pohwer for over 7 years, where she also inputted referrals and trained colleagues. Sam has BA (hons) degrees in Criminal Justice and Social Policy and Social Care.