The Board

The NHS North West London Board operates to a constitution and is responsible for arranging health services in the area. The Board is led by Penny Dash as our Chair. Below is a list of our Board members.

Board Chair: Penny Dash

Non-Executives

  • Anita Charlesworth
  • Nicola Gilham
  • Dr Ben Maruthappu
  • Geoff Skingsley

Executive Directors - Statutory

  • Chief Executive Officer: Rob Hurd
  • Chief Finance Officer: Steve Bloomer
  • Chief Medical Officer: Dr Charlotte Benjamin
  • Chief Nursing Officer: Jennifer Roye

Partner Members

  • Primar care partner member: Dr Genevieve Small
  • NHS providers partner member: Lesley Watts
  • Mental health services partner member: Claire Murdoch
  • Local authority: Cllr Ben Coleman
  • Local authority: Cllr Neil Nerva
  • Local authority: Cllr Jane Palmer

The NHS North West London Board also has named participants from partners within the Integrated Care System – NHS Trusts, Local Authorities, Borough Based Partnerships and other ICS Leaders.

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Click here to download the NHS NW London Board structure chart.

View the register of interests

You can find our public register here.


Details of our board meetings can be found here.

Dr Penny Dash.png

Penny has focused her career on improving the quality and efficiency of health and care services in order to improve life expectancy and quality of life in multiple countries across the world.   

She has worked as a hospital doctor and as a public health doctor in NW London, as a senior manager in the NHS and as an advisor/consultant to a wide range of organisations across the healthcare landscape.
Penny was a partner with McKinsey & Company from 2009-2021. As a Senior Partner, she led McKinsey’s healthcare practice across Europe and supported improvements in health and care in multiple parts of the UK, wider Europe, Africa, Australia, Asia and North America.   She has previously spent time as Director of Strategy of the NHS and the Department of Health, vice Chairman of the King’s Fund and a Non-Executive Director on the board of Monitor, the Regulator of Foundation Trusts.

Penny is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London. She has an MSc in Public Health Medicine and a MBA from Stanford Business School where she was a Fulbright Scholar. In 2011, Penny was voted “Advisor of the Year” from Health Investor Magazine.
 

Non Executive Directors

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Anita Charlesworth is the Director of Research and the REAL Centre (Research and Economic Analysis for the Long term) at the Health Foundation, and Honorary Professor in the College of Social Sciences at the Health Services Management Centre (HSMC) at the University of Birmingham. 

She is a health economist and has a background in government and public policy. Before joining the Health Foundation in May 2014, Anita was Chief Economist at the Nuffield Trust (2010–14) where she led the Trust’s work on health care financing and market mechanisms. Prior to that she had roles as Chief Analyst and Chief Scientific Advisor at DCMS (2007–10), Director of Public Spending at the Treasury (1998–2007), and worked as an Economic Advisor at the Department of Health and for SmithKline Beecham pharmaceuticals. 

She has worked as a non-executive director in the NHS – for Islington PCT (2007–2011) and The Whittington Hospital (2011–2016). 

Anita was specialist advisor to the House of Lords' Select Committee on the long-term sustainability of the NHS in 2016/17, and has recently been appointed as an expert adviser for the Health and Social Care Select Committee and also sits on the expert and advisory panel for the Independent Review of Criminal Legal Aid. Anita is Chair of the OHE Policy Committee (2020) and is also a Commissioner for The Lancet Global Health Commission on Financing Primary Health Care. 

Anita has an MSc in Health Economics from the University of York. She is a Trustee for Tommy’s, the baby charity, and also a Trustee for the Office of Health Economics. She was awarded a CBE in The Queen's 2017 Birthday Honours List for Services to Economics and Health Policy.
 

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Nicola is a Chartered Accountant (FCA) with a track record in financial and risk management, organisational governance and people management.

She holds a number of non-executive positions with organisations across the health and social care sector including Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, Brighter Futures for Children, Child Bereavement UK and Turning Point – a business providing a range of health and wellbeing services for those with substance misuse issues, mental health problems or learning disabilities. She is a proven Chair of both Finance and Audit committees having held such roles across multiple organisations.

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Dr. Ben Maruthappu started his career as doctor working at both Ealing and Chelsea and Westminster Hospitals.  He is co-founder & CEO of Cera, a multi-award winning company delivering digital-first healthcare services at home.

Formerly, he advised the CEO of NHS England on technology, co-founding the NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA), also serving on the Board's of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Skills for Care. He has a strong interest in research with over 100 peer-reviewed publications and 75 academic awards. Ben has advised a range of organisations, from start-ups to multilaterals, including the Swiss government, Bain & co. and the WHO. 

He is Chairman of the UK Medical Students’ Association (UKMSA), and has authored three medical books. Ben was educated at Oxford, Cambridge and Harvard universities. He was listed in WIRED’s Top 10 Innovators in Healthcare, named Disruptive Leader of the Year and awarded an MBE in the 2020 New Years Honours list.
 

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Geoff studied at the Sorbonne in Paris and Oxford University, where he read PPE, before starting a marketing career at Procter & Gamble.  


He moved to L’Oréal in 1986, where he has spent the last 36 years, with marketing and general management positions in the UK, the Netherlands and India (the latter being a new market entry).  
In 1999 he returned to Europe to manage L’Oréal UK & Ireland as Managing Director and in 2005 he joined the Executive Board of L’Oréal in the Paris Headquarters as Executive Vice President - Human Resources, a position he held for 6 years before becoming Zone Director for the Middle East & Africa.  
Since June 2016 he has been Chairman of L’Oréal UK and Ireland.


Apart from positions at L’Oreal, Geoff is a director at the Médecins Sans Frontières Foundation and a trustee of the International Voluntary Service Organisation (VSO). He also holds roles on the CBI London Council and the Leadership Council of Said Business School at Oxford. 
 

Executive Directors - Statutory

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Rob brings decades of experience to this key leadership role. He worked at the North Central London (NCL) ICS where he was on secondment from his role as Chief Executive of the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust (RNOH), jointly leading the NCL response to the pandemic in partnership with local authorities. This included NCL’s learning on its ‘rapid accelerator’ response to improving waiting lists. At RNOH, Rob led the high profile national programme ‘Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT)’ as part of the National Clinical Efficiency Programme for NHS England

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Steve became Chief Financial Officer at North West London CCGs & ICS in November 2020.  He was previously the Chief Financial Officer for the North West London STP. Steve has held a wide range of senior roles across the NHS and before moving to North West London was the finance lead at a number of London hospitals. 

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Charlotte has a wealth of experience from a wide perspective gained from some 20 years as a GP partner, coupled with 10 years of system leadership at Board level.  She currently sits at the primary and secondary care interface in her role as co-Chair of the NCL-wide interface group and the Royal Free primary-secondary care group.

Charlotte played a strong role in the North Central London ICS and CCG and has worked to build and be at the heart of a professional clinical leadership community in her patch. An advocate of the necessity for a strong patient voice across Barnet, she also developed the role of clinical SRO for the NCL estates programme, using this programme to advance system transformation. In addition to her role as Chief Medical Officer, Charlotte will maintain her clinical role as GP Partner at St George’s Medical Centre, Hendon. 
 

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Partner Members

Dr_Genevieve_Small.jpgGenevieve was brought up in Harrow and has been a Partner at the Ridgeway Surgery since 2001. She has worked as the Named GP for Safeguarding Children in Harrow since 2005 and was a Clinical Director in Harrow CCG since its inception. She is passionate about strong community healthcare and helping the people of Harrow to access quality health services that are responsive to their day to day needs.

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Lesley is chief executive of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and was also chief executive of the North West London Integrated Care System (ICS) until November 2021. A nurse and midwife by training, Lesley has extensive executive managerial experience, having led the Trust since 2015, and was previously chief executive for East and North Hertfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group. In 2020, under her leadership, the Trust was awarded a CQC rating of Outstanding for well-led and use of resources.

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Over 20 years NHS experience holding various clinical and managerial posts in inner London mental health services. Claire has played a key role in planning new models of service and contracting. She has broad experience in partnership and professional development work.

Registered mental health nurse, honours degree in social policy.

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Cllr Ben Coleman, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care, London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham

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Cllr Neil Nerva, Cabinet Member for Public Health & Adult Social Care, London Borough of Brent

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Cllr Jane Palmer, Cabinet Member for Health & Social Care, London Borough of Hillingdon

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