Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust

Andrea Osborne

Executive Director of Finance and Resources

Andrea joined Leeds Community Healthcare in January 2024 as Interim Director of Finance and Resources. Based in Tameside, she has over twenty years’ experience as a qualified accountant, gained mostly within the hospital sector. In 2016, she moved to work within mental health and community services, where she found her passion for this area of healthcare. With a strong focus on listening to the staff voice to affect change, Andrea is also a keen advocate for health equity. She describes it as a privilege to use her financial experience to support some of the most vulnerable people in our communities, many of whom have long-term or lifelong illnesses. Outside of work Andrea is married with two daughters. She enjoys swimming and cycling and has worked as a volunteer for her local mental health service.

Heather McClelland

Interim Executive Director of Nursing and Allied Health Professionals

Heather McClelland joins the Trust with over 35 years of nursing experience, both clinically and corporately. Most recently she was the Chief Nurse at St Gemma’s Hospice in Leeds, working with partners in the city to ensure patients receive excellent palliative and end-of-life care. Heather trained and worked as a Registered Nurse in Belfast, before moving to England and settling in Leeds in 1996, specialising in Emergency Care. She has held posts at the University of Leeds, was editor of a specialist research journal for ten years and travelled to China and the Philippines as part of the national emergency response team. Throughout her career, Heather’s main interests have been on improving patient care and experience, whether through the development of new, innovative services or by establishing robust learning and improvements in practice. She is passionate about the impact education and continuous development for staff has on patient outcomes.

Jenny Allen

Director of People (job share)

Laura Smith

Director of People (job share)

Jenny and Laura job share our Director of Workforce, Organisational Development and System Development role. Jenny studied Law at university before joining the NHS on the National Graduate Management Scheme as a General Management Trainee in 1998. She has held a number of senior human resources (HR) and workforce leadership roles across NHS organisations including at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and NHS Digital before commencing with Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust. Jenny has previously run her own HR consulting business; she has held associate lecturer roles at several local universities and is a published academic author in the field of HR and management. She is also an Associate Editor for an academic journal. Laura joined the NHS in 2000 as a General Management Trainee, and has held leadership roles in general management, HR and organisational development across acute organisations, primary care trusts and national organisations. She is an accredited coach and mentor as well as a qualified HR professional. What matters most to both Laura and Jenny in work is people: “the people we work with and the patients and population we work for, both across the City of Leeds and the wider geographic communities served by LCH.”

Ruth Burnett

Executive Medical Director

Ruth qualified as a General Practitioner (GP) in Oxford and alongside mainstream practice, worked as the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) Locality Lead for Urgent Care and as a GP with an Extended Role (GPER) in musculoskeletal (MSK) medicine. She continues to see patients in practice. She became the Medical Director for Buckinghamshire MSK community service in 2011 and then stepped into a National Medical Director role in 2013. Before taking up her current post, she worked for six years as a Medical Director across a mixture of community MSK services, Primary Care, out of hours and urgent care, new models of care and prison healthcare. She has a passion for increasing the effectiveness of primary and community services for both patients and staff and the model she created with the Prime Minister’s Challenge Fund in 2014, Practice Assist, was shortlisted in the HSJ finals in the category ‘Primary Care Innovation’. Her contribution to medical leadership was recognised in Senior Fellowship of the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management in 2021.

Sam Prince

Executive Director of Operations

Born and raised in Leeds, Sam became Executive Director of Operations at the Trust in 2011. Before this, she was responsible for establishing the Trust as an official NHS provider, something she achieved in her role as Managing Director of NHS Leeds Community Healthcare. Sam brings to the role a wealth of health and social care experience, specifically serving the people of Leeds. She has worked across all sectors of the NHS including community, mental health, commissioning, and acute services. From 2020 onwards, as part of the national drive to protect people against the global pandemic, she successfully led the Covid 19 Vaccination Programme for the City. Passionate about ‘Team Leeds’ and working in a way that patients and their families can understand, she has led many partnerships across the city, collaborating with both the public and voluntary sector to improve access and outcomes for people in need of care and support. Sam holds an MBA from the University of Durham Business School, gained after studying with the Open University. As her leadership career began with few formal qualifications, she remains committed to harnessing potential through workforce training and development and to creating an inclusive culture for all.

Alison Lowe OBE

Non-Executive Director and Acting Vice Chair

Alison was appointed as a Non-Executive Director in December 2020. She chairs the Charitable Funds Committee and is a member of the Quality Committee and Nominations and Remuneration Committee. Alison has worked for voluntary organisations for nearly 30 years including as Chief Executive of Touchstone, a mental health charity in Leeds and wider West Yorkshire for nearly 20 years. Alison is currently the Deputy Mayor for Police and Crime in West Yorkshire. Alison has also been involved in local government for 29 years as a Local Councillor representing Armley and she was Deputy Lord Mayor from 2003 to 2004. Alison was made an Honorary Alderwoman of Leeds in 2020. In 2026, Alison was given a seat in the House of Lords, recognising decades of dedicated public service, inspiring community leadership, and unwavering commitment to improving lives across West Yorkshire Alison has substantial experience in developing inclusive leadership teams and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws by the University of Leeds for her contribution to Equality, Diversion and Inclusion across 30 years working in the region.

Anne Cooper

Non-Executive Director

Anne is a nurse by background and previously worked as chief nurse at NHS Digital, with responsibility for clinical safety of systems, quality and the use of digital tools to support care delivery. She has extensive experience in senior leadership and non-executive roles in and alongside the NHS. She also has personal experience of using health services as a patient with a long-term condition. Her interests include leadership and governance, patient safety, staff wellbeing, and she is passionate about services that are provided in the community. She is a Fellow of the Queen’s Institute of Community Nursing.

Khalil Rehman

Non-Executive Director

Khalil was appointed as a non-executive director in December 2020. He chairs the Audit Committee and is deputy chair of the Business Committee. Khalil has spent his career at the intersections of finance, social impact and digital innovations across the private, public and third sectors. He brings significant board and corporate governance experience alongside a sense of curiosity, inclusivity and compassion. Khalil has a background in successfully delivering humanitarian projects, public health and global healthcare services across Africa, South Asia and other developing countries. He was chief executive of an international health charity between 2011 to 2018 and director of finance and IT of a leading Northwest based social care charity previously. Khalil also spent ten years in investment banking in mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance advisory roles, followed by a stint in academia at one of the world’s top universities as a Research Fellow in social care and postgraduate teaching. Khalil was a Board member of the University of Lancashire and until February 2026, Khalil was also a non-executive director and Deputy Chair at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust.

Lynne Mellor

Associate Non-Executive Director

Lynne is passionate about the NHS and supporting the local community. She has considerable experience at Board level, both in the UK and globally, driving innovation and thought leadership across large multinationals; Lynne has held a number of senior leadership positions most latterly in BT plc as Director of Strategy, Transformation and Operations. She has a demonstrable track record in leading small to complex change in public and private sectors. Lynne is an experienced Non-Executive Director having served for several years on the Board of York and Scarborough Teaching hospitals, championing improvements for patients and staff with a particular focus on digital, sustainability and culture change. She is a co-owner of a business consultancy which has expertise in transformation, and technology covering for example artificial intelligence and cyber security solutions. Lynne holds a Master of Business Administration degree together with a number of professional business qualifications.

Professor Ian Lewis

Associate non-Executive Director

Ian was appointed as a Non-Executive Director in July 2017. Ian serves on the Quality Committee (Vice Chair) and Audit Committee. He was a Senior Clinician and was Executive Medical Director of Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust in Liverpool between 2011 and 2015, having previously been a Divisional Medical Director and Consultant Paediatric Oncologist at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. He also co-chaired the Children and Young People’s Health Outcomes Forum, an independent group of professionals who advised the Government, which operated between 2012 and 2016. He served as a Trustee of The Candlelighters Trust (1985 to 2011), Martin House Children’s Hospice (1990 to 2010) and Bone Cancer Research Trust (2006 to present) within the charitable sector.

Rachel Booth

Non-Executive Director

Rachel was appointed as an Associate Non-Executive Director in December 2020. She is a member of the Business Committee and the Nominations and Remuneration Committee. Rachel is a qualified Lawyer with over 20 years’ experience of working in health and social care. A litigator by background she spent several years at DLA Piper, a global commercial law firm where she specialised in health and social care regulation, before moving to an in-house legal role with Bupa in 2007. Rachel’s current role is Legal Director, leading a team which manages legal services for Bupa’s care homes, dental and health clinics across the UK and Ireland. She sits on multiple Executive and Risk Committees as well as occupying the role of Speak Up Officer, managing Bupa’s whistleblowing process.