Our Trust Board

Melloney Poole, OBE

Chairman

Melloney Poole joined the Trust Board in May 2017 and was appointed as Chairman on 1st November 2017. She was the Chief Executive Officer of the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust until 31st December 2021. She is a corporate, charity and public administrative law solicitor and previously developed the combined legal service department which now supports all the legal and governance matters for the Arts Council England, the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Millennium Commission and the Community Fund.

In addition, she has been a Non- Executive Director in the NHS since 1993, serving on the Boards of three NHS Trusts including leading one Trust through the Monitor process, and sat on the Board of the Health Foundation until 31st December 2021. She has also been a volunteer and fundraiser for various charities and a magistrate on the Preston bench. She was appointed to the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire as an Officer in the 2010 New Year Honours list in recognition of her contribution to legal and governance services.

Phil Berrington

Non-Executive Director, Vice Chair 

Phil joined Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust in February 2023. He has been a Non-Executive Director with the Isle of Wight NHS Trust since January 2019. He was formerly an Executive Partner in IBM Consulting leading accounts where clients were undergoing large and complex transformation journeys, enabled by technological change.

In his consulting work Phil has experience of working in the public sector, notably with a large central government department helping them transform back-office functions and processes. Most recently, Phil was IBM’s Lead Client Partner for large media production and broadcasting organisation. Phil is a Chartered Management Accountant (FCMA), a Chartered Management Consultant, and holds a postgraduate diploma in Strategy & Innovation from Said Business School.

Christine Slaymaker, CBE

Non-Executive Director, Chair of Finance and Infrastructure Committee 

Christine joined the Board in May 2017. Prior to this she was Chief Executive of Farnborough College of Technology, rated “Outstanding” for Quality and Financial Health. She is a business graduate and has held non-executive positions for a number of organisations including Farnborough Aerospace Consortium, Treloar School and College, a Royal Engineers charity and the Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership.

Christine was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours in June 2014. She is from the Portsmouth area and still lives locally.

Martin Rolfe

Non-Executive Director and Senior Independent Director,  Chair of Quality and Performance Committee

Martin Rolfe is Chief Executive Officer of NATS, the UK’s leading provider of air traffic management services. Previously, he was the Managing Director of Operations at NATS responsible for delivering NATS’ regulated UK air traffic business. Prior to joining NATS, he worked for the Lockheed Martin Corporation where he was Managing Director.

Martin Rolfe holds a Master’s Degree in Aerospace Systems Engineering from the University of Southampton. His career started with the European Space Agency, working in orbital mechanics. Since then, he has worked in the aviation domain for more than 20 years across a number of companies leading large multinational teams across Europe, the US, and Asia with customers that include central government departments, military organisations and air navigation service providers.

Graham Barneston

Non-Executive Director

Graham, a Chartered Management Accountant, has over twenty years’ experience in the maritime, logistics and retail sectors and has held senior leadership positions in SMEs and multi-billion turnover businesses in these industries.  Most recently he was Chief Financial Officer of the cross-Solent operator Red Funnel.

He is also a Non-Executive Director of the Solent Local Enterprise Partnership where he sits on the Funding Finance & Performance Management Group and has been a Non-Executive Director and Vice Chair of Maritime UK Solent.

A resident of Cowes on the Isle of Wight, Graham is a Governor of the Isle of Wight College where he is Vice Chair of the Audit Committee and a member of the Capital Committee. He is also a Trustee of two Island charities, Independent Arts and the Isle of Wight Literary Festival.

A Fellow of the Institute of Directors, Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute, and Associate Fellow of the Nautical Institute, Graham holds a BSc (Econ) from University College London.

Professor Graham Galbraith

Non-Executive Director, University of Portsmouth representative 

Graham Galbraith has been Vice-Chancellor of the University of Portsmouth since September 2013. He has responsibility for the strategic direction of the University, working with the Board of Governors and senior management team.

He is passionate about higher education and its power to transform the life choices of individuals from a wide variety of backgrounds. He is also committed to leading the University to provide the very best student experience underpinned by internationally excellent research and world class business engagement.

Dr Vivek Srivastava

Non-Executive Director

Vivek Srivastava is a consultant in Acute Medicine at Guy’s & St Thomas’ Hospital and Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. He led the development and implementation of new roles (e.g. advanced practitioners) in Acute Medicine to provide high-quality clinical services.

He is the founding chair of Pan-London Acute Medicine Network, a clinical community to improve acute care in the region.  He has also contributed to improving physical and mental health services, mental health education and preventing hospital re-admissions.

He worked from 2013-2023 for the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcomes and Death (NCEPOD), where he contributed to reports on the quality of care of conditions like sepsis, pulmonary embolism, peri-operative diabetes care and mental healthcare in acute hospitals.

Vivek is the Director of Quality for MBBS at King’s College London School of Medicine and is closely involved with the new medical school campus in Portsmouth.

Jonathan Plumtree 

Non-Executive Director

Jonathan started his business career at PriceWaterhouse Coopers, where he specialised in the UK/US insurance sector, before becoming Finance Director of a leading health-focused insurance company. He subsequently moved into business leadership, as managing director of two corporate businesses for Zurich Insurance and CEO of Omnilife Insurance. He now focuses on a impactful consulting and NED roles.

Jonathan joined the Trust Board in April 2024 and is Chair of the Audit Committee. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales with over 30 years experience in the insurance and charity sectors. He lives in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight and is Vice Chair of Wessex Cancer Support and a Vice President for Young Lives Vs Cancer.

Professor Greta Westwood CBE 

Non Executive Director 

Greta has been the CEO of the Florence Nightingale Foundation (FNF), a nursing and midwifery charity since September 2019, prior to that she was the Chief Operating Officer in 2017. She is a Registered Nurse, Florence Nightingale Foundation Alumna (2012 Leadership Scholar) and London Business School Senior Executive Programme Alumna.

Greta qualified as a nurse in 1983 and a midwife in 1987, both in Southampton. She has a PhD in Nursing from the University of Southampton. Greta’ career has spanned general nursing, midwifery, clinical genetics, and clinical academic roles across the Hampshire region.  Her last role in the NHS, completing an NHS career of 39 years was at Portsmouth Hospital University NHS Trust so she is delighted to return to support her now local hospital and excited to be working with new colleagues in the IOW.

In 2021, Greta was awarded a CBE in the New Year Honours List 2021 for services to Nursing and Midwifery.

Deborah McKenzie

Non Executive Director 

Deborah is an experienced public sector and private sector leader with a passion for supporting people and organisations to thrive. She has worked in the health sector since 2005, starting as a non Executive director at the Royal Surrey County Hospital before working at the London Strategic Health Authority, followed by the Department of Health and Social Care. Deb joined Public Health England  in January 2013 as it was created, moving to NHSBT in autumn 2021. She has served on the Boards of both NHS Blood and Transplant and Public Health England as Chief People Officer and is a Fellow of the CIPD.

Prior to 2005 she worked as an independent OD practitioner, and before that was an associate partner with Accenture she led a number of large-scale change programmes. Her early career was spent in the private sector. Deb joined the Trust Board in April 2024. 

Steve Shaw 

Non Executive Director 

Steve has had an extensive career as a Chief HR Officer in public and private sector businesses operating across a number of international markets.  He has over fifteen years of boardroom experience in industries such as housing, technology, advertising, and e-Commerce.  He has led large teams as they transform organisations and improve service delivery. 

Steve joined the Trust Board in April 2024.  He is also an NED with the Shaw Trust, a member of the Company of HR Professionals, and a strategic advisor to small businesses.  He has a real focus on sustainability, social mobility, diversity and inclusion.  He recently established an HR consultancy, Wyndham James, that has delivered important programmes to improve diversity, inclusion and representation, most notably in schools.

A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, Steve holds an MA in Human Resource Management and MBA. 

Penny Emerit

Chief Executive

Penny joined Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust in January 2018 from NHS Improvement having held senior leadership roles across the wider health system in London and the South.

Penny’s role as Delivery and Improvement Director for NHS Improvement involved oversight of the provider organisations across Hampshire, the Isle of Wight and Dorset.

Before joining NHS Improvement (formerly the NHS Trust Development Authority) Penny was the Area Director for South London at NHS England, Director of Delivery at the South East London PCT Cluster and held a number of roles at NHS London Strategic Health Authority, latterly supporting the implementation of the Healthcare for London programme.

Penny joined the NHS as a graduate management trainee and holds an economics degree and post graduate diploma in healthcare management.

Mark Orchard

Chief Financial Officer, Deputy Chief Executive 

Mark Orchard joined Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust in October 2019 as Chief Financial Officer.

Previously Mark was Executive Director of Finance at Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, one of four NHS providers working together with the Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group as a wave one integrated care system.  Mark is currently national chair of the NHS Providers Finance and Commercial Directors Network.

Mark has also held the Wessex system Finance Director post at NHS England, the Commissioning Finance Director role at Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire and more latterly, at NHS Bournemouth and Poole. Mark was national president of the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) during 2016/17 and served a full 10 years as Trustee on their national Board between 2009 to 2019.

Peter Ridley 

PHU Chief Officer

Peter brings with him a wealth of NHS experience in senior roles, he has a strong track record in NHS finances as he joins us from NHS England where he held the role as Deputy Chief Finance Officer. He has also held roles leading strategy and performance at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.

Joe Smyth

Chief Officer Isle of Wight NHS Trust

Joe joined the Isle of Wight NHS Trust in October 2019, in his previous role he worked with eight CCG’s and four acute Trusts to develop an acute clinical site strategy for North West London. Prior to that, Joe was the Chief Operating Officer at Hillingdon Hospitals for seven years and led on the creation of their Integrated Care Partnership. He was also the Director of Service Improvement at Epsom and St Helier in South London and spent 3 years at the Royal Bournemouth NHS Trust as their Deputy COO where he led the reconfiguration of their hospital sites.

Kelvin Cheatle

Interim Chief People Officer

Kelvin has spent his whole career in HR spending the last 28 years as a Director in NHS Trusts and the Private sector after an early career in local government. He was HR Director at Broadmoor Hospital and then West London Trust, undertook national work on pay, conditions and Speak Up whilst leading the Capsticks HR Advisory service. Since 2016 he was Chief People Officer for Kingston Hospital, latterly working in partnership with Hounslow and Richmond Community Trust as part of a single Executive team. In 2021 Kelvin was given a lifetime achievement award by HPMA which he treasures as it was voted on by his peers.

Kelvin joined the Board in April 2024 as Interim Chief People Officer to help build an integrated People function and lay the foundations pending a permanent employment.

Liz Rix, MBE

Chief Nurse

Liz has previously held a number of director-level nursing positions in large, integrated trusts, most recently at University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust where she was Chief Nurse

Liz is passionate about delivering quality care for patients through clinical leadership at all levels. She has the experience needed to develop strong nursing teams who manage workforce, patient experience and environment while also living the trust values: working together for patients, with compassion, as one team and always improving. 

Liz is one of the few nurses to graduate from the NHS Management Training Scheme after working in the health service for a number of years.

John Knighton

Chief Medical Officer

John spent three years gaining general medicine experience before training in intensive care medicine and anaesthesia in the South West and Wessex. He spent a year as a visiting instructor at the University of Michigan Hospital before taking a post in intensive care medicine and anaesthesia at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust at the start of 2000.

He led the design of our state-of-the-art critical care facilities, and was one of the clinical team leading on design for the whole hospital. He was Clinical Director for the Department of Critical Care from 2010-2016, during which it was rated as “Outstanding” by the CQC.

He has been a CQC Specialist Advisor for acute hospital inspections and has a long-held passion for improving patient safety and quality of services, championing an open and learning culture based on strong multi-disciplinary team working.

Anoop Chauhan, MBE

Chief Research Officer

Professor Anoop J Chauhan, MBE joined the Trust Leadership Team in July 2020. He had previously been Director of Research at the Trust since 2009 and is also a practising physician in Respiratory and General Medicine.

Anoop has developed opportunities for patients throughout the region to participate in high quality research trials, introduced innovations in clinical pathways, developed new models of care, and helped set up a nationally recognised severe asthma centre in Portsmouth. His research has resulted in a positive impact on disease control, quality of life, healthcare usage and health economic benefits in patients with respiratory conditions.

Anoop has helped multiple small and medium-sized businesses to secure funding, develop high-quality research studies and technology trials in support of the NHS. He has also set up the Portsmouth Technology Trials Unit to allow more health technology companies to work with patients and the NHS.

Nikki Turner

Chief Transformation officer

Nikki has worked in the NHS for 20 years and started her career on the Isle of Wight in 1998 as a Project Manager. She since undertook several roles within the Trust covering service and system transformation, and led operational areas across acute and community services including the Deputy Chief Operating Officer before being successfully appointed at the Director of Acute Services in May 2018. During her time working within the public services she has also worked for Portsmouth & SE Hampshire Health Authority, the Isle of Wight Council and for the Isle of Wight Primary Care Trust. Nikki leads the multidisciplinary acute services delivering care on the St Mary’s Hospital site.  She has a doctorate and is a Prince 2 practitioner in programme management.

Taff Gidi

Director of Governance and Risk

Taff joined Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust in February 2023 as Director of Governance & Risk.  He brings a broad range of experience in governance and corporate affairs roles at board level. He has previously held similar roles at North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust and at Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust. Before joining the NHS in 2015, Taff previously held roles in financial services, higher education and social housing. 

He is a Non-executive Director at Youth United Foundation. He was previously a Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Finance, People & Premises Committee at Horizons Education Trust. In his spare time, Taff volunteers as a Scout Leader. 

Taff is a Fellow of The Chartered Governance Institute. He also holds a Master of Laws specialising in corporate governance.  He is a qualified Executive Coach and holds Associate Certified Coach (ACC) accreditation with the ICF. He is currently completing the final stage of an MSc Coaching and Behavioural Change at Henley Business School.

The Remuneration Committee is chaired by our Chairman. It has delegated authority from the Board to determine the remuneration policy and performance management framework and to set individual remuneration arrangements for the Trust’s executive directors.

The Quality and Performance Committee reviews delivery of key national, local and internal performance targets. The committee oversees clinical quality and effectiveness to drive continuous improvement. It scrutinises specific issues identified by the committee or others to seek assurance on their management or resolution.

The committee reviews financial reporting and management, identifying and monitoring progress against risks relating to these areas. It provides assurance to the board on all significant performance aspects relating to finance and infrastructure as well as reviewing financial aspects of investment proposals.

This committee reviews workforce and organisational development, including monitoring implementation of the trust’s workforce and organisational development strategy and compliance with relevant national standards, regulations and local staffing requirements. This includes a particular focus on safe staffing of the hospital to ensure we provide safe, high quality, patient centred care and that the trust’s strategic priorities and ambitions are delivered in an affordable manner.