Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

David Wilmott

Interim Chief Nursing Officer

Dr Colin Hicks

Chief Strategy and Partnerships Officer and Deputy Chief Executive

Colin is a registered counselling psychologist, accredited cognitive behavioural therapist and has over 15 years clinical and operational experience working in mental health and learning disability services. Colin graduated with a doctorate in counselling psychology and psychotherapeutic practice from the University of Surrey in 2006 and subsequently undertook a masters in business administration at the University of Bath. He has been the director of mental health collaborative programme for NHS Sussex since January 2021 and prior to that was the service director for mental health and learning disabilities at Dorset Healthcare. He has significant operational and strategic leadership experience managing a range of services including IAPT, CAMHS and adult community and inpatient services. Colin has a passion for improving the quality of care for people who use our services and has delivered significant transformational change at scale and in partnership with health, social care and third sector partners and champions coproduction with people who use our services. Colin was previously seconded to the post of interim Director of Integration and Partnerships in September 2022 for six months. Colin's responsibilities include Digital, Freedom To Speak Up and Corporate Governance.

Dr Dan Charlton

Chief Communications Officer

Dan has over 25 year's experience working in healthcare communications. He has Board level responsibility for communications, patient, carer and family experience (including complaints), Information Governance and Management of the Office of the CEO and Chair. He is the Trust's Senior Information Risk Owner (SIRO). Dan is also Deputy Director of the Centre for Health Communications, New Buckinghamshire University which runs a Postgraduate development programme in communications and engagement. He is a member of the Independent Taskforce for Diversity in NHS Communications, hosted in partnership with NHS Confederation and NHS Providers, and has a PhD in NHS leadership and organisational change from Bournemouth University.

Funmi Onamusi

Chief People Officer

Funmi has previously held roles at King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, where she was Director of Equality, Diversity & Inclusion and was responsible for the inclusion agenda for 14,000 staff and 1m patients. In this role, she led the development of the Trust's Roadmap to Inclusion 2022-2024, which sets out the steps that King's is taking to become a more inclusive place to work and be treated. Prior to joining King's, Funmi worked for the global management consultancy EY (formerly Ernst & Young) in their workforce transformation team and was Director of HR and Operations in the charity sector. Funmi has an MBA in Strategy & Human Resource Management and is a Chartered Fellow in CIPD.

John Child

Chief Operating Officer

John Ch ild was appointed as the Trust's Chief Operating Officer in October 2021. John holds a BSc from Cardiff University and a Master's in Social Work from Sussex University. John started his career as a Social Worker within Brighton & Hove Specialist Older Adults Mental Health Services and has worked within mental health services in Sussex since 2002 in a number of operational roles across both the NHS and Local Authorities. Prior to becoming the Chief Operating Officer John was the Head of Service for Older Adults and Neurodevelopment Services at South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust, Operational Director for Adult & Older Adult Mental Health Services in Sussex and the Chief Operating Officer for Brighton and Hove Clinical Commissioning Group.

Mandy Stevens

Chief Nursing Officer

Mandy joined Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust as Chief Nursing Officer in March 2026. She has more than 40 years of experience in healthcare, is a registered mental health nurse and has held several senior nursing and quality leadership roles including Executive Director of Nursing, Director of Operations and Director of Improvement. Mandy has extensive experience driving improvement, cultural change and patient safety across NHS mental health, community and acute services. She is a special advisor at the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and a mental health awareness campaigner. Mandy also has experience of international development through charity and voluntary work and with it an understanding of global mental health equity and community-led approaches to care.

Oliver Dale

Chief Medical Officer

Oliver joined Sussex Partnership as the Clinical Director for the Adult Community Transformation programme, he was appointed as Deputy Chief Medical Officer in January 2024, before being appointed as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) from 28 October 2024. Oliver graduated from Imperial College in 2000 and trained as an adult psychiatrist on the Charing Cross and St Mary's training scheme in West London. From 2008, he worked as a consultant psychiatrist in Hammersmith and Fulham, up until his move to Sussex Partnership in May 2023. Oliver's clinical background is in community adult psychiatry , with a particular interest in relational practice and systems of integrated care. He is also trained as an Analytical Psychologist and was a member of the British Psychoanalytical Council up until 2025. Oliver has worked extensively in the field of personality disorder and was co-president of the British and Irish Group for the Study of Personality Disorder. He has been an advisor to NHS England on the development of community mental health services, a collaborator with the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Mental Health Policy Research Unit on complex emotional needs and loneliness, and as an advisor for the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health.

Usman Niazi

Chief Finance Officer

Usman Niazi joined the Trust as Chief Finance Officer in April 2022. Prior to this Usman was Chief Finance Officer and Financial Senior Responsible Officer at NHS South East London Clinical Commissioning Group and Integrated Care Service. Throughout his career in health, Usman has led corporate and finance functions in a range of complex NHS organisations, including acute, Clinical Commissioning Groups and strategic health authorities; working with frontline teams to balance the need between high-quality service delivery and financial sustainability.

Abiola Okubanjo

Non-Executive Director

Abiola is an experienced Board member with governance and fiduciary expertise across various sectors. She is Chair of Blood Ties Donor Foundation (BTDF), a blood, stem cell and organ donor membership organisation in Nigeria; a Trustee of Adventures in Compassionate Commerce (AiCC), a social impact innovation and investment organisation; and a Board Member of Yinyinola, a provider of care and accommodation services for older people. Previously, Abiola was Non-Executive Director, Social Inclusion and Youth Director and Acting Finance Director at The National Federation for Music Societies (Making Music). Abiola studied BSc. International Management with French at UMIST (UK), attended L'ESSCA Business School (France) and is an alumna of the School for Social Entrepreneurs (UK). She is a qualified Chartered Accountant (ACA) with over 10 years working in banking and finance (Mergers & Acquisitions, Leveraged Finance and Hedge Funds) and a strong track record of achievement at senior leadership level. As owner of licensed and complex organisations in different health markets around the world, Abiola has the commercial and strategic acumen, sector insight and innovative drive to support Sussex Partnership to face current challenges and flourish in the future. Passionate about health equality and innovation, Abiola works to ensure that everyone has equal access to life-saving and life-improving prevention and treatment interventions and shares in the benefits of medical advances. She is particularly committed to the effective and respectful inclusion of target patients, users and communities in the research, promotion, design and delivery of solutions for global health challenges. Abiola brings to Sussex Partnership extensive experience in multi-agency partnership working, ability to influence a complex range of stakeholders and expertise in engaging diverse communities.

Anil Patil

Non-Executive Director

Anil is a former barrister specialising in public and private Children Act, Family, and Matrimonial Finance law, with an expertise in advocating on behalf of unaccompanied minors fleeing persecution. H is entrepreneurial career includes being the founder and CEO of Starbucks Coffee's first global franchise, an organisation employing more than 2,000 team members across 107 sites. In a voluntary capacity Anil has been a carer for children with life-limiting conditions at Naomi House Hospice; supported adults towards the end of their lives at Oakhaven Hospice; mentored children in care and been a respite foster carer. As a Non-Executive Director, Anil sits on the board of Croydon NHS Trust; a local authority-owned special educational needs and disability (SEND) school; a community interest company; and a local authority-owned social care company. His focus is on equitable access to health care services and on narrowing health inequalities, especially amongst the most disadvantaged in our community. Anil chairs the Trust's Financial and Investment Committee. He lives in Brighton and enjoys the wonderfully busy life of fatherhood to two teenage sons.

Cheryl Lee

Non-Executive Director

Cheryl joined Sussex Partnership as a Non-Executive Director in June 2025. Cheryl runs a small consultancy specialising in leadership, management, coaching, human resources and organisational development but before moving into consultancy in 2013, she had worked in a variety of senior HR/OD roles in the NHS. She has worked at Board level for many years and is currently a trustee of the British Cardiovascular Society. Cheryl is passionate about developing current and future leaders in the NHS. She facilitates leadership development programmes across health and social care, working both inside the NHS and with charitable organisations focused on improving health and care in the UK. Since 2018, she has worked closely with the Healthcare People Association (HPMA) to run the award-winning talent pool for future people leaders across London and the Southeast. She also runs the NHS England / HPMA Future People Leaders Programme (FPLP). Cheryl has an MSc in Effective Leadership from the University of Manchester and has undertaken the IOD Certificate in Company Direction. She is a qualified executive coach and and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). Cheryl lives in Sussex with her husband, daughter and son.

Dr Cathy Winfield

Senior Independent Director

​ Cathy has worked in the NHS for 40 years, graduating from Manchester University with a nursing degree and spending most of her nursing career in primary care, managing community services, and becoming Director of Nursing in a Community Trust. She completed her PhD in Clinical Decision Making in 2000. Cathy was Accountable Officer for the Berkshire West Clinical Commissioning Group and became executive lead for the Berkshire West Integrated Care System – one of the first wave ICSs – pioneering new ways of collaborating to develop integrated services. More recently she worked at national level in NHS England as Director of Community and Primary Care Commissioning, and in a London ICS leading their primary care transformation. Cathy is also a Non-Executive director for Southdown Housing Association who operate across Sussex and a Trustee for Education for Health, a charity providing education programmes that support improved outcomes for people with long term conditions. She is a volunteer for the Hart Youth Counselling service. Cathy is interested in Population Health Management and how this approach can be used to identify people at risk and provide targeted support to improve health outcomes and reduce health inequalities.

Louise Ansari

MBE, Interim Non-Executive Director

Louise is a Non-Executive Director on the Board of NHS England, and the former Chief Executive of Healthwatch England, the statutory health and social care champion. For the last 3 years she has also been Deputy Chair of an integrated care board, NHS Sussex, and was previously lay member for patient and public involvement on the Governing Body of East Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group. Her previous Executive roles include Communications Director at the Centre for Ageing Better, and at Diabetes UK, where she also became Director of Prevention of Type 2 diabetes. Louise's additional non-executive experience includes board membership of the Medical Research Foundation, the charitable arm of the Medical Research Council. Louise is passionate about ensuring the public voice makes a difference in shaping health and care services, and reducing health inequalities for those who suffer the worst outcomes. In recognition of her work to improve health equity, Louise was awarded an MBE in the 2026 New Years Honours list.

Lynne Hunt

Non-Executive Director

Nitin Mehta

Non-Executive Director

He spent over a decade at TUI group where he was a part of the senior leadership team and a member of various executive boards of the organisation before starting his own consulting firm. He is a qualified accountant with a B.Sc. in electrical engineering and computer science, an MBA and a masters in finance from London Business School. Nitin was also a Non-Executive Director at South London and Maudsley (SLaM) Foundation Trust and chaired the Audit Committee and Partnerships Committee at SLaM until 31 December 2024.

Professor Dinesh Bhugra

Non-Executive Director

He established presidential task forces on child abuse and neglect, inter-personal violence, prisoner mental health care, migrant health care, LGBT populations' mental health care and those of people with intellectual disabilities. Dinesh created programmes for mental health promotion and appointed good will ambassadors from Bollywood and Hollywood along with patients and religious leaders. He established six World Psychiatric Association collaborating centres in different parts of the world to share research, policy and training. Following a survey of discrimination against people with mental illness in 193 countries, he developed Bill of Rights for Individuals with mental Illness, signed by 60 organisations, which was then followed by Bills of Rights for Children and young people and for those with intellectual disabilities. Dinesh has authored/co-authored over 500 scientific papers, chapters, editorials, and 48 books. Three of his books have been translated into Mandarin and Japanese and various books have won awards including Oxford Textbook for Public Mental Health, which was British Medical Association Book of the Year in psychiatry in 2019. The same year, Practical Cultural Psychiatry was highly recommended. He is the editor of the International Review of Psychiatry. He has just started a new journal Geopsychiatry. On the 75th anniversary of the NHS, conversations on the NHS including interviews with policymakers, doctors, patients and journalists will be published by Routledge. His book Psychiatrists on Psychiatry came out in May 2023.His most recent books are Conversations about the NHS and Social Justice , Social Discrimination and Mental Health. He is Patron of Care-if charity. Dinesh is on the Board of Sane and Psychiatric Research Trust charities. Between 2019-2022 he chaired DocHealth charity which provides psychotherapy to doctors and medical students. He is Founding Distinguished President of International Institute of Geopsychiatry in Bern, Switzerland. He was awarded Yves Pelicier Award by the World Association of Social Psychiatry in 2026.

Simon Blake

Deputy Chair

Simon B lake joined the Trust as a Non-Executive Director in April 2023 and became the Trust's Deputy Chair on 20 February 2025. Simon is the Chief Executive of the LGBTQ+ Charity, Stonewall. Prior to joining he was Chief Executive of the social enterprise Mental Health First Aid England, before which he was Chief Executive at National Union of Students and Brook, the young people's health charity. Simon is a Non-Executive Director of Mental Health First Aid International. He is a previous Chair of Diversity Role Models and Vice Chair of the Black Health Agency. Simon is passionate about social justice and equalities. He has spent his career in the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector. He was awarded an OBE for services to voluntary sector and young people 2011.