Chair, Geoffrey Bowden
Geoffrey was appointed the Chair on 8th August 2022.
Geoffrey has developed a successful healthcare communications business and has advised numerous healthcare organisations, including the Patients’ Association and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).
As a former Councillor, he also has significant experience of health and social care scrutiny and was a member of the Shadow Health and Wellbeing Board.
Our Board
Our Board of Directors are all volunteers, and as well as guiding the organisation, many also act as representatives on other health and social care Boards across the city and get involved in our projects.
Howard Lewis
Over 20 years’ experience working in the third sector and NHS in the fields of information provision, advocacy and patient engagement. Currently working in medical regulation.
Dr Khalid Ali
A senior lecturer in Geriatrics and Stroke Medicine in Brighton and Sussex Medical School, and Ageing Research Lead in Kent, Surrey and Sussex Clinical Research Network. His research expertise includes medication-related harm in older people, and upper limb rehabilitation strategies for stroke survivors funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and the British Geriatrics Society (BGS).
He has published his research findings in high-impact scientific journals since 2006. He contributed to the 'Rehabilitation After Stroke' Guidelines commissioned by the National Institute of Health and Social care (NICE) in 2013. With a passion for film and humanities, he authored a book 'The Cinema Clinic: Reflections on Film and Medicine' in 2018.
Alastair Hignell, CBE
Alastair is a wheelchair user and lives with MS. He is the grandson, son, brother, and uncle of medics in the NHS. Until recently he was a Trustee of Leonard Cheshire Disability. Alastair is a former County cricketer, England Rugby Player, and TV commentator. Alastair has written an autobiography called “Higgy...Matches Microphones and MS”.
Angelika Wydra
Angelika has 8 years of experience working in Health and Social Care services, including elderly care, autism, learning disability, brain injuries, substance misuse and Cerebral Palsy across different services in frontline and managerial roles. She obtained a postgraduate degree in Health Promotion from the University of Brighton. Angelika has been volunteering for Healthwatch Brighton and Hove, and Albion in the Community, and is an active member of various sports groups in the local area. She is passionate about reducing health inequalities and her main area of interest focuses on physical activities, nutrition and community development
Gillian Connor
Gillian has over 20 years of influencing experience in the public and non-for-profit sectors. During that time she has worked in a range of communications, policy and public affairs roles for national charities and government organisations, including Age UK, Rethink Mental Illness and the Money and Pensions Service. She is currently marketing and communications lead for a professional membership programme at The Health Foundation, a national think tank.
She is passionate about good health outcomes for all, especially around mental health. She joined Healthwatch as a trustee in early 2022 because she wants to make a difference to her local community at a time when health and care services face tough recovery challenges.
Chris Morey
Chris has over 20 years’ experience as a Chartered Accountant and is a Director at Plus Accounting, a local firm of accountants, where he heads up the Corporate and Specialist Services department. Chris qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2002 and spent five years working for PricewaterhouseCoopers in their audit and assurance department before moving to Kaplan Financial where he tutored ICAEW students.
Chris is also a trustee of SameSky, a charity that delivers the Children’s Parade and Burning the Clocks in Brighton.
Salma Ahmed
Salma is a local unpaid carer and volunteer. She has more than twenty years' experience of business transformation within social housing, care and voluntary organisations as a senior manager, independent consultant and as a board member of a number of organisations including housing associations, school governor and charity trustee. Additionally, she has nearly four years' experience as a board member of Portsmouth Links and Healthwatch Portsmouth.
Salma is passionate about improving housing, health and social care services by listening to patients and service users’ views, and by actively promoting community engagement, tackling discrimination and health inequalities.
Vanessa Hollingworth
Vanessa has MS and has taken ill health retirement from work. She has over 30 years of public sector experience with over 25 years in Human Resources. She holds a BA (Hons) in Business Management and is a Fellow with the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
She is passionate about mental health services and initially joined Healthwatch as a volunteer in 2022.
Past Board Meetings & Papers
The board holds regular meetings every two months to discuss activities. The public are welcome, though some matters may be discussed in private at end of meeting. We publish the board papers for our meetings online, as well as a summary of what was discussed.
Check out our past meetings to learn more.
Downloads
Rules for Good Governance of a Public Board Meeting
Healthwatch Brighton and Hove has a policy determining good governance of Board meetings. This sets out what you can expect from us, how to submit a public question, the code of conduct for members of the public during Board meetings, how to access meetings online, and other matters.
Click below to read our policy
