Martin Hindle, Independent Chair, EMAHSN
As this is my first blog for EMAHSN, I thought I should start by telling you a little bit about my background and how I have come to be in the fortunate position of Chair for this innovative organisation.
So, what's my previous experience?
Well, I'm the former Chairman of University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust (UHL) and I've held leadership roles in both industry and health organisations. I began my career with Fisons PLC Pharmaceutical Division in Loughborough. In 1980 I was appointed as Chief Executive of the Nordic Region for the French company, Rhone Poulenc and subsequently appointed Chairman and Chief Executive of Fisons' French operation. I then joined the board of the Pharmaceutical Division as Global Commercial Director and later I joined Cable and Wireless (C&W) as Chief Executive Officer C&W Nautec.
I'm currently a Non-Executive Director of Public Health England (PHE) and a Non-Executive Director of the Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). I previously served as a Non-Executive Director of the Health Protection Agency, National Blood Authority, and the National Biological Standards Board.
I'm also a member of the Council of University of Leicester and a member of the Advisory Board for the University of Bradford Business School. I have an honours degree in Pharmacy and an MSc in Industrial Administration and I'm a Member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.
Hopefully that gives a good overview of; why me?
I'm delighted to be serving the EMAHSN. My role as Chairman is to ensure our board stay on track and achieve the objectives that NHS England has set out of us.
Our Managing Director
At the helm we're lucky to have Professor Rachel Munton as Managing Director of the EMAHSN. Rachel is a senior mental health nurse, having had roles such as Director of the East Midlands Leadership Academy and NHS National Leadership Academy - Associate for Inclusion, as well experience as Executive Director of Nursing, at NHS East Midlands and Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust. She has all the attributes, professional skills, drive and dedication to make a great and positive impact on the growth ambition of the network.
Rachel Munton was also recently elected as the Chair of the Network of Networks. This is a national group, consisting of all the managing directors of the AHSNs. It has begun to meet regularly to ensure that the partners are sharing best practice, not duplicating work effort and essentially that we're all collaborating to ensure seamless care and improved patient outcomes.
Our Board
Our board is almost complete, the one key role which remains is our Commercial Director and I will keep you informed of any updates in relation to this position. We have appointed our two new independent Board members; David Mell from Stathern in Leicestershire and Janet Worrell from Nottingham.
David (left) and Janet at our February Board meeting at Leicester's Glenfield Hospital
David and Janet will play a key role in ensuring the partnership focuses on tackling the major health issues that affect the lives of our 4.5m residents across the East Midlands – including cancer, stroke, mental health, obesity and support for older people.
This means we now have 17 Board members in total, spanning a range of specialties and bringing a wealth of knowledge with them. The members bring with them a great depth of expertise both regionally and nationally. What is exciting for us is that there is a genuine and collective sense of purpose. Whether it's through service improvements, new innovative medical devices or products, the realisation of research or ensuring our public and patients have a say we are all working towards a common goal: "We're working to transform the health of our 4.5m residents and generate economic growth for the East Midlands".
Going forward the purpose of this blog will be to review and comment on current topics and challenges affecting us all, giving my take on what's happening.
You can find out more about our work at www.healthinnovation-em.org.uk and follow on Twitter @EM_AHSN. To contact me direct, just email: