Health and Wellbeing Board members

Salford's Health and Wellbeing Board has the following members:

Councillor John Merry CBE (Chair)

Deputy City Mayor and Lead Member for Adult Services, Health and Wellbeing

I was elected to represent Broughton ward in 1990 and up until becoming Deputy Leader in 1998 I had held various educational positions both within the City Council and externally, most notably as Vice Chairman of the AMA Education Committee and Chair of the Council of Local Education Authorities.

I was elected to the position of Leader of Salford City Council in May 2003.

It was my educational background that led to my appointment to the Further Education Funding Council and then in the year 2000 I was appointed as a Member of both the Local and National Learning & Skills Councils, remaining on the National LSC as a special advisor for a number of years. Other portfolios included the LGA Finance & Strategy Executive, North West Development Agency and Deputy Chair of the Children & Young People Board.

Following the election of the City's first Directly Elected Mayor in 2012 I was given responsibility for the Children & Young People's portfolio and later the Skills & Work agenda which complemented my continued role on the LGA Children & Young People's Board at the time.

The election of the second Directly Elected Mayor in May 2016 has led to my appointment to the position of Deputy City Mayor. From May 2021, I am leading the portfolio for Adult Services, Health and Wellbeing.

Dr Muna Abdel Aziz

Director of Public Health

The Director of Public Health is responsible for delivering the public health function for the City Council and the city of Salford. This is a statutory role to work across partnerships and organisations for the collective efforts to tackle health inequalities, improve health, ensure people are protected from hazards to health, and to provide the public health advice to the NHS for the commissioning of services and the wider determinants of health.

Dr Muna Abdel Aziz joined Salford in January 2020 just before the COVID pandemic and has been leading efforts to respond to COVID and delivery of the locality plan. Previously, the Director of Public Health for Warrington, Muna has a medical degree and first started her career in public health in 1992 as an academic. She completed her MD in Sudan, PhD from Cambridge, and is professionally accredited as a specialist in public health in both countries. Muna worked as a Consultant in Public Health in Salford and Sheffield, then three years in the Sudan where she helped establish the National Public Health Institute in her role as Deputy Director. Muna’s work has covered diverse topics like malaria, maternal and child health, long-term conditions, health impact assessments of industry, mobile health and retention of the health workforce. Her interest in economy and health is central to her work on 'Health in Business', 'Health in Planning' and 'Co-production' with local communities for inclusive growth.

Chris Dabbs

Chamber of Commerce Representative - Chief Executive, Unlimited Potential

Chris is Chief Executive of Unlimited Potential, a community benefit society and social enterprise that specialises in social and economic innovation, which has created new solutions alongside local people and communities for over 15 years. Unlimited Potential is an active member of Co-operatives UK, the Co-operative Councils Innovation Network (affiliate), Social Enterprise UK and the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter.

Originally a social anthropologist, Chris has lived and worked in Salford since 1990. He has set up, and supported local people to set up, many social and co-operative enterprises. Chris is a Fellow of the School for Social Entrepreneurs, a Fellow of the RSA, was the founding Chair of Greater Manchester Social Enterprise Network, and is an Assembly Member at the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce. Amongst other things, he is active in Salford Social Enterprise City, Salford Social Value Alliance and the Salford Living Wage City Action Group.

Chris’s aspiration for health and wellbeing is to address their root causes (social, economic, environmental, political), starting with the strengths of local people and communities to develop new ideas and solutions, especially those that address inequalities in power and wealth.

Alison Page

Voluntary, Community & Social Enterprise Sector Representative - Chief Executive, Salford CVS

Alison has worked in the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector for over 30 years. She is proud to have been the Chief Executive of Salford CVS since April 2013 and is passionate about Salford and working in partnership with the city’s voluntary organisations, community groups, charities, social enterprises and other strategic partners in order to benefit local people and place.

Alison is the Chair of the Salford Social Value Alliance and one of the organisers of Salford Social Enterprise City. She is also involved in all of the main cross-sectoral partnerships in Salford, sitting on the Health & Wellbeing Board and Skills & Work Board, to name but two. She is also heavily involved in the Salford ICS (health and care) transition work and is the joint responsible person for the development of the Salford Provider Collaborative.

At Greater Manchester level, Alison is a founder Director of 10GM, a joint venture between some of Greater Manchester’s locality infrastructure organisations; and a founder member of the Greater Manchester VCSE Leadership Group, where she co-chairs the VCSE Commissioning sub-group. She is involved in the changes around health and social care in Greater Manchester too, including sitting on the GM Transition Board, the EDI and Population Health workstreams, and is helping develop an Alternative Provider Federation for the social sector.

Councillor Tracy Kelly

Statutory Deputy City Mayor and Lead Member for Housing, Property and Regeneration

Councillor Kelly has been serving as a councillor from 2012, and represents Higher Irlam and Peel Green ward. As statutory deputy, Cllr Kelly fulfils the City Mayor's responsibilities in the absence of the City Mayor. She leads the Housing property and regeneration agenda and is passionate about the wider determinants of health.

Professor Margaret Rowe

Dean for the School of Health & Society, University of Salford

With 24 years of experience in UK Higher Education, 15 years of strategic leadership in the university sector and senior leadership roles in the NHS, Margaret has consistently integrated academic leadership with the external business environment; regionally, nationally and internationally. Margaret is a board member of the North West Regional People Board, Greater Manchester People Board and a Governor of the Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GMMH).

Margaret is a resident of Salford and has been a board member of the Salford Health & Wellbeing Board for nearly 5 years. She has seen how effective the board and colleagues have been at tackling inequalities of health and wellbeing and is passionate to represent the citizens of Salford.

Gill Green

Greater Manchester West NHS Trust

Originally from Sunderland, I am the Chief Nurse for Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust and we provide specialist mental health services in Salford.

I am really proud to be a member of the Health and Wellbeing Board of Salford. We are living in exceptional times, and my aim is to provide all the support I can in making sure Salford, as a great city, is at the forefront of tackling inequalities and making sure all Salfordians have access to the care and health treatment they need and require..

Paul Coburn

Greater Manchester Police

My name is Paul Coburn, and I am currently the Chief Inspector for Neighbourhoods and Partnerships in Salford.

As part of my role, I am also the wellbeing lead for Greater Manchester Police (GMP) staff who work at Salford.

I have been a police officer for almost 28 years and all of my service to date has been within frontline, operational policing in and around Manchester city centre and its peripheral areas such as Cheetham Hill, Moss Side and Longsight. My role as the Neighbourhood and Partnerships lead allows me to work closely with colleagues from different agencies to address Crime, Anti-social behaviour (ASB) and general requests for service across all of Salford. A great deal of the work that the Police deal with involves repeat callers and individuals who are experiencing Mental Health issues. This often has a very significant impact on the individuals concerned, their immediate families and quite often their neighbours and the wide community.

My aspiration for Health and Wellbeing in Salford is to continue to develop and support our local partnership structures around the subject of Mental Health. Maintaining robust, collaborative structures is the key to supporting individuals, improving wellbeing and reducing the level of demand in this really important area of work.

Councillor Jim Cammell

Lead Member for Children’s and Young People’s Services

I was elected to Salford City Council in May 2019 representing Swinton South ward and re-elected in May 2021 to represent the new Swinton Park ward, where I live with my wife and three young boys. I am currently the Lead Member for Children’s and Young People’s Services and was previously the Executive Support for Adult Social Care and Mental Health.

I strongly believe that no matter where you live in the city, Salford children should be given the best start in life and ensuring all children and young people’s health and wellbeing is the best it can be is the foundation for this.

Peter Turkington

Chief Officer, Salford Royal

Originally from Northern Ireland, Pete completed his medical training in Yorkshire before moving to Salford in 2003 to take up his Consultant Post in Respiratory Medicine at Salford Royal. Pete took up the post of Chief Officer in June 2019 and holds this post alongside his Medical Director duties, a role he has undertaken since 2013.

His main subspecialty interests are Obstructive Sleep Apnoea, Ventilatory Failure and Non-Invasive Ventilation (NIV). He has set up a Sleep Clinic in Salford for patients with all forms of sleep disorder and has published several papers in peer reviewed journals on Sleep apnoea. Pete was Clinical Director of Respiratory Medicine between 2007 and 2010 and Chair of the Division of Salford Healthcare between 2010 and 2013 during which time he led the development of the Emergency Village ant Salford Royal and seven day working for acute medicine.

He is passionate about quality improvement and has led a number of quality initiatives within Salford Royal including a collaborative project to improve the management of acutely unwell patients.

Tom Stannard

GM Integrated Care Place Lead (Salford)

Tom Stannard is the Chief Executive of Salford City Council. He supports the directly elected City Mayor, delivering local public services and improving the lives of Salford’s fast growing and diverse population to improve health outcomes, physical activity and narrowing the gap on inequalities for residents. Salford is a major driver of the growth of Greater Manchester, a key member of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Tom is the lead CEO in Greater Manchester for the Economy, Business and International portfolio, GM Moving and GM Armed Forces Covenant

Tom leads our City-wide integrated health and social care system as the designated Place Lead for Salford in the Greater Manchester Integrated Care System (ICS). Tom has been a member, policy lead and spokesperson for SOLACE (Society of Local Authority Chief Executives), currently leading on Health and Social Care. Tom is a Chartered Surveyor, a Member and Chair of the UK Institute of Economic Development (MIED), and a Commissioner on the Living Wage Foundation for the UK.

Hannah Dobrowolska

GM Integrated Care Delivery Lead (Salford)

Hannah joined the NHS in 1998, beginning her career in the Heart Centre at Manchester Royal Infirmary. She soon moved away from acute services working in Bolton in a variety of roles developing community services and estate, leading health focused regeneration work, creating a young people’s health centre, commissioning cardiac and diabetes services, and managing a wide range of community services.

Hannah has led corporate services in Bolton, and then since 2010 in Salford, following a short period with for the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement.

As the Delivery Director for Salford Hannah is responsible for leading the Locality Team of NHS Greater Manchester and bringing together health and care partners across the locality to deliver against our Locality Plan, Greater Manchester strategy and national ambitions.

Hannah is committed to building a strengths based, preventative approach across our health and care system and to addressing the health inequalities that exist across the city. She is focused on using our limited resources in the most effective way to ensure the best possible outcomes for all patients. Having lived in Salford since 1999, this matters to Hannah personally as well as professionally.

In her 'spare' time Hannah mostly ferries her two daughters to sailing commitments across the country. Luckily this suits her love of being outdoors and active, and occasionally she manages to sail too.

Steve Hassall

Salford Community Leisure

My name is Stephen Hassall. I am Salford born and I have been with Salford Community Leisure as Chief Executive since its’ inception in October 2003. Prior to that date I worked for the City Council as Head of Service.

Salford Community Leisure is a charitable community benefit society that operates leisure and cultural facilities and services on behalf of Salford City Council.

As Chief Executive, which is the Society’s senior executive, I am responsible for the development of the Society, the effective and efficient running of all services, ensuring that the budget is properly managed and that the Society’s key risks are understood, communicated to relevant parties and managed.

I am the Mental Health Champion for the Culture and Place Partnership.

Salford Community Leisure has an important role to play in the health and well being of our communities and we are committed to making a difference to enhancing people’s lives. Whilst physical activity and mental health are two important areas for us we are keen to play our part in any aspect that brings positive change to people’s health, and in particular tackling health inequalities in the city.

Jennifer-Anne Smith

CEO of Salford Loaves and Fishes. A charity supporting Salford residents with any challenges they may face.

I live, work and volunteer in Salford and I sit on several local committees as well as being a Salford Poverty Truth Commission Civic and business Commissioner. My background is working in the Third Sector in Consulting and Heritage roles but due to being a founder member of the Salford Mutual Aid Coalition, a group formed to help support local people through the pandemic I realised I wanted to continue to support my local communities and in order to achieve this I moved to Salford Loaves and Fishes.

We support over 3000 Salford residents each year, making over 23,000 visits to our centres. Helping to support the physical and mental health of our communities is one of our main priorities and being a part of the Health and Wellbeing board helps us to achieve this well as it being a platform to give a voice and feedback on behalf of our communities.

Joan Fielder

CEO Helping Hands

Joan has been the CEO at Helping Hands for the past 12 years, after taking voluntary redundancy from NHS in 2011 where she was Head of Older People’s joint commissioning. This was a joint post between Health and Social Care. Previously was Senior commissioning Manager in the Primary Care Trust.

Prior to entering the Health Service Joan worked in Adult and Further Education, mainly working with long term unemployed, women returners and people who had struggled with mental health issues. Joan was also Head of an Evening Centre.

Sam Cook

Healthwatch Salford - CEO

Healthwatch Salford’s vision is for a health and social care system that is accessible and equitable for everyone. Being a member of the Salford Health and Wellbeing Board is an important part of that, ensuring that the voice of the people of Salford is at the heart of everything we do.

I have worked in the voluntary sector in Salford for over 13 years with the person-centred approach being at the core of everything I’ve done. Prior to joining Healthwatch Salford as Chief Officer, I was a member of the board.

I am a proud Salford resident, living here with my two daughter’s and crazy dog. My family are all from Salford.

I consider it a privilege to be a member of the Health and Wellbeing board, working in partnership with other members to ensure Salford people get the services they need.

Other Health and Wellbeing Board members

• Dr Tom Regan - Clinical Director (Salford), GM Integrated
  Care (Co-Chair)
• Maggie Kufeldt - Executive Director for Adults and Health
  Partnerships
• Councillor Hannah Robinson-Smith, Councillor Teresa Pepper,
  Councillor Robin Garrido (Opposition) [Deputy – Councillor
  Les Turner] - Local Authority Elected Representatives 
• Peta Stross - Salford Primary Care Together
• Bruce Poole - Salford CVS representative
• Ben Andrews - Vocal Leaders CVS representative
• Donna Mclaughlin, Tara Kearney - Northern Care Alliance
• Patrick Johnson - Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue Service representative
• Martyn Haque (ForHousing) - Salford Strategic Housing Partnership
• John Searle - Executive Director for Place
• Melissa Caslake - Executive Director for Children’s Services 
• Jacquie Russell - Director Strategy and Performance
• Deborah Blackburn - Director Children’s Commissioning, Nursing and Wellbeing