Our Trust Board

David Highton became Trust Chair in January 2022. Originally a Chartered Accountant, David joined the NHS as a Finance Director in 1990.

David was an NHS Chief Executive from 1991 to 2003, including the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Trust and the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust.

He has also worked in the independent health sector, including being director of his own consulting company and heading up Business Development for Medihome Ltd, a successful acute home healthcare provider. David has also been Chair of Sussex Health Care Audiology Ltd, a business delivering age-related hearing assessments in the community in Surrey, Sussex and Berkshire.

David also has a wealth of international experience He was previously Ministerial Advisor on Private Sector Involvement and Public Private Partnership to the Minister of Public Health in Qatar and a Director of Clearview Healthcare, a Delhi-based company providing operator managed equipment services to the growing private hospital market in India. Since 2011 he has been Executive Director of Corporate Development at Hamad Medical Corporation, the main public hospital provider in Qatar. He has also been Chair of Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust Board since 2017.

Neil started his NHS career in Yorkshire as a National General Management Trainee in 2003, before joining the Trust in 2005. After leaving for a role at the Healthcare Commission and general management positions at Imperial and Guys and St. Thomas’ Trusts, he returned to the organisation in July 2013 as Deputy Chief Operating Officer for the Surgery and Critical Care Division.

He took up the role of Chief Operating Officer in April 2015. Neil became interim Chief Executive Officer in March 2018 and was appointed to the permanent position in January 2019.

He graduated from St. Anne’s College, Oxford with a modern history degree in 2000 and subsequently completed an MSc in Healthcare Management from the University of Birmingham. He was a member of the 2012 NHS London Emerging Leaders Programme.

Andrew joined BHT in 2004 as a Consultant Surgeon following training in the Oxford Region with a period as a Clinical Lecturer in Surgery with the University of Oxford.

Whilst maintaining a clinical practice, he has held a number of leadership roles in the Trust more recently as Divisional Chair for Surgery & Critical Care for 10 years and as Deputy MD and Cancer Lead since 2017.  He has a strong interest in improving clinical pathways focusing on better outcomes for patients.

Karen has extensive experience working in a number of large complex organisations including the Royal Free, St George’s, Barts Healthcare, Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. Karen has a DiPN, BSc Hons in Nursing and a MSC in Leadership from Kings College University. Before joining the Trust in March 2020 Karen worked at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust where she worked with NHS England to develop the Trust’s improving fairness plan.

She is a trustee of the Mary Seacole Trust and is a member of the National Workforce Race Equality Standards Advisory Board.

She was highly commended in the Diversity and Inclusion Champion category at the 2019 Nursing Times Workforce Award. Karen also works with Prostate Cancer UK in a volunteering capacity.

Bridget was appointed Chief People Officer in September 2017. During her time at  Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust she has undertaken a number of roles within the HR team, including the education portfolio, workforce information and planning.

Bridget brings a wealth of experience to the role. Having studied Chemistry at Durham University, and starting her career as a science teacher in Botswana and then London, she went on to work for several years with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in the UK and overseas before specialising in HR. During her time as part of the HR senior leadership team, Bridget has been instrumental in supporting the organisation in its cultural transformation and staff engagement journey.

Kishamer Sidhu has worked in the NHS for over 20 years and brings a wealth of finance experience to the organisation, both in the private sector and NHS, most recently as Interim Chief Finance Officer at South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS). Kishamer started in the NHS as a Trainee in 1996 on the national finance Training scheme and is a is a local resident. He returns to the Trust, after leaving his Deputy Director Finance role at Buckinghamshire Hospitals in 2008 to become the Finance Director Northwest London Hospitals.

Raghuv joined the Trust as Chief Operating Officer in March 2022. Prior to this Raghuv worked at Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust as Director of Strategic Partnerships and previously led on planned care operations, outpatient transformation and commercial development at the Trust. During the pandemic Raghuv was seconded to help set up and lead NHS Test and Trace as Chief of Staff and a member of the Executive Committee of the organisation.

Raghuv started his career in the Civil Service working in the Department of Health across a range of policy, finance and performance areas. Raghuv spent three years directly supporting Ministers including as Principal Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Health. Raghuv’s first role in the NHS was in NHS Improvement where he helped set up the national Urgent and Emergency Care Programme.

Raghuv is married with two young children and lives in Beaconsfield.

Ali started her career as a mental health nurse, then worked overseas as a British Volunteer setting up small enterprise businesses, before returning to the UK to work in international pharmaceuticals and management consultancy, completing her  MBA in 2000. She subsequently co-founded a venture capital funded European healthcare technology company and contributed to changing European legislation on traceability of medicines.

Since 2013, Ali has worked within the NHS in commercial roles as Managing Director for an NHS subsidiary company and latterly Commercial Director for South Devon Community Healthcare Services before joining BHT in December 2018.

Duncan joined the Trust in July 2022 moving from a role as Director of Transformation at Central London Community Healthcare Trust. Duncan brings a wealth of experience from across the public sector having previously been CIO and Head of Transformation at Lewisham Council and before that a Senior Civil Servant working on strategy and policy issues in Cabinet Office and HM Treasury.

Dr. Dipti Amin is currently Director at Maaya Associates Ltd. Previously, she was Senior Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer at Quintiles Transnational Corporation. Over the last 25 years, Dr. Amin has held positions of operational and strategic responsibility within pharmaceutical services at the C-suite level, delivering consistently on growth, quality, customer, employee and process targets.

Her broad and significant experience covers clinical pharmacology, as a Principal Investigator in Phase 1 clinical pharmacology studies, ethical issues in clinical research, drug development, ethics and compliance programmes, as well as leadership and management of large, multi-functional, multi-geography, global groups to deliver value-added, efficient growth and achieving business turnarounds.

Dr Amin has a medical degree from Guy’s & St Thomas’ Medical School, and multiple post-graduate qualifications and clinical experience in:

• Paediatric Medicine (DCH)
• Care of the Elderly Medicine (DGH)
• Obstetrics and Gynaecology (DRCOG)
• Clinical Pharmacology (DCPSA)
• General Practice
• Membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners (MRCGP)
• Fellowship of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine (FFPM).

She is an Honorary Lecturer and Examiner in Clinical Pharmacology at Guy’s, King’s and St. Thomas’ Hospitals Medical School. Dr Amin served on the Board of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine, on the Innovation Board and Medical Expert Network of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, on a Department of Health Multi-centre Research Ethics Committee, as a member of the Emerging Science and Bioethics Advisory Committee of the Department of Health, and as a School Governor on the Board of Governors of Heathfield School for Girls (The Girls’ Day School Trust).

John joined the NHS in 2007 following a commercial career in life sciences.  He started in virology research and then spent 20 years in the pharmaceutical industry, first with AstraZeneca, then with Glaxosmithkline, where he became UK National Business Director.  He subsequently was Chief Executive of both listed and privately-held companies.  He is a qualified accountant.

In the NHS, he has held executive roles in both hospital Trusts and commissioners, most recently as Chief Executive of EastBerkshireCCG.  His non-executive roles have also spanned hospitals and commissioners, and chairing of Fitness to Practise panels for the General Social Care Council.

He lives in Chalfont St Peter with his wife, Debbi; they have two children – one a Junior Doctor; the other about to enter medical school.

Rajiv Jaitly is a Chartered Accountant and an experienced non-executive director who brings specific skills in risk management and business and financial operational controls to the Board.

Rajiv has vast experience in the corporate sector, having worked in senior positions in both Santander and Axa. Rajiv was a member of the Office of Fair Trading’s expert panel on defined contribution pensions in the UK, and was commissioned to write a report on fund costs by the Financial Services Consumer Panel, which was published in 2014.

Tom Roche (MBA) is a senior executive with over 23 years’ extensive experience operating at board level in a variety of executive roles for large, global and complex organisations supporting both the private and public sectors.

Over the past 18 years he has worked with one of the world’s largest IT companies in a number of senior roles. He recently worked as Managing Director of the manufacturing, utilities and services sectors across the UK. Before that he was Vice President of the product business which included the cyber security teams.

Married with 3 children Tom has lived in Amersham for over 24 years where, in addition to family life, he enjoys participating in active sports including cycling, running and swimming as well as gardening and cooking as the children no longer need a chauffeur! His days as a practicing qualified RFU rugby coach are now finished but he still enjoys watching the game.

Tom’s focus will be working alongside the existing Non-Executive Directors to support robust governance. Also to provide a constructive challenge and strategic support to the executive team in relation to finance, strategy and transformation. He also sits on the strategic workforce committee.

Buckinghamshire resident Nicola is a qualified chartered accountant with a proven track record in financial and risk management, business growth and people management.

She holds a number of non-executive positions with organisations including Brighter Futures for Children, the Vale of Aylesbury Housing Trust, Child Bereavement UK and Turning Point – an organisation providing a range of health and wellbeing services for those with drug or alcohol issues, mental health problems or learning disabilities.

After qualifying and taking his first house job in Respiratory, Oncology and Haematology Medicine at the Royal London Hospital in 1993, Adrian decided to pursue a career in General Practice. He completed his training year at Runnymede Medical Practice, where he stayed on, joining as a partner in 1997, and continues to work clinical sessions to this day.

Adrian has taken on various leadership roles throughout his career, including as Medical Director for East Berkshire Out of Hours, locality lead in Berkshire East PCT, and being elected Clinical Chair for Windsor and Ascot Primary Care Group in 2013.

He is passionate about the role of GPs not only in the delivery of healthcare but also in leading Health systems by working to improve the health of populations whilst living within the allocated health resources.

As a board member of the Windsor and Ascot Primary Care Group in 1999, Adrian took on a lead role for Older People’s Services, developing local falls services and working with the local authority on an Older People’s Partnership Board. In 2015 Adrian supported the NHS Confederation’s commission on examining care gaps in urgent care for Older people. In 2019 Adrian was appointed National Clinical Director for Older people and Integrated Person Centred Care, NHS England & NHS Improvement, supporting the clinical team for the Ageing Well Programme.

Mo has a BSc (Hons) in Podiatric Medicine, an MBA in Business Administration, holds membership of the Institute of Directors, is an accredited assessor for Investors in People and is a Special Advisor to the NHS Alliance. He is also an Associate Consultant with the Kings Fund and more recently an Associate Consultant with Health 2020 and Office of Public Management (OPM).

Mo has spent a varied career in NHS Management (ex MTS) starting as a Clinician to being a Chief Executive of the South East London Doctors Co-operative  (SELDOC), one of the largest true GP co-operatives in the UK with some 500 principal GP members and covering over a million patients in challenging environment of South London. He continues to advise on businesses on strategy.

Hannah Hornby started her career as a Speech and Language Therapist in the Trust in 2013 working at Wycombe and Amersham hospitals and in the community before taking a more senior role at Hillingdon Hospital in 2015. She returned to the Trust in January 2020 and is currently based on the acute medical and critical care wards at Stoke Mandeville Hospital. Since returning to the Trust Hannah has worked on quality improvement projects to streamline discharge pathways and develop communication resources for intensive care unit patients. She participated in the Trainee Leadership Board (TLB) before becoming a Board Affiliate in September 2022. Hannah is looking forward to bringing her clinical knowledge and ‘frontline’ experience to the Board, to ensure that patient care and staff wellbeing are always top priorities.

Read Hannah’s blogs about her experience as a Board Affiliate member.

Dr Sarah Lewis joined BHT as a Trauma and Orthopaedic Specialist Registrar in 2022 and is currently a trainee on the Thames Valley Orthopaedic Rotation. Sarah initially worked as junior doctor in London before taking time out of training to commence a PhD in Vascular Biology at University College London. Since returning to training she has developed a keen interest in quality improvement, specifically working on projects to reduce waiting list times and increase clinical governance effectiveness.  As a Board Affiliate Sarah is looking forward to building on her understanding of clinical improvement strategies and using this to enhance patient outcomes.

Sarah lives locally with her husband and pet Labrador, Maple.