Who's Who

Simon Banks, Chief Officer

Simon Banks joined NHS Wirral Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) in April 2017 as Chief Officer. He is also the Chief Officer for Wirral Health and Care Commissioning.
Simon has worked in health and care in either the voluntary sector or the NHS for his whole career.
Simon’s experience in the voluntary sector came through working as a Patient Advocate with the Citizens’ Advice Bureau in Ashworth Hospital. He then worked for Age Concern Cheshire in roles that encompassed information and advice, lobbying and campaigning.
Simon joined the NHS in July 2000 as Chief Officer, Warrington Community Health Council before moving to work in Warrington Community Healthcare NHS Trust and 5 Boroughs Partnership NHS Trust, which were NHS provider organisations and in which he held roles that supported the Trust Board and Executive Team.
Simon has also worked in commissioning in specialised services, NHS Halton and St Helens Primary Care Trust (PCT) and as Chief Officer of NHS Halton CCG

Dr Paula Cowan, Chair

Having qualified in 1995 from the Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin, Dr Cowan practised in Internal Medicine, Critical Care, and Anaesthesia within Ireland. In 2001, she embarked on a career in Primary care and completed General Practice training through the Mersey Deanery. Dr Cowan has been a GP partner at the Eastham Group Practice since 2003.

Dr Cowan has been involved in Wirral CCG activity since 2010, as Executive Board member for Wirral Health Commissioning Consortium, and also as Urgent Care lead for Wirral Health Commissioning Consortium from 2012-2015.

She was an active Wirral LMC committee member and held the position of vice chair from 2007-2013.

In April 2015 Dr Cowan was appointed to the role of Clinical Lead for Urgent Care at Wirral CCG which she held until November 2016. This role involved leading on key projects, encouraging integrated working across partner organisations aiming to facilitate transformational change in the delivery of urgent care.

She continued partnership and system working and lead on many projects including the Digital Programme as Medical Director, a post which she held from November 2016 until her recent appointment as Chair NHS Wirral CCG.
Dr Cowan commenced in post as Chair, on July 1st 2019.

Dr Simon Delaney, Medical Director

Dr Delaney grew up on Wirral. He was an undergraduate at Nottingham University before returning to Wirral to complete his GP training in 1999. He took up partnership in West Kirby before moving to Sunlight Group Practice, New Ferry, in 2004.
He has been a GP trainer since 2009, a GP appraiser since 2012 and a Clinical Investigator since 2018.
Simon has had 2 terms of office with the LMC and was an executive board member of WGPCC 2013-2015, and was chair of the GP forum.
Simon was elected to the WCCG Governing Body as Primary Care Lead from May 2015 and chaired the Medicines Management Committee.
He was elected as Medical Director of Wirral CCG in July 2019.
He is currently the Chair of Healthy Wirral Clinical Senate and the Planned Care Board and is the Caldicott Guardian for Wirral Health and Care Commissioning

Lorna Quigley, Director of Quality and Patient Safety

Lorna commenced her NHS career 33 years ago training as a Nurse at Walton and Fazakerley Hospitals. Lorna then went on to various other roles within the voluntary sector and NHS within general management, acute hospital trusts, primary care trust and now NHS Wirral Clinical Commissioning Group.
Lorna’s previous roles have included Clinical Management, Lead Cancer Nurse and Assistant Director of Service Development, and other clinical and quality related roles.
Lorna’s current role at the CCG is Director of Quality & Patient Safety and this involves monitoring the quality of services that are commissioned by the CCG against agreed standards, responsibility as Executive Lead for Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults.

Paul Edwards, Director of Primary Care and Corporate Affairs

Paul has worked in the NHS since 1993 in a variety of roles, including management positions in Business Development, Primary Care Contracting, Commissioning and Clinical Service Provision. He holds an Honours degree, post graduate qualifications in Health Economics and a Masters in Business Administration.

In his current role as ‘Director of Primary Care and Corporate Affairs’, Paul is strongly committed to the sustainability and ongoing development of General Practice. He is responsible for ensuring the CCG delivers its fully delegated Primary Care Commissioning responsibilities, as well as supporting the development of Wirral’s Primary Care Networks and maximising opportunities for GP Practice engagement.

In addition, Paul’s role also involves leading on all aspects of corporate governance and ensuring that the CCG’s business is undertaken to the highest standards of probity and according to statutory and regulatory requirements. He is the CCG’s lead for Emergency Planning and Business Continuity, Workforce, Communications and Engagement, Risk Management and the CCG’s Compliance Team.

Nesta Hawker, Director of Commissioning.

Nesta joined the NHS 32 years ago as a student mental health nurse in North Wales. Since completing her nurse training Nesta has had a variety of roles within the NHS including various nursing roles, general management with a multi-agency substance misuse team and commissioning both on a regional and national basis. She completed her Masters in Health Service Management in South Wales in 2007. Most recently, Nesta’s role was involved in commissioning of specialised services on a national basis.
Nesta was appointed as Director of Commissioning in July 2015. Her current responsibilities include leading on the development of the strategic and operational plan of the Clinical Commissioning Group by reviewing the needs of the people of Wirral and by working with partners to deliver the health services to meet these needs. She is involved in the planning, delivery, agreement and monitoring of the majority of the health services and their outcomes received by the population of the Wirral. She is committed to working with patients, carers, member practices and partner organisations to improve patients’ experience and outcomes of health care and to ensure that services are effective for patients.

Graham Hodkinson – Director of Health and Care , Deputy Chief Officer Wirral Health and Care Commissioning

Graham is a social worker by background. He has been the Director of Social Care in Wirral since 2012. He has led programmes of work to ensure that adult social care has become fully integrated with health care in Wirral in order to offer people the Right Care, in the Right Place at the Right Time. He is committed to ensuring that Wirral Health and Care Commissioning leads the health and care system to deliver improved outcomes for the people of Wirral.
Graham is responsible for ensuring that strategic plans across Wirral’s Health and Care system are properly joined up to deliver improved outcomes for the people of Wirral and that resources are used effectively in this aim. He is specifically responsible for health and care place based planning aligned to broader outcomes, community services and housing for vulnerable people, oversight and assurance of the business plan through a single programme management office.
Graham holds the statutory responsibility of Director Adult Social Services on behalf of Wirral Council

Julie Webster, Director for Health and Wellbeing

JJulie was appointed as the Director for Health and Wellbeing for Wirral Council in October 2019, having held the appointment as an interim since August 2017.
She is responsible for monitoring and improving the health status of local people, advising on strategies to reduce inequalities, identifying health needs, developing programmes to reduce risk and the provision of public health evidence and expertise to support commissioning of services.
She has a particular interest in the use of insight to develop public health interventions and is a strong advocate for social justice and the role of the citizen in local services. She is the Cheshire and Merseyside DPH lead for work to tackle alcohol misuse and is involved in local research on the introduction of a minimum unit price for alcohol.

Dr Laxman Ariaraj, GP Lead Planned Care

Dr Laxman Ariaraj trained at the University of Sheffield Medical School and, after working in hospital specialities in Sheffield, Warrington and in Queensland, Australia, he returned to complete GP training in Liverpool. He qualified having passed the MRCGP and joined the team at Paxton Medical Centre in Birkenhead, where he is a GP partner providing General Medical Care, Minor Surgery and Family Planning advice. He has since attained fellowship of the Royal College of General Practice.
He is a GP trainer and the practice lead for Child Health. He also works as an Upper Gastrointestinal Endoscopist at Arrowe Park Hospital.
In May 2015, Dr Ariaraj took up the post as Wirral CCG Clinical Lead for Planned Care. He sits on several committees including the Planned Care Board, Clinical Senate the WHCC Governing Body

Dr Sian Stokes, GP Long Term Conditions

Dr Stokes graduated from St George’s Hospital Medical School, London in 1998. She moved to Manchester in 2000 to complete her vocational training in General Practice. In 2007, Sian moved to the Wirral and took up a partnership at Grove Medical Centre in Wallasey, which later merged to become The Village Medical Centre.
In addition to her work as a practising GP, Sian has an interest in GP education and works as a GP trainer. In 2012 she was elected to the Board of Wirral Health Commissioning Consortium and in 2015 she was successfully appointed as GP Lead for Long Term Conditions for Wirral CCG. In this role she has clinical overview in the commissioning of services for Diabetes, Respiratory, Gastroenterology, Elderly Care and End of Life Care.

Dr Jalan graduated from India in 2000, he moved to UK in 2003 and finished his GP training in 2007 on the Wirral.

He has worked in different roles as GP on Wirral before taking up partnership at Hoylake Road Medical Centre, Moreton in 2013.

Dr Jalan has special interest in Dermatology, Minor Surgery and Urgent care. He has recently attained fellowship of the Royal College of GPs.

He worked as GP lead for the Wirral GPOOH service from 2014 to 2018 and was also the prescribing lead for WHCC from May 2015 to Oct 2019.

Dr Jalan has been a GP Appraiser since 2015, and also works for the Dermatology department at Wirral University Hospital Trust.

He was appointed as GP lead for Urgent Care and Medicine Management for WHCC in Oct 2019. He chairs the Medicine Management Committee, sits on various committees including the A&E board, UCOG and Medicines Optimisation Committee.

Dr Richard Sturgess, Secondary Care Doctor

Dr Sturgess is a Consultant Hepatologist at Aintree Hospital NHS Trust. He qualified from The Middlesex Hospital Medical School, London in 1984. He trained in gastroenterology and hepatology in London and Liverpool. He was appointed as a consultant in 1995. He has extensive experience in clinical leadership and is currently Deputy Medical Director of his trust, having previously been Director of Digestive Disease. His clinical interests include hepatology and hepatobiliary disease.
His previous roles outside of his Trust include Merseyside Modernisation Lead for Endoscopy and Director of the Cheshire and Merseyside Bowel Cancer Screening Program.

Lesley Doherty, Registered Nurse

Lesley qualified as an RN in 1979 and RM in 1980. She became a Director of Nursing in 1998 and undertook a secondment to the DH leading on nursing recruitment and retention. Moving to Bolton Hospitals NHS Trust as Director of Nursing in 2003 she became CEO in 2010 developing a national and internal reputation for lean in healthcare.
Lesley has held national roles as Chair of the Neonatal Nursing Association, regional lead for the National Leadership Programme, a member of the DH’s National HCAI Prevention Advisory Group and one of the Clinical Advisors on the NHS Constitution. Since 2013 Lesley has worked in healthcare consultancy and coaching support, is a Board member of Ireland East Health Board and is the Lay Member / Registered Nurse for Wirral CCG.

Alan Whittle, Lay Member – Audit and Governance

Alan’s professional background is in finance, and he has been a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) since 1977. He has spent his entire career in the public services, beginning with 16 years in a variety of finance roles in Local Authorities, before moving to the NHS in 1988.
He retired from the position of Chief Executive at an NHS Foundation Trust in Essex in 2013 after 10 years in post. Before that he was Finance Director at the same Trust for 13 years.. His key skills and interests are in financial management, corporate governance, business strategy, board development and regulatory compliance.
Since retiring from full time work Alan has taken up non executive Lay Member roles in a number of local CCGs, including over 18 months as Deputy Chair at NHS West Cheshire CCG, assisting the preparations for merger of all 4 Cheshire CCGs in April 2020.
Alan has family roots in Liverpool and moved to Merseyside from Essex in 2015. He was appointed as Lay Member (Audit and Governance) for Wirral CCG in June 2015

Sylvia Cheater MBE, Lay Member – Patient Champion

Sylvia has a background working in public health and dental public health, at both local and regional levels.

Her previous roles include Regional Food and Nutrition Lead for the Department of Health NW, where she was responsible for the implementation and evaluation of public health programmes to reduce inequalities.

She holds a Masters degree in Health Promotion and Education and postgrad qualifications in health and social care management and nutrition.   She is the President of the Institute of Health Promotion and Education www.ihpe.org.uk.

Sylvia was awarded the MBE in 2016 for voluntary work with women and communities in Cheshire.

Sylvia joined the Audit Committee as Lay Member in 2013 and the Governing Body as Patient Champion in April 2017

Mark Chidgey, Chief Financial Officer

Mark was appointed to the Chief Finance Officer at NHS Wirral CCG in April 2020; he is a qualified accountant who joined the NHS in 1990, initially working within the acute sector at Central Manchester and The Christie Foundation Trusts before moving into commissioning in Stockport.

The majority of Mark’s experience at board level is as a finance leader but his responsibilities have also included Quality, Safeguarding, Commissioning and Performance.

Mark has worked at a national level on the development and implementation of innovative systems for the payment and contracting of New Models of Care.

Ian Huntley - Lay Member, Quality and Outcomes

Ian Huntley is an independent leadership, defence and security consultant and an executive coach. He primarily helps to develop the leadership skills of individuals and organisations, and is currently working with the NHS, police, MOD and industry. Formerly in the Royal Marines, he spent the last four years of his service as the head of the MOD’s leadership centre. His operational experience, mainly with 3 Commando Brigade, includes tours in Norther Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan. He has also worked in Whitehall: in the MOD and the Cabinet Office. He was born in Wallasey and enjoys most legal outdoor activities, as long as it’s not raining.