Frances Dewhurst and Ann Green join Board as Non-Executive Directors

Making voices heard

Frances trained as a solicitor and then worked as a training and risk consultant to professional practices. She was the director of the charity Cambridgeshire Hearing Help and a member of the national Hearing Loss and Deafness Alliance. During Covid lockdown, she worked as a social prescribing link worker for a Cambridgeshire PCN, giving her an inside view into primary care.

Prior to the pandemic, Frances was a Board Member of Healthwatch and she is resuming her role to complete her term in office.

Frances said: “Patients voices have to be heard. They may have very different priorities and views to those of decision makers and these need to be taken into account when shaping services. This approach will help bring person-centred to care to the fore.

“I’ve had good and bad experiences of care myself and I bring that perspective with me to the Board. We are the ears to listen to patients and feedback what they experience.

“Recently, I have been a social prescribing link worker and this role has allowed me to explore what underlies the patient experience and the importance of integrated services. I hope this will be valuable to Healthwatch and the people we support.”

A trustworthy source of information

Ann is a former Executive Director of HR in the NHS and HR Director in both the Independent and the Charity healthcare sectors in the UK. She previously chaired the national charity “Jeans for Genes”; The Lord Chancellor’s Advisory Committee for North Cambridgeshire; and “The Well” Counselling Charity.

Ann currently Chairs her local Patient Group and until recently was a member of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough CCG’s Patient Reference Group. She is Vice Chair of Light Project Peterborough – a charity for rough sleepers – and has been a Spiritual Director with the Diocese of Peterborough since 2014.

Ann has a real concern for ensuring the patient voice is heard and acted on, particularly during this time of unprecedented change and uncertainty in the NHS. 

Ann said: “I was looking for information to feedback to the Patient Group of which I’m a member. I knew that I could trust Healthwatch to provide that accurately.

“Their support inspired me to help them and offer to lend my experience to the Board.”