Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Roger Stroud

Elected 24 November 2016

Roger is a qualified chemist (CSci, CChem, MRSC) and spent his working life developing new pharmaceutical products and bringing them to the global market.

In addition he both conducted and hosted quality audits and inspections relating to the pharmaceutical industry and helped organisations prepare for quality audits, especially in relation to the American Food and Drug Agency.

Following retirement, he feels that he has the expertise, enthusiasm, passion, time and energy to help the Trust plan strategically and shape the quality of the Trust.

In addition he wishes to represent and reflect the interests of both the local people and the Trust and ensure patients feel positive, confident and safe in the care provided.   

Through work, he understands other cultures and has significant experience on committees and finds it easy to work with all levels within an organisation.

He has a wide knowledge of business planning, management of change, project management, risk assessment and mitigation to ensure that projects and programmes can be delivered effectively, in  a timely fashion.

He is highly motivated and thrives on new challenges.  

Roger served previously as a Governor for a Swindon secondary school and served on the management committee of a small national medical charity and the executive committee of a European federation of medical charities.

George Cahill

Before George took early retirement to help care for his wife he worked as a IT Project Manager in the pharmaceutical industry implementing compliance systems for drug manufacture and the control of critical data to meet MHRA and FDA regulations.

In this role George has worked around the world, auditing suppliers, conducted training and supervised international teams.

In addition, he wishes to represent the interests of local people and ensure patients feel positive, confident and safe in the care provided.

George also undertakes voluntary work as:

• Adviser for Citizens Advice Swindon
• Enter and View volunteer with Healthwatch Swindon
• Home visit adviser for ageUK.

Maggie Jordan

Though now retired, Maggie has 42 years of experience working as a registered nurse and during her career, worked not only in the NHS, but also overseas in Zambia and in the private sector as Matron of a 61 bedded Nursing Home.

She has since held senior nursing positions within the Great Western Hospital and in addition, was a Trustee of Prospect Hospice for seven years.

As Matron, she was involved in the development of the Trust's Mental Health and Mental Capacity Policy in line with the introduction of the Mental Health Act 2007 and the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and provided training to both Medical and Nursing staff and other allied health professionals.

She gained significant experience in management of change, introducing new ways of working, chairing committees and communicating effectively at all levels. 

Arthur Beltrami

Following the war and Grammar school in London, Arthur served for three years in the RAF as an Air Traffic Controller for civilian and military aircraft in the Middle East, mainly Jordan and Iraq.

Returning, he eventually settled on a career with Westinghouse in the newly developing semiconductor industry.

During this period he obtained his degree level qualification in Purchasing, Logistics and Contract Law.

After a 10-year period, he was approached and then focused on the industrial electrical markets at senior management levels, including Group Director and MD levels, ending his career at Tyco Electronics, although a further 10 years of consultancy followed.

Publicly, he was Chair of Governors and of Finance at Lydiard Millicent Primary School for a 16-year period during which the school doubled in size and the finance went from negative to positive.

Subsequently he joined Circles - a department at Swindon Borough Council - which visits older people, a role in which he is still active.

His oldest client became 100 this year.

Michelle Howard

Due to her first-hand experience of both NHS and social care services, Michelle applied to become a Non-Executive Director (NED) of a local NHS Community Trust focusing on improving patient experience and quality of service. Prior to this, she practised law for seven years. 

She is an experienced charity trustee nationally - Spinal Injuries Association - and locally - Citizens Advice Bureau, Willows Counseling Service - and is Chair of Swindon Equality Coalition.

She has been a school governor for nearly 20 years and was very proud to have been nominated and awarded a Pride of Swindon Award for her voluntary work in 2016. 

Furthermore, she is a Mental Health Act Associate with AWP NHS Trust and occasionally acts as an Expert by Experience with the CQC.

She has two part time roles as a Church Development Worker with the URC southwest and is a Regional Care Manager with Spinal Homecare.

Judith Furse 

Elected April 2020

Judith is an independent businesswoman who runs Swindon Braille Services and has 25 years' experience of providing specialised braille services to the visually impaired community throughout the UK.

She has a degree in Law and has previously worked for the RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind People).

She is a skilled negotiator with considerable experience of delivering services, motivating and organising people, and managing change within the voluntary sector.

She is Chair of the Executive and Staffing Officer at Central Church in Swindon, an ecumenical church and registered charity based in the heart of the town which runs a café, works with the homeless, lets out meeting rooms and has employed up to six people.

She is also Chair of the Swindon and Marlborough Amnesty International Group.

Having both a severe visual impairment and limited mobility, Judith is a passionate advocate of equal access to NHS services for everyone, regardless of disability, gender or race.

She has a thorough grasp of what does and does not work for patients and a commitment to making sure accessible information is available for all those who cannot read standard print.

Ashish Channawar

Ashish, a successful technology leader in financial crime covering counter-fraud, anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing, has helped many financial services and Government agencies to make the world a safer place.

Ashish describes himself a Swayamsevak, which is a Sanskrit word for community contributor with the mission of selfless service with detachment.

With the passion for community service, Ashish has led many projects like:

• Organizing special blood donation drives for NHS to increase donors from BAME background, with a result of 135 donations made with 75 first-timers
• Free kitchen serving free food to more than 2,500 people
• Supplying food and new clothing for the underprivileged
• Supporting Christmas Care and Homeless Shelter
• Volunteering at Care Homes for refurbishments as well as to address loneliness
• Helping many schools with religious education needs
• Fundraising:
• • £10,500 for a bereaved family in 2019
  • £54,200 for a bereaved family in 2017
  • £5,000 for Nepal Earthquake relief in 2015
  • £4,177 and £3,000 for Rotary Jaipur Limb in 2019 and 2018 respectively

During COVID-19 times, when the demand of the Food Bank almost tripled, Ashish and his team donated more than 1,500kg of nutritious tinned food to Swindon Food Collective.

He has also helped many families in isolation, and elderly people with buying essential supplies, making pharmacy runs, etc.

He is:

• An Ambassador of Switch On To Swindon campaign
• Deputy Chairman of the Independent Advisory Group of Wiltshire Police
• An executive committee member of many charities
• A member of FAB Swindon - a community group
• A member of the local litter picking group
• The co-ordinator for his local Neighbourhood Watch group
• A member of Swindon Interfaith
• A volunteer for AbilityNet - helping elderly and needy peole resolve issues with technology, and providing support and training

With a passion for community service and strong skills such as audit and inspection, HR and IT, Ashish is keen to use his experience and skills to serve and assist the NHS, the Trust and the community.

Pauline Cooke

Elected 12 November 2015

For the past 25 years Pauline has worked in the private sector for a multinational utility company.

With 20 years in the HR function at a senior level, having worked previously in other areas, including finance, pensions and credit management.

In addition, to this for the last 16 years, Pauline has been very active in the charity sector and has been the President of Electricity Industry Charity for two years.

Over the past 21 years she spent a lot of time in various NHS hospitals due to family reasons and decided that it was now the right time as she has taken early retirement to try and offer my experience and skills to the Governing body of the GWH Trust, to help and assist in any way that she can.

Details to follow

Janet Jarmin

Re-elected 12 November 2015

After 12 years working in the Inland Revenue and then for a firm of chartered accountants Janet took some time out to bring up two small boys.

Janet started nurse training at Royal United Hospital in Bath and took a post graduate course in nursing the elderly, after which she worked in the community on a three-year feasibility study assessing over-75-year-olds.

This was followed by work with a GP surgery as a practice nurse specializing in the elderly.

Janet's various voluntary roles include being a trustee of Alzheimer's Support for 13 years, an elected member of Bath and District Community Health Council, member of Wiltshire Patient Participation Involvement Forum and is an elected core member of Wiltshire Involvement Forum for which she sits on the Wiltshire & Bath Maternity Strategy Liaison Committee and Wiltshire NHS Breast Screening Steering Group.

Chris Callow

Chris has lived in Wiltshire for 30 years - happily married with four grown-up children and three grandchildren, all born at the Great Western Hospital.

He worked in the computer industry for UK manufacturers International Computers Limited and Cray Communications and American companies Modcomp, Telematics and Cisco Systems.

Later, he was a business analyst and project manager with Wiltshire Council, running projects within the business transformation programme.

He was also a public governor for the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust (RUH), and was their Lead Governor for two years, so has some valuable relevant experience.

He is also a trustee of the Wiltshire Museum in Devizes, a Parish Councillor for Bishops Cannings, a member of the Devizes area Independant Police Advisory Committee, and is on the steering committee for the Neighbourhood Plan for the Devizes Area.

These outside roles, and the experience from the RUH, bring useful skills to the Council of Governors; in understanding the role of a non-executive director; bringing and working together with people of different backgrounds.

He has the ability to come up with a plan to deliver what is required, through an understanding of how hospitals work.

(Vacancy)

Jane Turner

Details to follow.

(Vacancy)