Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust

Claire Lemer

Chief Strategy Officer

Dr Claire Lemer joined BWC in 2024 as Chief Officer for Strategy and Innovation. She had previously worked at the Evelina London Children’s Hospital where she was Clinical Director for Medicine and Neonatal Services alongside her role as a Consultant in General Paediatrics. She was also Director of Transformation with a focus on capital programmes. Dr Lemer studied medicine at Cambridge University and University College London. She also holds further degrees in Public Health, Business Administration and Research. As a clinician, and service manager she has worked in a number of NHS hospitals across the country. Claire spent two and a half years at the Department of Health and World Health Organisation, where she worked in public health, quality improvement and developing clinical leadership programmes. She also served as the Associate National Clinical Director for Children Young People and Transition at NHSE. During 2004-2005, Claire was a Harkness Fellow in Health Policy, in Boston, USA, where she researched the effects of communication in paediatric medication safety. She has co-authored two books on medical management.

Daljit Athwal

Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer

Daljit qualified as a registered general nurse in 1985 and went on to qualify as a registered sick children’s nurse in 1987 and a health visitor in 1990. Following several nursing and senior management roles in the community and acute settings, Daljit held national roles in the Commission for Health Improvement, Trust Development Authority and NHSE. Daljit was Deputy Chief Nurse at Nottingham University Hospitals for four years and went on to become Chief Nurse at George Eliot Hospital between 2018 and 2022 before becoming Chief Nurse and Midwifery Officer at the Trust in August 2022. Daljit’s areas of interest include distributed leadership models such as professional shared decision making, quality improvement and improvement collaboratives, ward accreditation and health inequalities.

Phil Foster

Chief Finance Officer

Phil joined the Trust in 2002 as Deputy Director of Finance, subsequently becoming Deputy Chief Finance Officer and, in 2013, Director of Finance. Phil was Interim Chief Finance Officer from April 2021. Phil joined the NHS after working within private accounting practice. In over 30 years within the NHS Phil has worked in various senior roles within acute (district general and specialist hospitals) and mental health services. Phil is also the Vice-Chair of the HFMA’s Technical Issues Group.

Raffaela Goodby

Chief People Officer

Raffaela is an experienced board director, with 20 years’ experience across Local Government, NHS and the private sector. Having joined BWC in October 2020, Raffaela has a particular focus on empowering her colleagues to ‘bring their whole selves to work’ and is committed to driving true inclusion through innovative, forward-thinking people practice. Raffaela is Joint Programme Director for the National NHS Universal Family - the Care Leaver Covenant. She developed the national pregnancy loss policy for the NHS with Trade Unions and is a visible advocate for women’s services in Birmingham and Solihull. Raffaela was awarded the HPMA HR Director of the Year during Covid in 2020 and sponsors the Trust LGBTQ+ Staff Network. Raffaela is a founding member of Aston University STEM Education Academy Trust, a new Maths school which launched in 2024 to support future generations of students into the business and professional community in the Midlands region.

Satish Rao

Chief Medical Officer

Satish has been a Consultant Respiratory Paediatrician at Birmingham Children’s Hospital since 2006 and specialises in Paediatric Respiratory Medicine and, more specifically, helping those with severe asthma, sleep disordered breathing and bronchiectasis. In addition to his clinical practice, he has an active interest in researching treatment for respiratory conditions such as asthma and delivering models of care that is accessible to all children and young children in the region. He has a Postgraduate Research degree, Doctor of Medicine with Distinction, from the University of Leicester. Satish has previously worked as a Postgraduate Clinical Tutor and Head of Postgraduate Education making changes to the training of doctors which was recognised by the General Medical Council. He also served as the Specialty Training Advisor at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, for training of Doctors specialising in Respiratory Medicine. Satish has continued to lead the Children and Young People Transformation Programme in the Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care System as well as working in partnership with our Women’s and Forward Thinking Birmingham services to represent us both in Birmingham and Solihull as well as regionally and nationally. He is passionately committed to furthering our ambitions to be an inclusive organisation where all can thrive, supporting our diverse populations both with our colleagues and our communities, and enabling our Trust to lead the way in innovative care and treatment. Satish is a Fellow of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and is a member of both the British Paediatric Respiratory Society and the European Respiratory Society.

Steve Cumley

Chief Operating Officer

Steve joined the NHS in 1999 as a radiographer before moving into operational management in 2006. Steve held a number of divisional management positions at University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB), including Deputy Divisional Director of Operations, Divisional Director of Operations, and Deputy Chief Operating Officer. Steve became Chief Operating Officer at BWC in 2019. Steve has a particular interest in whole pathway redesign and integrated models of care, having worked on a number of transformational projects involving a range of partner organisations across the wider healthcare system.

Fran Steele

Deputy Chair

Fran is an experienced leader with an extensive background in both executive and non-executive roles which has involved engaging with complex organisations and supporting leadership teams to deal with issues of complexity, governance, performance and change across the public and private sectors. This rich background has evolved through direct employment with the NHS as well as spending 20 years in management consultancy, sitting on the Board of a national governing body funded by Sport England and operating as a Trustee Director for a private sector pension fund. Fran is also currently working as a Trustee Director for the Heart of England YMCA, a charitable organisation providing services across Birmingham, Coventry and Warwickshire.

Hema Purohit

Non-Executive Director

Hema is Director/CTO Healthcare & Public Sector across EMEA for Microsoft, Senior Executive Leader & Former Director of Government & Public Sector UKI for Google Cloud with 33 Years’ experience in Technology and an industry specialism in Public Sector & Healthcare. A strong advocate of using Technology for Good, and to improve business outcomes & benefits whilst nurturing the environment and working towards sustainability goals. A seasoned, highly experienced, motivated and focused Technology & Business Transformation evangelist, well versed in the design, development, delivery and support of transformational change across the majority of industry sectors, including specialising in capabilities for AI, Multi Cloud, Emerging Technologies, Software Defined Data Centre, Architecture and Management. Hema is an active supporter of Women in Technology, instrumental in many initiatives leading, enabling, supporting and furthering the Women in Tech Network. She was recently announced in Computing’s Top 100 IT Leaders 2024.

Nailesh Rambhai

Deputy Chair and Senior Independent Director

Nailesh Rambhai joined the trust in April 2022 as a non-executive director. Nailesh graduated in Law from Oxford in 1995 and went on to practice at Linklaters LLP and then McDermott, Will and Emery LLP. He then moved to Coventry Building Society as Group General Counsel and Company Secretary. Nailesh has lived and worked in Canada, the USA and South East Asia in a global career, including as General Counsel and Company Secretary at Petronas. He then went on to complete an assignment working for the COVAX Facility as part of the international response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nailesh is also a non-executive Director at the University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Newbury Building Society. He is also a Trustee of the charity, United Way UK and was previously a non-executive Director at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry and the Pension Protection Fund.

Professor David Adams

Non-Executive Director

David has been Pro-Vice Chancellor and Head of the College of Medical and Dental Sciences at the University of Birmingham since 2015. He is also a Director of Birmingham Health Partners and an Honorary Consultant Physician to the Liver Unit, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham.

Professor Tim Hodgetts

Non-Executive Director

Tim is the Master General Medical; Colonel Commandant of the Royal Army Medical Service; a Deputy Lieutenant for the County of West Midlands; a Trustee of three charities; an Associate Fellow at Chatham House; and Honorary Professor of Emergency Medicine at both the University of Warwick and the Military Medical Academy in Belgrade. Tim retired from active military duty in December 2024 after 41 years of commissioned service, having held the strategic appointments of Surgeon General of the UK Armed Forces, the elected Chair of the Committee of Military Medical Chiefs in NATO, and Honorary Surgeon to His Majesty the King. He is known as a thought leader; inventor of concepts, equipment and curricula; and a pioneer within combat casualty care and disaster medicine. Tim has authored 37 books and was described in a BMA dossier as one of the most innovative doctors in the country, having also received the accolade of “Hospital Doctor of the Year” across the NHS. He has been awarded 20 academic medals, two honorary doctorate degrees, and four institutional Fellowships by distinction, including a prestigious Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Society of Medicine for his career achievement. International awards include the Order of Military Medical Merit from the United States and the Defence Medal for Meritorious Service from Denmark.

Stephen Jackson

Non-Executive Director

Stephen is a qualified accountant with a substantial knowledge of both the public and private sectors. He has significant and varied board-level experience at both executive and non-executive level working in highly complex business, legal and statutory environments. After qualifying as an accountant Stephen joined Bass Brewery and had several senior financial roles in the company’s headquarters and hotel subsidiaries. He has had a wide variety of posts since, including five years in Hong Kong as Chief Financial Officer and Head of Development and IT for Holiday Inn – Asia Pacific. He also held successful financial roles in Belgium, Germany, South Africa, Spain and the USA. In 2003, Stephen joined Nottingham Trent University (NTU) where he held the post of Chief Financial and Operations Officer with overall responsibility for finance, estates, commercial development, legal, registry, IT, and governance services. He was also appointed as a member of the Board of Governors and the Academic Board. Stephen left NTU in 2016 and joined Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust as a Non-Executive Director. He went on to become Vice Chair at Notts Healthcare and to Chair the Audit and Risk Committee. At the end of his tenure at Notts Healthcare, Stephen joined the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board as a Non-Executive Director and chairs the Finance and Performance Committee. Stephen is also a Non-Executive Director at DHU Healthcare. Outside of work, Stephen is a keen participant and spectator of sports of all kinds and has a passionate interest in environmental issues.

Wendy Reid

Non-Executive Director

Wendy’s senior professional appointments include Royal Free Hospital NHS Trust, Consultant Obstetrician & Gynaecologist and Honorary Senior Lecturer UCL, Government Senior Clinical Advisor European Working Time Directive, Department of Health. Wendy is Appointed Honorary Professor, Bart’s & Royal London Medical School, Queen Mary, University of London and was previously Executive Medical Director and Director of Education & Quality, Health Education England and Vice President Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists. Wendy is Chair of Manx Care, the Isle of Man Health Board.