Medicine Safety Improvement Programme

Heather initially joined Health Innovation Wessex in February 2021 to support the Mental Health Safety Improvement Programme and Managing Deterioration (Children and PEWS). Since then, she has moved to the Innovation and Adoption Team, with a focus on supporting the Dorset system.

She is an Occupational Therapist, completing her training in London, before moving to Edinburgh and then Dorset in 2007. Heather has a Masters in Advanced Mental Health Practice and has worked within the NHS for 30 years, mainly within mental health services in most settings including acute assessment, community and outreach posts - working clinically and in leadership roles.

She undertook an HEE-funded Patient Safety Fellowship which focused on learning from staff reflections to focus on how patients and families are supported around the time of death. Heather is keen to address the key themes from this within her work: improving system working, communication and staff wellbeing. She has just completed her ILM level 5 coaching qualification.

Cheryl Davies

Senior Programme Manager Innovation Adoption

Cheryl Davies has worked for the NHS for over 26 years. Graduating with a BSc Population Statistics from Southampton University, she has a strong passion for demography, population health and data to inform strategic decision making.

From 2007 -2018 she worked at University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust at a senior level holding Operational Manager roles within Ophthalmology and the Emergency Department, where she led and implemented innovative projects, collaborating with staff and patients to deliver improvements in both flow and experience.

Cheryl has worked as a Business Manager and Project Manager, successfully project managing two national NHS Elect Projects; the development of Ambulatory Emergency Care Services including the development of new clinical pathways and a new build; and developing the Frailty at the Front Door model to provide a patient-centric frailty service direct from the Emergency Department to a frailty assessment unit. This generated a passion in improving services for the older population and led Cheryl to join the organisation as Programme Manager for Healthy Ageing in 2018 which yielded positive impact locally and nationally.

Since 2022, she has worked as a Senior Programme Manager supporting the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Locality supporting the local system in the identification and implementation of innovation. Following a successful secondment within the Innovation Research Life Sciences Strategy Policy team, contributing to the NHS Innovation Ecosystem Programme and final report in 2023, Cheryl continues to lead and support local innovation and promotes both business development and strategic partnership opportunities and is involved in the ARC2 knowledge mobilisation agenda.

Patrick Arnold

Programme Manager Innovation Adoption

Patrick Arnold is an Innovation Adoption Programme Manager with a focus on Primary Care. He joined us from a medical device sterilisation company working across the public and private healthcare sectors, and prides himself on not taking a ‘one size fits all’ mindset but instead finding a collaborative approach to explore the best possible solution for the partner that he is collaborating with.

In addition to his previous role Patrick has a wealth of experience in private healthcare with a focus on sales, business development and commercial activities. He has led and delivered large scale implementation projects with major acute NHS trusts which led to him undertaking an MSc in Health Management and a dissertation that focused on the spread and adoption of the Long-Term Conditions (LTC) Framework.

Patrick is passionate about finding ways to enhance the great work already being undertaken in primary care in Wessex and nationally to improve healthcare practices for clinicians, non-clinicians and patients.

Grace Smith

Programme Manager Patient Safety

Grace started her career in the NHS in 2006 as a Therapy Assistant and continued this role whilst studying to become a physiotherapist. Having graduated in 2013 Grace went on to specialise in acute respiratory care, stepping outside the traditional role of a physio and becoming a Clinical Matron leading an acute respiratory ward, for which she won a national Advancing Healthcare award. Before joining HIW Grace gained a fellowship at Health Education England (South East) as Regional Allied Health Professional (AHP) workforce fellow where she led the regional implementation of the nationally commissioned AHP support workforce transformation programme and AHP apprenticeships, before joining the NHS Frimley AHP workforce team.

Grace is in the final stages of completing an MSc in Professional Practice in Healthcare with her dissertation due in January 2025. For this, Grace is conducting primary research utilising mixed methodology to explore the ‘The lived experience of AHP support workers in the NHS’.

Fiona Robertson

Programme Manager Innovation Adoption

Fiona is a programme manager within Wessex Patient Safety Collaborative, and within Nationally Prioritised Innovations for Asthma Biologics.

Fiona is a registered nurse with 17 years’ experience working in the NHS. She has spent her career working in several London trusts both in Emergency Departments and Critical Care Units in a variety of roles. During this time, Fiona developed a passion for patient safety and patient experience whilst developing her clinical expertise. In 2017 Fiona took a career break and completed the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race before returning to London to undertake a new role as the Major Trauma Service Lead for south-west London and the wider Surrey and Sussex region.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Fiona decided to move out of London and back to the south coast. She is looking forward to spending more time outdoors and being nearer to her family.

Jenny Curtis

Programme Assistant Innovation Adoption

Jenny is an Innovation Adoption Programme Assistant who joined Health Innovation Wessex in 2023. Jenny’s background is in Further Education support services. She began her career as a Library Assistant at Peter Symonds College, before moving to Eastleigh College where she was a Learner Recruitment and Engagement Executive, supporting the learner journey from application through to enrolment. After 6 months, she progressed to a management position as Adult and Community Learning Team Leader, in which she oversaw and developed the College’s leisure course provision. Jenny received her first-class honours degree in Creative Writing in 2020 and has been featured in a number of publications, including Resurrection Trust – a collection of stories about living sustainably spearheaded by The University of Southampton.

How can we help you?

If you’d like to get in touch please
email medicines.optimisation@hiwessex.net