The Board of Directors comprises executive directors and non-executive directors. It is responsible for setting the strategic direction of the trust and overseeing organisational performance. Ultimately, the Board is accountable for ensuring that the trust delivers safe, high-quality care and a positive experience for patients.
Lesley is Chief Executive of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and was also Chief Executive of the North West London Integrated Care System (ICS) until November 2021. A nurse and midwife by training, Lesley has extensive executive managerial experience, having led the Trust since 2015, and was previously Chief Executive for East and North Hertfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group. In 2020, under her leadership, the Trust was awarded a CQC rating of Outstanding for well-led and use of resources. In December 2022, Lesley was awarded a CBE in His Majesty the King’s New Year Honours for her service to the NHS.
Roger Chinn was appointed Chief Medical Officer in December 2020. He is a clinical radiologist who has been a consultant with the Trust since 1996. Previously, he held senior leadership roles as Deputy Medical Director and Chief Clinical Information Officer in the Trust and was the Medical Director at West Middlesex University Hospital for the year prior to its acquisition by the Trust.
Robert Bleasdale—Chief Nursing Officer
Robert joined the Trust in April 2022. He was previously Chief Nurse and Director of Infection Prevention and Control at St George’s University Hospital and has held a number of senior nursing leadership roles in the NHS. He was instrumental in the COVID-19 response, leading the vaccination programme to establish one of the first vaccination clinics in the country. Robert has led several quality improvement programmes, including the development of accreditation systems that raised standards of care, and he was involved in St George’s exiting CQC special measures. He has actively promoted partnership working and is passionate about involving staff and patients in key service decisions.
Robert became Deputy Chief Nurse at St George’s in 2017, having previously held other senior nursing roles there since 2014. He began his nursing career in acute medicine before moving into emergency care. He is an advanced trauma nursing course instructor and completed his nursing degree at Oxford Brookes University. Robert also holds a master’s in Senior Healthcare Leadership from Birmingham University.
Virginia Massaro—Chief Financial Officer
Virginia joined the Trust in 2010 as Head of Financial Planning before progressing to Assistant Director of Finance and Deputy Director of Finance, having previously worked in finance teams across other NHS organisations in North West London. She has been Chief Financial Officer since October 2019 and is a qualified Chartered Management Accountant.
Lindsey Stafford-Scott—Chief People Officer (non voting)
Lindsey joined the Trust in 2021 and has served as Interim Chief People Officer since November 2022. She leads the development and implementation of the people strategy and culture change initiatives, supporting all staff. A fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, Lindsey has 24 years’ experience in the public sector HR profession and 15 years in executive HR roles across various public sector organisations. She has successfully delivered numerous culture and transformation projects, developed HR operating models and strategies, improved employee engagement and enhanced performance management.
Directors in attendance
Chris Chaney, Chief Executive Officer CW+ (non-voting)
Robbie Cline, Chief Information Officer (non-voting)
Emer Delaney, Director of Communications (non-voting)
Peter Jenkinson, Joint Director of Corporate Governance (non-voting)
Natasha Singh, Board Adviser, Equality and Diversity (non-voting)
Non-executive directors
Matthew Swindells (Chair)
Matthew joined the Trust in April 2022. He has over 30 years’ experience in healthcare. He is the former Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Operating Officer for the NHS in England. He also runs his own consultancy, through which he provides strategic advice on digital transformation and global healthcare to a small number of innovative companies. Matthew’s NHS career started as an NHS supplies management trainee and includes a series of operational management roles in the NHS up to Chief Executive at the Royal Surrey County Hospital and as the NHS’s first Chief Information Officer. He then worked in government, firstly as head of the health team in the Prime Minister’s Office of Public Service Reform and then as special policy adviser to the Secretary of State for Health. Matthew is President of the Health Care Supply Association and holds a Visiting Professorship at Imperial College Institute of Global Health Innovation. Matthew is joint chair, responsible for 12 hospitals across four NHS trusts in north west London: Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust.
Patricia Gallan (Vice Chair)
Patricia is a Non-Executive Director for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs as well as The Trade Remedies Authority. She is an external member of the Council of Queen Mary, University of London, Chair of Governors at an East London Infant & Junior School and a member of the Drapers’ Multi-Academy Trust. A former chief police officer, she began her police career as a Graduate Entrant in East London rising to Assistant Commissioner Specialist Crime and Operations of the Metropolitan Police Service, retiring in 2018 with over 13 years Executive Board Experience in policing. Patricia was a Detective, Hostage Negotiator and is a qualified Barrister. She previously served as Deputy Assistant Commissioner (Specialist Operations – Security and Protection) and also Deputy Assistant Commissioner (Professionalism) in the Met. In addition, she has served in Merseyside Police and the National Crime Squad as a Chief Police Officer as well as completing a secondment to the Home Office. In July 2023, Patricia joined the respective boards of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust within the NHS North West London Acute Provider Collaborative as a Non-Executive Director.
Aman Dalvi
Aman has worked at very senior levels for many years and has been a chief executive of three organisations where he has led multidisciplinary teams. Aman has extensive experience in planning and regeneration and, in his career, he was executive director of development and renewal in a major local authority. Aman was also a ministerial appointee on the boards of English Partnerships and the Olympic Park Legacy Company. Aman has also served as a chair of a number of organisations which include the Anchor Trust and PA Housing. In addition, Aman Dalvi has been a statutory appointment on a number of large and diverse organisations. He is currently working as a consultant for two major developers and is chair of a development company. At Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Aman is the chair for the Audit and Risk Committee, the board Non-Executive Director (NED) for the Freedom to Speak Up Champion and the lead NED for Estates and Facilities. In September, 2022, he was appointed to the board of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust as part of his wider duties within the North West London Acute Provider Collaborative.
Carolyn Downs
Carolyn Downs CB is a recently retired Local Authority Chief Executive. Carolyn was Chief Executive of the London Borough of Brent from 2015–23 and prior to that was Chief Executive of the national body for local government, the Local Government Association, for 4 years. She spent 3 years in the civil service as Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice and as the Chief Executive of the Legal Services Commission. Prior to that she was Chief Executive of Shropshire County Council. She has in total worked for almost 40 years in local government in numerous councils.
Vineeta Manchanda
Vineeta is Audit Chair of the Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and a non-executive director of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Her non-executive director and advisory career has spanned the private, public and voluntary sectors covering med-tech, software as a service, local government, adult and children social services, education, debt advice as-well as previous NHS roles. Currently she is audit chair at Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes ICB and RTOP PLC and a member of the audit committee at Worcester College, Oxford University. Vineeta’s executive career was in investment banking where she had experience of working in large multinationals such as Merrill Lynch and Unilever as well as leading the growth of start up emerging market investment banks. She brings extensive experience of helping companies raise funds, financial analysis, stakeholder management, organisational development, mergers and acquisitions and risk management.
Ajay Mehta
Ajay is an organisational development specialist supporting the growth and sustainability of civil society organisations globally to increase their social impact. With significant contributions in the social impact and public sectors, he brings a breadth of experience in the areas of strategic planning, resource mobilisation and sustainability, community engagement, leadership and governance. Ajay's portfolio of work has ranged from large international institutions to smaller community based organisations, supporting them to review and re-engineer their strategic interventions and maximise impact. Ajay has particular interests in human and environmental rights, a focus of his company em4, which engages with institutional funders to build the capacities of their grantees and invests in social entrepreneurs internationally to increase their regional impact. He has held board-level positions with national and international charities. He was previously a non-executive director of Hounslow and Richmond Community Healthcare NHS Trust. Ajay is currently chair of the People and Workforce Committee. He also holds the position of Wellbeing Guardian on the Trust Board. Ajay is in his second term of office at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and was appointed to the board of London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust as a NED in September, 2022, as part of the wider duties within the North West London Acute Provider Collaborative.
Syed Mohinuddin
Dr Syed Mohinuddin has worked in the NHS for over 25 years. He is a Consultant Neonatologist and leads the pan-London Neonatal Transfer Service. He graduated from the Armed Forces Medical College, India and was awarded the Colonel Malhotra Memorial Gold Medal in medicine. He subsequently moved to the UK and completed his core and higher specialist training in paediatrics and neonatology. He is a fellow of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. He has a Master's in Medical Leadership from the Bayes Business School and is a Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management group member. Syed is an experienced educator who has held various training and development positions. He has extensive experience in team training, simulation and human factors. He is a digital and innovation enabler and the clinical lead for the NeoMate App that won the NHS Innovation Acorn Award 2015. He is a member of the Harrow Muslim Community and the Seacole Group. He is passionate about improving the quality and safety of NHS care and reducing healthcare inequalities. Syed also chairs the Quality and Safety Committee and is a Non-Executive Director on the London Northwest University Healthcare NHS Trust board.
Helen Stephenson
Dame Helen Stephenson is a Non-Executive Director and former Chief Executive of the Charity Commission for England and Wales, a non-ministerial government department employing around 400 staff and responsible for regulating more than 169,000 charities. She joined the Charity Commission from the Department for Education, where she was Director of Early Years and Child Care, having previously worked in the Cabinet Office as Director of the Office for Civil Society and Government Innovation Group. Before joining the Civil Service, Helen was Head of Strategic Policy and Partnerships at the Big Lottery Fund and had worked for a large national charity as a development manager and as a researcher and consultant in the statutory and voluntary sector. She holds a PhD from Bristol University and is a Non-Executive Board member of the National Lottery Community Fund and Chair of the People Committee. Helen is also a Board member of the ECB Regulatory Board and sits on the People and Governance Committee at the Royal Academy of Dance. Previously, she served on the Board of the Big Society Trust and was Chair of NCT until her appointment at the Charity Commission. Helen was awarded a CBE in 2014 and a DBE in the 2024 Birthday Honours for services to charity and regulation
