Your Trust Board

Having been a regular visitor to Cornwall all her life, Ruth Allarton has held roles as Head of Department of Allied Health Professions at Sheffield Hallam University since 2009 and Partner Governor at Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospital Foundation Trust since 2012. More recently Ruth held an Associate Non-Executive role where she has used her allied health professions knowledge to bring an additional perspective to decision making and strategic planning.

at a strategic level across the public sector having been a Director for Plymouth City Council and for the Nursing and Midwifery Council, and an Associate Director for the Audit Commission. He is at present self-employed, currently providing coaching and training and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA), currently sitting on the CIPFA South West Council.

and Chair of Cornwall Air Ambulance. She joined the Trust Board in February 2016 and currently owns her own consultancy company specialising in leadership and organisational development.

and change management roles, most recently as an elected Member of Parliament and Minister at the Department for Work and Pensions and the Home Office.

Sarah has 30 years’ experience of strategic planning, reputation management, innovation with a focus on sustainability and inclusion.

Sarah was the Director of the ILC -UK a ‘think and do’ tank tackling demographic change and Director with responsibility for fundraising and marketing at Age Concern – now Age UK. Sarah also has 10 years’ experience in financial services. She worked as Marketing and New Business Development Directors for American Express Europe, at Citibank and on the Board of Age Concern Enterprises.

within Cornwall since 2003. Her experience is mainly patient-centred but also includes academia, business strategy and team-building.

and Professor of Health Economics. He was previously at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where he served as Head of the Department of Global Health & Development from 2008-2011, and as Dean of the Faculty of Public Health & Policy from 2011-2018.

different health care systems both here in the UK and South Africa. She began nurse training at Addington Hospital, a large provincial hospital in Durban, South Africa in 1981. She went on to complete her mental health training at Townhill Hospital in Pietermaritzburg, Natal South Africa.

Kim returned to the UK in 1999 undertaking various roles within the Dudley Group of Hospitals and went on to complete her MSc Professional Health Care Studies at Wolverhampton University in 2006.

Kim is passionate about non-medical work force development / leadership and engendering a ‘just culture’ work place climate. Evidenced based practice ensures patients receive patient centred quality care and this is further supported by Kim’s role as an Honorary Associate Professor of Nursing, University of Plymouth.
Kim took on her joint role with CFT in late 2019 and since May 2020 is also Deputy Chief Executive at RCHT.

working with health and care partners and patient groups. As well as being part of the RCHT Board, Allister will also be part of our clinical team working alongside colleagues in Gastroenterology and Hepatology.A Consultant Hepatologist by background, Allister joined the Trust following an appointment at University Hospitals of Leicester. He spent 5 years as Head of the Liver and Gastro-intestinal Unit: a service he has helped develop since joining as the hospitals’ first hepatologist 15 years ago. Allister was also the Clinical Director/Medical Director for the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland NHS Alliance. This is a novel partnership of providers and commissioners in Leicestershire with a remit to transform services and deliver care closer to home for Leicestershire patients.

roles in Commissioning and Provider organisations across the West and East Midlands. Before joining the Trust Karl was Director of Finance at NHS Leicester County and Rutland – one of the largest Primary Care Trusts in the country at that time. Karl has been on secondment as our Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Health & Care Partnership System Director of Finance. He returned directly to the Trust in April as Strategic Financial Advisor, and resumed his substantive role as at December 2020.

the Deputy Director of Operations, having joined RCHT in March 2018. A nurse by background, Susan has broad experience of leadership roles in primary and secondary care providers as well as with NHS England. Her Chief Operating Officer role was confirmed in May 2020.

She was instrumental in the development of RCHT’s ward accreditation programme – ASPIRE. She brings extensive experience of working in the hospital and health care industry, including change management, quality improvement, patient safety and performance management.

on behalf of the whole system since 2017.

This system director post is now hosted by RCHT and Karen is an associate member of the RCHT Board as part of our move towards an increasingly integrated care system.

Prior to moving into NHS commissioning in Devon and Cornwall in 2009, Karen worked for 25 years in local government; spending 20 years working with vulnerable families and adults, homeless people, asylum seekers and refugees; qualifying with a BA in Housing and Urban Studies in 2000. Karen then moved on to senior management roles in Neighbourhood Regeneration, local strategic partnership; customer care and business and service planning

of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development with 20 years’ experience in HR, organisational development and broader transformation in the public sector at Board level as both an Executive and Non-Executive Director.

Susan is Interim Chief People Officer (CPO) at the Trust, pending a permanent appointment.