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Meet the Team

Our Team

Our Board of Trustees

Our Patrons

Presidents and Vice Presidents

Our Team

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Karyn Johnston

Chief Executive

Over 25 years experience in marketing and communications in the private and third sector, Karyn joined us in 2014. As Chief Executive, Karyn ensures the organisation meets its aims and objectives, develops services in line with plans and continues to meet the needs of the community.
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Dr Debbie Alexander

Medical Director

Dr Debbie Alexander graduated in medicine from the University of Manchester in 1995. She developed an interest in palliative care whilst training and working locally as a GP and joined the hospice team in 2005. Since 2016 she has been the Medical Director providing medical, clinical and managerial leadership to ensure the provision of excellent clinical care for people who access our hospice services. She is leading on the development of PACE, an integrated and co-ordinated palliative care service to ensure patients, families and healthcare professionals have equitable and seamless access to high-quality care and support.
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Sarah Dale BEM

Clinical Director of Quality and Innovation and Freedom to Speak Up Guardian

Sarah has over 25 years nursing experience and came to the hospice in 2006. Her background consisted of working in Orthopaedics, Surgery and the Private Sector before moving into the specialism of Palliative Care. As Director of Quality and Innovation, Sarah strives to ensure East Cheshire Hospice remains forefront in the delivery of high quality,  integrated and co-ordinated Palliative Care and that the Hospice remains a Collaborative Strategic Partner within East Cheshire. Sarah’s passion to deliver the ‘gold standard’ of personalised care has been the driving force that has inspired her to research, plan and develop new innovative services which East Cheshire Hospice now delivers, these include the implementation of the Advanced Nursing Practitioner roles, ECH Blood Transfusion Service and more latterly the Hospice @Home Community Service.
 
In 2023, Sarah was awarded a British Empire Medal in the King’s New Year Honours list for services to palliative and end-of-life care.

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Rachel Allcock

Income Generation Director

Rachel has been at the Hospice since 2015 and has had a successful career in marketing and communications. The aim of her role is to ensure the communities served by the Hospice know what help is available and to raise the funds needed to provide gold-standard end-of-life care.
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Shelley Seabourne

Finance Director

Shelley joined the Hospice in 2013 with over 15 years experience as a chartered accountant and auditor, much of which spent in the charity sector. Shelley is responsible for finances ensuring every penny raised is accounted for and used to support patient care.
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Claire Barber

Clinical Services Manager, Caldicott Guardian and Safeguarding Lead

Claire Barber leads the Inpatient Unit and Hospice @Home services at East Cheshire Hospice. She is responsible for the management and development of high-quality, innovative clinical care and patient support services, ensuring the best possible outcomes for patients and their families.

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Conor Stubbs

Head of IT, Data Protection Lead and Senior Information Risk Owner

Conor oversees IT, data, and security at East Cheshire Hospice. As Head of IT and a member of the Leadership Team, he ensures technology is aligned with the Hospice’s strategic aims, supporting both patients and staff through secure, modern systems.

Conor is passionate about keeping East Cheshire Hospice at the forefront of digital innovation. He champions the use of cutting-edge technologies, AI automation, and business intelligence tools to enhance services and decision-making.

He and his team undergo annual audits, including Cyber Essentials Plus, penetration testing, and the NHS Data Security and Protection Toolkit, to safeguard Hospice data and systems. This rigorous approach helps enable the delivery of integrated, co-ordinated end-of-life care.

Conor also serves as the Hospice’s Data Protection Lead and Senior Information Risk Owner (SIRO), ensuring compliance with data legislation and the responsible, secure management of information.

With a degree in Computing & Networking and extensive experience in the IT sector, Conor has been part of the East Cheshire Hospice team since 2017.

Our Board of Trustees

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Will Spinks

Chair of Trustees

Will became a member of the Board in August 2016 and took over the Chairmanship in October 2018. Will was previously the Registrar, Secretary and Chief Operating Officer for the University of Manchester. He headed the administration, was involved in strategy and policy and provided advice and guidance to the President and Vice-Chancellor.
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Juliette White

Chair Elect

Juliette spent her professional working life in the healthcare sector working for over 34 years in the Pharmaceutical Industry in a wide variety of leadership and executive roles including HR, Manufacturing and Supply Chain and Sustainability. She is an experienced trustee, with extensive experience of governance and corporate oversight, and is active in a number of trustee roles.

She lives in the Macclesfield area with her husband and has 3 adult children.

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Ian Williams

Hospice Trustee

Ian brings a wealth of business and retail knowledge to the Board, especially around staff welfare and customer experience. Ian has held many senior roles and has an expansive knowledge at Director level.
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Karen Waters

Hospice Trustee

Karen brings over 4 decades of experience in health and higher education sectors, including clinical practice, teaching, research, management and administration. Karen has also worked as a Staff Nurse in the Hospice’s Inpatient Unit.
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Nicola Sampson

Hospice Trustee

Nicola brings a wealth of experience to the Board with a career background predominately in finance, risk, compliance, audit and governance.

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Stephen Dickenson

Hospice Trustee

Stephen has had a number of commercial management roles in the private sector and is committed to supporting the Hospice to deliver on its commitment to bringing the kind of end-of-life experience that patients and families in our area would want and deserve.
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Geraldine Crawford

Hospice Trustee

Geraldine’s career has been in the public sector. She has wide-ranging experience of multi-agency working, service user feedback and inspection processes. Her most recent role was as Senior Lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University where she was programme leader for the Postgraduate Qualification in Careers Counselling. Geraldine’s involvement with East Cheshire Hospice follows the care and support received from them after the death of a close family member.
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Dr Debbie Maxwell

Hospice Trustee and Chair of Patient Care & Clinical Governance committee

Debbie Maxwell worked as a GP locally for over 30 years. Now retired from clinical practice, she continues to be the GP Training Programme Director for East Cheshire. Debbie has had many positive experiences with the Hospice in relation to her family, work as a GP and her role in GP education and is now very pleased to have joined East Cheshire Hospice as a trustee in 2021. Debbie is very keen to support the Hospice using her clinical background and experience in relation to healthcare systems, in addition to her longstanding connections to the local community.
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Neil McArthur

Hospice Trustee and Vice Chair and Chair of Finance & Resource committee

Neil is a qualified accountant and has been an executive board member of both multinational and high growth SME businesses, operating in general management, finance and strategic planning roles. Having retired from full-time employment, Neil continues to provide advice and hands-on support to management across a range of businesses, focussing on major corporate transactions, financial management and operational improvement. Neil has previously served 9 years as a senior trustee of a highly respected children’s charity, which provided services at a local and national government level across the UK.
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Dr Jonathan Beck

Hospice Trustee

Johnathon returns to the East Cheshire Hospice Board after a two-year break, having a two-year break, having previously served 9 years as a Hospice Trustee. As a former Director of Anthemist, a communications consultancy, Jon brings governance and strategy management to the Board. During his previous term of office at the Hospice, Jon was involved in the strategy development which led to the implementation of Hospice @Home.
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Dr Jenny Mallon

Hospice Trustee

Jenny has been a respected GP in Knutsford for many years. As well as being a partner at the surgery, Jenny had responsibility for Clinical Governance and managerial and financial aspects of the practice. Working for Eastern Cheshire CCG as Clinical Lead and a Governing Body member provided Jenny with the opportunity to learn a completely different skill set which she will bring to the Board.
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Louise Haughton

Hospice Trustee and Freedom to Speak Up Guardian

Louise has worked in healthcare for over 3 decades and has a wealth of knowledge and experience in leadership, strategic thinking, communication, and project management. Louise has experience of the fundraising challenges that the Hospices faces, having volunteered for a not-for-profit social enterprise called Advent for Change and the local Scout group.

Our Patrons

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Noddy Holder MBE and Suzan Holder

Noddy Holder MBE, iconic lead singer and guitarist of the legendary rock band Slade, is known worldwide for his distinctive voice and unforgettable hits like “Merry Xmas Everybody.” His wife, Suzan Holder, is a renowned journalist, author, and TV producer, with an impressive career in media and publishing. Together, they bring a wealth of experience and creativity to their roles as Patrons of East Cheshire Hospice, supporting the local community where they have strong personal and professional connections.

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Dr Michael R Oliver OBE DL

Patron

Dr Michael R Oliver OBE DL, Chairman of Knutsford-based Oliver Valves Ltd, a company making ultra-high pressure valves for the oil and gas sector and also for hydrogen and carbon capture applications.

The business was established in 1979 in Michael’s one-car garage at his home in Hale.  The original valve that he designed is still in production today with over five million examples world-wide having been delivered.  The company produces over 8000 different types of valve.

Dr Oliver’s company employs 350 people in Knutsford and has offices in has offices in Kuala Lumpur, Dubai and Houston Texas.

The company’s clients are all the major energy companies world-wide, including Shell, BP, Exxon and Chevron.

Michael was awarded the Order of the British Empire by the Queen at a ceremony in Buckingham Palace in 2012.  He has also been a Deputy Lieutenant of Cheshire since 2011 and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Engineering for his services to Engineering in Cheshire by the University of Chester in 2013.

Michael and his wife Jennifer, support numerous charities, including East Cheshire Hospice and the Hospice at Home Scheme.

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Professor Was Mansoor

Patron

Professor Was Mansoor has been practising at The Christie since 1999 and has referring patients to East Cheshire Hospice for over two decades. Through a connection with one of his private patients, he visited East Cheshire Hospice for a tour and discussion. He is interested in developing stronger links with the Hospice wellbeing services so that he can refer his patients from the point of diagnosis to support them through their treatment.
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Nick Robinson

Patron

Nick is a British journalist and currently a presenter on the BBC’s Today programme. Nick was born in Macclesfield and became a Hospice Patron in 2019.
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Joe Corrigan

Patron

Joe has had a long association with East Cheshire Hospice as he has had family and friends who have received care here. Joe can always be relied upon to front fundraising campaigns and to make personal visits to patients on the inpatient unit who have been life-long Manchester City fans, and even United fans have been thrilled by a visit from ‘Big Joe’.

Our Presidents and Vice Presidents

President
Clare Hayward
Vice presidents
Paul Bianchi
Nick Bianchi
F Brereton
Justine Clowes
Dr Simon Hayward
Micky Jones
Peter Jones
Esther McVey MP
Paul Morrisey
David Pollock
Richard Raymond
Tim Roca MP
Sarah Russell MP
Sir Nicholas Winterton
Lady Ann Winterton
Honorary Vice President: Edna Keefe

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