Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust

Amélie Bages

Executive Director of Strategy

Amélie Bages joined Oxford Health as Director of Strategy and Partnerships on April 25, 2022 She was previously Head of Mental Health for NHS England, a position held for more than three years in which she oversaw the finance, planning, strategy, performance, delivery, and equalities work for the National Mental Health Programme. This covered government spending reviews, leading on business cases and negotiations, integrated care systems and operating model development work. In 2019, she led the development of the NHS Long Term Plan for mental health, securing an additional £2.3bn funding for mental health services across England. Most recently, as part of the National Mental Health Senior Leadership Team, she worked closely with the Department of Health and Social Care to secure an additional £500m of funding for mental health services in 2021/22 to address the immediate impact of Covid-19, as published in the Government’s Covid-19 Mental Health and Wellbeing Recovery Action Plan. Her work with large acute trusts in London including the Royal Free presented her with opportunities to see first-hand the benefits of embedding research and innovation in the delivery of care and also as part of a wider organisational transformation approach.

Britta Klinck

Chief Nurse

Britta Klinck was appointed to the role of Chief Nursing Officer for the Trust in November 2023. Britta became Deputy Director of Nursing for Mental Health in 2018, and was promoted to her previous role in 2021 as the sole deputy to the previous Chief Nursing Officer. Britta has worked at Oxford Health for 30 years, joining initially as a Healthcare Assistant before qualifying as a Registered Mental Health Nurse in 1994. From here she progressed through Team Manager and Service Manager roles to Head of Nursing for Mental Health in 2015.

Charmaine De Souza

Chief People Officer

Charmaine holds the role of Chief People Office. Prior to joining Oxford Health she was the HR Director at the Greater London Authority, the capital’s devolved governance body which supports the Mayor of London and London Assembly. Charmaine has worked across a range of organisations in the public sector, starting her career as a graduate trainee at the BBC where she qualified as an HR professional. She has held senior HR Director posts in central government in HM Revenue and Customs and Cabinet Office. Charmaine is also a Board member and Chair of the Remuneration and Nomination Committee at Hightown Housing Association (Hightown is a charitable housing body that works across the home counties to provide homes and supported housing to the local community) and a member of the Remuneration & Nominations Committee of Green Templeton College, University of Oxford (unremunerated). Charmaine holds a MSc in Organisational Behaviour from Birkbeck College and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD).

Dr Karl Marlowe

Chief Medical Officer

Dr Marlowe joined Oxford Health as the new Chief Medical Officer in 2021. Karl was previously the CMO at Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust where, since 2018, he was responsible for the clinical leadership of 6,000 staff across more than 300 sites – including five community hospitals – and a £320m budget. During this time, he saw Southern Health experience a shift in culture, transforming it from a trust requiring improvement to one rated as ‘good’ by the Care Quality Commission. A consultant psychiatrist, Karl’s extensive training has taken in Liverpool Medical School, Barts and The Royal London, Maudsley Hospital and Guys and St Thomas Hospitals. He holds post-graduate qualifications from UCL, the Institute of Psychiatry and Oxford’s Said Business School. He has previously been clinical director of adult mental health at East London NHS Foundation Trust and continues to chair the Social Interest Group, a non-profit organisation set up to enrich and extend opportunities for people facing social and health exclusion. He is also passionate about climate change and the need to reduce air pollution. He also led on embedding a quality improvement methodology across the Trust.

Dr Rob Bale

Chief Operating Officer for Mental Health and Learning Disability

Rob began his NHS career in 1990, becoming a consultant psychiatrist in 1998. He has over 25 years’ experience as a consultant psychiatrist and clinical leader. The last twenty years have been spent at Oxford Health, most recently as clinical leader for the Oxfordshire, Bath, North East Somerset, Swindon & Wiltshire Mental Health Directorate. Rob has led core mental health services for people of all ages, alongside specialist services including adult learning disability, specialist forensic services and three mental health provider collaboratives. He is committed to improving the lives of those experiencing mental ill-health and supporting staff as teams and individuals.

Emma Leaver

Chief Operating Officer for Community Health Services, Dentistry & Primary Care

Emma Leaver took on the role of interim Chief Operating Officer for Community Health Services, Dentistry & Primary Care, from 1 st March 2025. Emma, who is currently the Trust’s Service Director for Community Health Services, Dentistry & Primary Care has 37 years of experience in the NHS having qualified as a nurse, midwife and then a health visitor. She has held leadership roles for the last 22 years, working in Oxfordshire since 2003. Emma is committed to improving both the experience of staff working for the trust and the quality of care provided to our patients and their families.

Heather Smith

Chief Finance Officer

Before joining DEFRA – a £6 billion public sector group – in 2018, Heather had worked in senior civil service Finance and Policy roles in HM Revenue & Customs and in the Department for Business Innovation & Skills. Before that Heather worked at HM Treasury, the World Bank and for Arthur Andersen and Deloitte & Touche. At Oxford Health, Heather is responsible for the financial and commercial leadership of the Trust. This means contributing to the development of Integrated Care System financial strategies, enabling transformation of clinical services and models of care to use resources more efficiently and effectively. Heather is also responsible for the Information Management & Technology and Estates & Facilities teams who provide the digital and physical environment used by patients, the public and people working at the Trust. Heather is also the senior responsible officer for the Warneford Park programme.

Taff Gidi

Executive Director of Corporate Affairs

Taff brings experience as a Board member and Executive Director leading Governance and Corporate Affairs functions, most recently as Director of Governance & Risk at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust. He has cross sector experience having previously held roles in other private, public and charity organisations. Taff has held a number of Non-Executive board roles including as Audit Committee Chair. He is currently a Non-Executive Director for Youth United Foundation. Taff has a long history with Scouts, both as a Scout and a Scout Leader. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Governance Institute. He holds a Master of Laws degree specialising in corporate governance. Taff is a qualified Executive Coach, having studied the MSc in Coaching & Behavioural Change at Henley Business School. He is an accredited Professional Certified Coach with the International Coaching Federation. Taff has experience and research interests in group dynamics and team effectiveness, particularly in relation to Boards and Executive Teams.

Geraldine Cumberbatch

Non-Executive Director

Geraldine joined Oxford Health as a non-executive director in 2022. A solicitor with experience in private practice and in-house, she is a pragmatic, inclusive and people­ oriented person with broad experience and expertise in advising businesses, individuals and local authorities ,and providing practical guidance to charities. She also has a wealth of experience in strategy, establishing financial governance and managing assets. She uses her experience and transferable skills gained elsewhere to the benefit of the Oxford Health board.

Harjit Sandhu

Non-Executive Director

Harjit is a qualified accountant, and an experienced Audit Committee chair. He has previously served as a non-executive director on the government’s Education and Skills Funding Agency Management Board and chaired its Audit and Risk Committee. In addition, he was also a member of the Department for Education’s Audit and Risk Committee, contributing to assurance, risk, and financial oversight. He has also served as chair of the Audit and Risk Committee at Soha Housing, where he was a long-standing non-executive director. In addition to working with Oxford Health, he is currently serving in central government as a non-executive board member and chair of the Group Audit, Risk and Assurance Committee at the Department for Transport, and as a non-executive director and chair of the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee at the Building Safety Regulator. The regulator was set up in the wake of the Grenfell disaster, and recently became an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Harjit is chair of the Trust’s Audit & Risk Committee.

Helen Mackenzie

Non-Executive Director

Helen began her career as a student nurse in 1976. She practised in both acute and community NHS services and is registered nurse and specialist community public health nurse. Helen went on to hold a range of very senior roles in the NHS in both commissioning services and provision. Helen was Executive Director of Nursing in a mental health and community trust prior to retiring in 2018 and taking on a Non Executive Director role in an acute trust. She has chaired their board quality committee for over six years. In 2020 Helen returned to practise to support the NHS response to the pandemic. Helen is delighted to join Oxford Health, getting to know staff and stakeholders and supporting delivery of excellent health services. Helen is chair of the Trust's Quality Committee.

Kamal Mahtani

Non-Executive Director

Kamal has over 100 peer-reviewed publications and has attracted several million pounds in research funding. He currently leads a research group focusing on understanding, evaluating and improving the evidence base for service innovations in primary care. He is particularly interested in how evidence is translated into practice and policy. He is a recognised leader in postgraduate executive education. He is the inaugural Director of the University of Oxford's new Master's programme in Global Healthcare Leadership. Kamal received the 2016 RCGP/SAPC Yvonne Carter Award for outstanding new researcher and was honoured with Fellowship status by the Royal College of General Practitioners in 2019. In 2020, he received the RCGP/SAPC John Fry Award for his contributions to the field of general practice through research and publishing. He was also made a Fellow of Kellogg College. His work and views have been featured on the BBC, Channel 4 and Reuters news. Kamal was the first British-Indian to be promoted to Professor in his host department at the University of Oxford. He strongly advocates for underrepresented groups in academia and is a member of the department People and Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) Committee. Kamal continues to practice as an NHS GP within the local region. Outside work, Kamal is a proud dad and husband who enjoys spending time with his family, gardening and coastal walks.

Lucy Weston

Non-Executive Director and Vice Chair

Lucy was appointed as an Associate Non-executive Director in 2017 and became a Non-executive Director in 2019. She is a chartered accountant who has spent most of her career in the private and charity sectors. Lucy is chair of Trustees at Response. Lucy is chair of the Trust's Finance & Investment Committee.

Prof Sir Rick Trainor

Non-Executive Director and Senior Independent Director

Sir Rick joined Oxford Health as a Non-Executive Director in 2022; he has been Senior Independent Director since 2026. Provost at the Rhodes Trust, Rick was previously Interim Warden there and, before that, Rector of Exeter College, University of Oxford and head of two other universities, Greenwich and King’s London (KCL). Rick brings substantial senior leadership expertise, particularly in higher education. He also has extensive experience in fostering academic-clinical links acquired during his years as a board member of King’s Health Partners, one of the original academic health sciences centres, which links KCL with three NHS trusts. He has wide-ranging boardroom experience, having served on governing or advisory boards of the London Museum, the Royal Academy of Music, and the Francis Crick Institute. He was formerly President of Universities UK, Chair of Oxford’s Conference of Colleges, and a Pro-Vice­ Chancellor (without portfolio) of Oxford University. Rick believes he can help Oxford Health deal with the many academic, cultural, economic, political, and social factors that an Oxford-based organisation responsible for mental and community services has to take into account. Rick chairs the Trust’s Charity Committee and is a member of its Audit & Risk Assurance Committee. He also chairs the Warneford Park External Programme Board.