Healthwatch Birmingham Board
We are currently recruiting Non-Executive Directors for our Board. Find out more, including how to apply here.
For details of upcoming Board meetings visit our Events page here. For Board minutes click here.
Danielle Oum - Chair
Danielle joined Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust as Chair in 2015 having previously chaired Dudley and Walsall Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust.
Danielle has more than 10 years' experience of leading public service business improvement and programme management, and
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Danielle has more than 10 years' experience of leading public service business improvement and programme management, and has also worked extensively in the private sector, building and leading international teams.
Danielle's professional expertise is in stakeholder engagement and transformational change. Her other professional interests are socio-economic inclusion, cross sector partnerships and regeneration.
Danielle is committed to ensuring that patients, carers and the public are heard and listened to when health and social care services are commissioned and delivered.
Danielle has also successfully become a Committee Member of Healthwatch England. less
Catherine Weir - Non-Executive Director
Catherine has lived in Birmingham since 2011, with her husband born in Birmingham, his parents having moved here from Jamaica, and their children are at school here.
Catherine is passionate about ensuring that health and social care
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Catherine is passionate about ensuring that health and social care meet the needs of all of Birmingham’s diverse communities and this is the fundamental reason why she joined Healthwatch Birmingham.
Catherine's background is in NHS senior leadership, mostly in primary care. She has also worked in the voluntary and community sector, most recently at Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice.
Catherine currently works at the University of Birmingham as part-time tutor on a NHS Leadership Programme supporting senior clinical and non-clinical leaders through a Masters programme and am also working on a number of research and consultancy projects with the Health Services Management Centre at the University of Birmingham. less
Charles Ashton-Gray - Non-Executive Director
Charles has had a long and varied background in local government, which has taken him from senior leadership roles at a rural borough in Norfolk, to the largest local authority in Europe. Charles has therefore been able to amass a
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He has a long experience of leading, motivating, coaching and developing individuals and teams for high performance. In corporate policy and strategy as well as finance Charles has transformed teams to such an extent that this has been recognised and commented upon by external evaluators.
In the field of adult social care, Charles led and motivated a team which accomplished a task that most commentators thought was impossible and in doing so improved the lives of over 1,000 older adults in Birmingham.
Charles is an accountant by profession, but doesn’t believe that money is for counting. It’s for spending! Spending to make change, spending to make things better. He therefore has a wide and successful experience of bid-writing, be it at a programme level or at an individual project level.
“Whatever I’ve been doing, be it community regeneration, commissioning adult social care services, or changing procedures, I’ve always worked collaboratively with citizens and am wedded to conventions of co-production, co-design and co-delivery.
"I was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, but attended North Staffordshire Polytechnic in the mid-1980s. This was the beginning of my love for the Midlands and Birmingham in particular. “Although I returned to Norfolk at the conclusion of my studies, I promised myself that one day I would return. And in 2004, that’s what I did!" less
Graham Parker - Non-Executive Director
After a career in manufacturing and international sales of Giftware and Tableware, Graham went on to use and develop his business, financial, and management skills within the Private, Not-for-Profit, Public, and Care Sectors. He is an experienced Chairman, Non-Executive Director,
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Jasbir Rai - Company Secretary
Jas is responsible for the efficient administration of Healthwatch, ensuring compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements and for ensuring that decisions of directors are implemented.
Jas is the Deputy CEO of BVSC and has worked in the sector for
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Jas is the Deputy CEO of BVSC and has worked in the sector for 17 years and has been company secretary for BVSC for over 10 years. Jas has been involved with Healthwatch Birmingham from when it was first set-up and has a wealth of experience in supporting boards and in strategic financial management. less
Neelam Heera - Non-Executive Director
Neelam Heera is the founder of Cysters, a grassroots organisation dedicated to supporting women with reproductive and mental health issues. Cysters work with marginalised communities and remain culturally sensitive despite challenging topics around these health concerns. The group work with
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Neelam is also a trustee for Stop Hate UK and the Brain Injury Association. She has recently been awarded a Points of Light from the Prime Minister and is named as Birminghams 30 under 30. less
Dr Peter Rookes - Non-Executive Director
Dr Peter Rookes is an experienced health service manager, educator and researcher, who has worked extensively in both the state and non-state sectors in the UK and overseas.
Peter most recently researched relationships between faith-based health providers and
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Peter most recently researched relationships between faith-based health providers and governments in developing countries. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Ramblers, with a special interest in the Walking for Health Programme.
Dr Rookes is a Non-Executive Director for Birmingham Voluntary Service Council and County International and Faiths Advisor for Birmingham Scouts. As Secretary for Birmingham Council of Faiths, he works to achieve cohesion between people of different faiths and promote the involvement of people of faith in civil society.
With the assistance of colleagues, Peter coordinates the annual Faiths for Fun for children, the twice yearly Faiths, Health and Wellbeing Seminars, and the Birmingham programme for National Interfaith Week.
Having worked in several developing countries, Peter is passionate that comprehensive healthcare should be available according to clinical need and free at the point of delivery, and there should be public involvement in making decisions about health service priorities. less
Qadar Zadar - Non-Executive Director
Qadar is a Director within the Health Service and also the Leader of Dudley Metropolitan Council. He has extensive experience of Health and Social care provision having worked in provider and Commissioner Organisations and also across a range of specialities
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Despite a career in general management Qadar believes that services that do not respond to the needs of the population its serves cannot claim to be responsive, of high quality or be efficient in its provision because it is fundamentally not serving the purpose for which it was intend, that is one of the drivers of why he has joined Healthwatch, to pursue further his advocacy for service users.
Qadar was born in the Midlands and has lived and worked locally all his life. less
Tim Phillips - Volunteer Board Representative
Tim Joined Birmingham City Council Older Adults section in 1994 post qualification as a Social Worker and spent 23 years as a practitioner and Assistant Manager leaving the council in December 2017. In the years of being a practitioner with
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Tim has experience in the voluntary sector as chair of the Disability Resource Centre since 2004 and has been able to understand the difficulties disabled people have to overcome in all aspects community engagement and access to health, education, and employment and training. Recognising disabled citizens of Birmingham and wider West Midlands ongoing struggle for equality of access to all aspects of community engagement Tim has also broadened his voluntary activities in the community.
Some of Tim’s other voluntary activities include, Birmingham City Council’s Citizens Voice, Healthwatch Birmingham, Birmingham University Hospitals NHS trust which includes membership of Heartlands hospital site action group. Also membership of DMR company’s Children’s services as a Lay person on their fostering panel. less
