Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (HUTH) and Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust (NLaG) operate under a Group model of leadership. That means we have one, shared, executive team but two separate boards, overseen by a Group Chairman, as follows:
Chairman (Joint Chair with NLAG) — Mr Sean Lyons
Sean joined us from Lincolnshire CCG, where he was Chairman until 2021. Prior to this he was Chairman at Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust steering the organisation out of special measures and helping to oversee improvements to its CQC rating.
Sean left school before A-levels and went straight into an apprenticeship in the steel industry which he says was hugely enjoyable and gave him a real appreciation for the shop floor .He went on to complete a degree in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA and then made a move to British Steel Stainless in Sheffield. This company merged with a Swedish company and Sean worked his way up to Senior Vice President before a return to Scunthorpe where he took up a Director post running the plates and sections businesses, ultimately becoming Director of the Scunthorpe Steelworks in 2007. He retired from the steel industry in 2011 and then in 2013 made the move to the NHS. Sean is also Chairman of the West Nottinghamshire college in Mansfield, a role he will continue with.
Vice Chair — Mr Stuart Hall
He has spent a large part of his career working with FTSE 100 company, Santander. A fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, Stuart is experienced in a range of areas from governance and HR to strategy development, and a Director of a Community Interest Company. He has experience as a Director of Community Interest Companies specialising in vocational training and end of life care.
Group Chief Executive — Mr Jonathan Lofthouse
Jonathan is the Group Chief Executive for Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust. He was appointed from 14th August 2023. Jonathan was previously Site Chief Executive (Princess Royal University Hospital and South Sites) at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in London and has significant experience of not only working in but also developing a group leadership structure within that organisation. Prior to this he was Director of Improvement at Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. His experience and background make him well suited to helping HUTH and NLaG tackle some of our most challenging joint issues around flow, elective backlog, patient environments, and the recruitment, retention and wellbeing of staff. Jonathan firmly believes in creating a diverse and innovative workforce where staff have a strong voice in the co-creation of safe and effective patient services.
Executive Team
Group Chief Medical Officer — Dr Kate Wood
Dr Wood studied medicine at Glasgow University, graduating in 1994. She started work in anaesthetics in 1999 training in Hull, during which time she worked as a Senior House Officer and Registrar at Grimsby Hospital. She loved her time in Grimsby so much she returned in 2006 when she was appointed as a Consultant Anaesthetist. Since then she has held a number of managerial roles including Lead for Obstetric Anaesthesia in Grimsby, Clinical Director, Associate Medical Director and Deputy Medical Director and Acting Medical Director.
Kate Was appointed as Group Chief Medical Officer on 31 October, 2023
Group Chief Delivery Officer — Shaun Stacey
Shaun Stacey was appointed as Group Chief Operating Officer in October, 2023. He originally trained as a Nurse/Operating Department Practitioner, before moving into the role of Resuscitation Officer. Shaun has a wide range of experience across mental health, acute care, private healthcare, hospice care, training and commercial healthcare. He has undertaken many senior management positions, including working in a number of London hospitals, and joined the Trust from the Isle of Wight NHS Trust where he held the same position.
Group Chief Financial Officer — Mr Lee Bond
Lee is our Group Chief Financial Officer. Lee was appointed at HUTH in March 2013 and with NLaG in October 2020. Prior to this, he held senior financial roles in Central Manchester Hospitals and East Midlands Strategic Health Authority. Between 2003 and 2011, he was Director of Finance successively at Sheffield Children’s Hospital and Sherwood Forest Hospitals.
Group Chief People Officer — Mr Simon Nearney
Simon joined NLaG as Interim Director of People in January 2023 and has held the position of Director of Workforce for Hull University Teaching Hospitals since 2012. He became our Group Chief People Officer in October 2023. Previous to this he was Director of Human Resources at Leicestershire County Council and has held several senior Human Resources and Organisational Development management roles in large public sector organisations. Simon has a track record of transforming services, leading major organisational change programmes and improving the customer experience.
Group Director of Strategy and Partnerships – Ivan McConnell
Ivan is a qualified accountant who has over 25 years experience of leading national and international healthcare programmes of change. Ivan has held an Executive Director role in a large NHS Trust where he had responsibility for strategy, performance, transformation, ICT, contracting, commercial development, estates and partnership working. As a Director within a Tier 1 Management Consultancy practice Ivan delivered some of the largest change programmes within healthcare and local government in some of the most challenged political and operating environments in the country. He has delivered high profile national and international projects reporting directly to Government Ministers, Departmental Permanent Secretaries and Regulatory Bodies. This has included the South East London reconfiguration “A Picture of Health” along with a national programme for elective care improvement in Ireland. Ivan also led national programmes on behalf of the Regulator looking at Service Line Management and Performance Improvement. As an Executive Director Ivan led the development of a System Wide Strategy for the STP and was a member of a national MCP Vanguard Board testing the principles of Alliance Contracting. He led a number of cross system improvement programmes and successfully tendered.
Non-Executive Directors
Jane Hawkard
Jane Hawkard joined HUTH in August 2023 with 30 years experience in the NHS working in finance across acute, mental health, community and commissioning roles. Jane was the Chief Executive of East Riding CCG for 5 years and Finance Director for North Yorkshire CCG for 3 years prior to starting her role at HUTH as a non-executive.
Mr Tony Curry
Tony was appointed in April 2019 and has held senior appointments in higher education, financial services and manufacturing and also as a director with PricewaterhouseCoopers. He has over 40 years' information technology experience working in the UK and internationally. Over the past decade he has had a particular focus on strategy and transformation programmes which exploit the advances in mobile and self-service technologies.
Prof Una MacLeod
Una was appointed in 2020. She is Dean of the Hull York Medical School, and during 2020 is Interim Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Hull. She trained in Medicine in Glasgow and then worked as Senior Lecturer in General Practice and Primary Care and as a GP Principal in the city before joining Hull York Medical School in 2010 as Professor of Primary Care Medicine. She became Dean of Hull York Medical School in 2017 and does GP sessions at James Alexander Family Practice, Bransholme Health Centre in Hull. She is a national leader in the area of cancer and early diagnosis research. Her interests in cancer research and primary care and her passion for reducing health inequalities has led her to receive grants from Cancer Research UK, Yorkshire Cancer Research and the Department of Health Policy Research Unit programme, as well as contributing to policy development.
Mike Robson
An experienced Finance Director with over 15 years in the NHS at director level including several periods as Acting Chief Executive, Mike is now working as a self-employed Management Consultant specialising in change management and providing expertise and flexible support to organisations particularly in the health, social care and public sectors. Mike is also a Trustee/Non-Executive Director for the Hull Truck Theatre and provides freelance coaching to a small number of individuals. He previously worked in various financial roles in the private sector including 5 years at director level.
Associate Non-Executive Director
Linda Jackson
Linda Jackson is originally from Cleethorpes and studied hotel, catering and institutional management at Grimsby College before graduating with a Diploma in Management from the University of Reading. Her career in facilities management began in1986 in London working for ISS Facility Services, who provide facilities services across the NHS, where she remained for 28 years.
Linda quickly worked her way up the ranks to hold positions including regional director; eventually working nationally across multiple NHS organisations. Linda became board director at the age of 38. In her last 10 years in the private sector she undertook a transformational change role with responsibility for implementing the company’s new business initiatives nationally within the NHS, and latterly involving a 2-year secondment into the Royal Air Force.
Linda moved back to Grimsby and joined Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust in 2014 as a Non-Executive Director and since then has undertaken the role of Deputy Chair and has also been Acting Chair on two separate occasions. Linda was made the Vice Chair of Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust and Associate Non-Executive Director of Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust in April 2020. Most recently, Linda has been instrumental in supporting both organisations with the transition to a Group operating model including aligned governance and decision-making.
Dr Ashok Pathak
Dr Pathak is an Orthopaedic Surgeon who retired from the National Health Service after 34 years’ service, having worked primarily for the Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals Trust. Previously he was the Chairman of the Negotiating Committee for the British Medical Association. Dr Pathak was involved with the International Doctors Forum and was a Trustee of BMA Charities. In addition he was an overseas doctor’s mentor for many years, involved in the recruitment and retention of overseas doctors with the Trust.
Currently, Dr Pathak is a member of Her Majesty’s Court Service in the capacity of Medically Qualified Tribunal Member.
He is a former first-class cricketer who played at County level in India (Ranji Trophy) and was an expert cricket analyst for the World Cup in 1996. Currently, he is a Trustee of Cricket Beyond Boundaries, a charity which supports the development of underprivileged cricketers from India.
He was also a Governor at Hymers College and is currently an Ambassador for Hymers College.
Dr Pathak was awarded an MBE in 2010 for his lifetime contribution to medicine in Yorkshire and India.