Our team
Led by Chief Investigator, Keith Conradi, we are a team of investigation specialists and support staff with a breadth of experience across healthcare and accident prevention. Many of us still hold frontline positions in the NHS and we are dedicated to improving patient safety in England.
Team filter:
Keith Conradi
Executive team
Chief Investigator
Keith is the founding member of the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch following a long career in aviation.
He joined the RAF in 1983 flying fast jets on the front-line before teaching advanced flying training as a Qualified Flying Instructor. After leaving the RAF, Keith flew for Virgin Atlantic operating both long-haul and short haul Airbus aircraft to destinations throughout the world.
Following the tragic events of 9/11 in 2001, Keith joined the Air Accidents Investigation Branch, becoming Chief Inspector from 2010 to 2016. During this period, Keith investigated aircraft accidents in the UK and overseas, including the disappearance of MH370, the shooting down of MH17 and the helicopter crash on the Clutha Bar in Glasgow.
He also represented the UK in the development of European Regulations on air accident investigation and at safety meetings with the International Civil Aviation Organisation.
In 2015, Keith was asked to participate in an Expert Advisory Group regarding healthcare safety and subsequently became the first Chief Investigator of the HSIB.
Although no longer flying, Keith manages his excess energy through skiing and triathlons.
Dr Kevin Stewart
Executive team
Executive Medical Director & Deputy Chief Investigator
Before joining HSIB, Kevin was Director of the Clinical Effectiveness and Evaluation Unit at the Royal College of Physicians in London.
There, he led national clinical audits, databases, quality improvement and patient safety work.
His clinical background is in geriatric medicine, which he still practices part time in Winchester.
He was Medical Director and Deputy CEO of the acute trust in Winchester until 2009, then spent a year as a Health Foundation Quality Improvement Fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in Boston.
While in the US he undertook a master’s degree in public health at Harvard.
Lynne Spencer
Executive team
Executive Director of Corporate Services
Lynne has worked in the NHS for more than 18 years.
During this time, she has had senior roles in strategy, transformation, organisational development and HR, corporate governance, strategic communications, risk management and policy development.
She is experienced at managing multiple and complex corporate portfolios.
Before HSIB, she was Director of Communications and Corporate Affairs at Whittington Health NHS Trust.
She has also held roles at South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, North West London Collaboration of Clinical Commissioning Groups, NHS England and NHS Resolution.
Dr Stephen Drage
Executive team
Executive Director of Investigations
Steve joined HSIB in April 2019 to lead the HSIB Investigation Directorate after 25 years in the NHS as a doctor specialising in intensive care medicine.
In 2006 Steve was appointed as consultant in intensive care medicine to a large NHS Trust on the South Coast of England. From early in his consultant career he led clinical intensive care research and the organ donation programme in his Trust.
The roll out of the World Health Organisation surgical checklist in his trust and Professor Atul Gawande’s publications in 2010 led Steve to take an increasing interest in patient safety, incident investigation and the parallels with other safety critical industries such as aviation.
In 2013 Steve was appointed Deputy Medical Director for his trust. In this role his portfolio included oversight and development of the serious incident investigation and mortality review processes. Steve worked with his team to embed ‘human factors’ approaches to investigation and developed a ‘Lean’ quality improvement programme to deliver the improvements identified during incident investigation.
In 2017 Steve completed a Health Foundation GenerationQ Fellowship and master’s degree in Leadership for Quality Improvement. This programme has provided him with an understanding of leadership in complex socio-technical systems in addition to more traditional approaches to quality improvement including, ‘lean’, ‘six sigma’ and the ‘theory of constraints’.
Steve continues to practise as an intensive care consultant and returned to clinical work during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Steve has varied professional interests including improving care of deteriorating patients, sepsis, acute respiratory failure and organ donation. Steve has contributed to research in these areas and has several associated publications.
When he's not working you will find Steve playing guitar, riding his bike or tending his vegetable patch.
Sian Blanchard
Intelligence Unit
Head of Intelligence Unit
Sian joined HSIB in February 2021 as Head of the Intelligence Unit. She leads on developing and implementing the Intelligence Unit’s strategic plan and manages a team of specialists in safety intelligence, safety science and human factors.
The team advises on potential investigations that offer strong opportunities for system-wide learning and improvements in patient safety. Sian is a versatile safety risk management professional and has almost 20 years’ experience working in human factors, safety science, safety management and incident investigation.
She has worked at a senior level in commercial aviation, rail, defence and most recently healthcare, where she draws on her experience of other sectors to provide cross-industry insights.
She is registered as a practitioner psychologist with the Health and Care Professions Council, the European Association of Aviation Psychology and the British Psychological Society, where she was awarded a Fellowship in 2019 for her contributions to aviation safety.
Dr Lesley Kay
Intelligence Unit
Deputy Medical Director
Lesley divides her time between HSIB, where she is Deputy Medical Director and the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, where she is a consultant rheumatologist.
She also holds the posts of Vice Chair of the Northern Clinical Senate Council and joint National Clinical Lead for rheumatology for the Getting It Right First Time programme.
Lesley has previously been clinical director for musculoskeletal services and for patient safety and quality at her Trust and chair of the British Society for Rheumatology's clinical quality committee. She is a GenerationQ Fellow with the Health Foundation.
Dr Sean Weaver
Intelligence Unit
Deputy Medical Director
Sean is Deputy Medical Director at HSIB alongside his role as a consultant gastroenterologist at The Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
At the Trust he’s had a lead role in quality and safety for six years. As part of his training he completed a PhD in molecular biology and as a consultant he’s completed the GenerationQ programme sponsored by the Health Foundation and gained a master’s in leadership. Sean is passionate about improving patient care.
Jonathan Back
Intelligence Unit
Intelligence Analyst
Jonathan has a PhD from Loughborough University and a background in systems thinking for healthcare. His research findings have informed the design of multidisciplinary team huddles, prescription charts and programmable medical devices. Prior to joining HSIB, Jonathan worked as a safety scientist at University College London and King’s College London.
Ciara Parker
Intelligence Unit
Intelligence Analyst
Ciara’s background is in optometry, graduating from Cardiff University in 2014.
She first became involved in patient safety when she joined HSIB at our inception in 2017.
Ciara’s work identifies safety risks in NHS care, aiming to support investigations that develop system-wide learning and improvements. Ciara is also an improvement leader fellow at NIHR CLAHRC Northwest London - the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC).
Her fellowship project focuses on improving healthcare safety investigations by involving patients and families, allowing their knowledge of safety incidents to aid understanding and to improve patient and family experiences of investigations.
When not at work, Ciara spends time with her family, chasing her energetic one year-old daughter as she learns to walk and climb.
Mairi Alexander
Intelligence Unit
Intelligence Analyst
Mairi has worked, studied, trained, and taught in the NHS since 2005 across many areas of public and private healthcare.
Mairi qualified and worked as a Midwife from 2009 and prior to joining HSIB, conducted research within a London teaching hospital affecting patient safety. She enjoys learning and has continued post-graduate study, including research methods and human factors.
Mairi has also held roles in administration, governance, care-coordination and investigation. She joined HSIB as an Intelligence Analyst in January 2018.
Scott Hislop
National investigation team
Principal National Investigator
Scott’s background is in aero systems engineering, having spent 28 years in the Royal Navy working on various aircraft.
In 2011, he undertook an MSc in Engineering and Project Management and achieved chartered engineer status in 2012.
He moved into accident investigation in 2014, working at the Defence Accident Investigation Branch as an engineering investigator focusing on the areas of maritime and aviation, before moving into healthcare investigation.
Scott is an experience sailor holding a Yachtmaster qualification since 1998, and having raced at international level. Although now retired from racing he still enjoys his time on the water
Matthew Wain
National investigation team
Principal National Investigator
Matthew has extensive experience in healthcare related investigations.
For the last 10 years he has coordinated multi-agency investigations across primary and secondary care. He also has experience in serious case reviews, domestic homicide reviews, mental health homicide investigations and has chaired a child death overview panel. Matthew has a strong interest in quality improvement and holds an MSc in Healthcare Leadership.
Kathryn Whitehill
National investigation team
Principal National Investigator
Kathryn has a mixed background with professional education in both clinical and legal spheres.
She has healthcare regulatory experience in medical professional regulation and organisational regulation.
She is an experienced NHS manager and worked for the Care Quality Commission as an acute hospitals inspector for both the NHS and private sector. Prior to joining HSIB she was a senior manager at Price Waterhouse Cooper where she focused on forensic healthcare investigations. Kathryn holds two masters degrees, in law, medicine and healthcare, and public health.
Nichola Crust
National investigation team
National Investigator
Nichola is a registered nurse trained in healthcare incident investigation.
During her career she has developed clinical governance systems within primary and secondary care, identifying risks and working collaboratively with local and national bodies. She also has significant experience in nurse leadership and coaching. Nichola has completed the Health Foundation’s GenerationQ leadership and quality improvement programme, and holds an MSc in Leadership (Quality Improvement).
Paul Davis
National investigation team
National Investigator
Paul is a pilot whose career spans aviation and safety investigation.
He worked as a helicopter instructor in the military and also flew commercial airliners. As the senior operations investigator, Paul played a pivotal role in establishing the Military Air Accident Investigation Branch and investigated several high-profile air accidents. He was awarded an MBE for his services to air safety in 2016. Before joining HSIB, he used his experience in safety culture by working with the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Royal College of Midwives as part of a working group focused on reducing admissions of term babies to neonatal units due to asphyxia.
David Fassam
National investigation team
National Investigator
David joined the army in 1991 and worked as an aviation engineer on army helicopters and unmanned air vehicles, before moving into engineering management.
He studied air accident investigation at Cranfield University in 2014, working for the Military Air Accident Investigation Branch. After leaving the army in 2016 he worked at Cobham Aviation, conducting global safety investigations focused on improving safety across the aviation side of the business, before joining us at HSIB in March 2017.
Saskia Fursland
National investigation team
National Investigator
Saskia is an expert in accident investigation and human factors.
She was previously an aviation psychologist at the Royal Air Force Centre of Aviation Medicine, where she investigated human factors in military air accidents and used her experience to take a more proactive approach to flight safety. Saskia has also provided bespoke advice to civilian air accident investigations in the UK. Saskia joined HSIB in February 2017 and has been applying her investigation and human factors skills to healthcare ever since.
Keely Galloway
National investigation team
National Investigator
Keely’s background is in healthcare quality improvement and safety, including clinical audits, risk management and investigation.
In 2015 she was an improvement leader fellow for NIHR CLAHRC Northwest London - the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC). As part of this she led on incident investigation and management training, including duty of candour. Before joining us at HSIB she held the post of Corporate Safety and Effectiveness Manager at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.
Craig Hadley
National investigation team
National Investigator
Craig joined the Army in 1996, spending over 23 years as an aviation engineer, including safety, leadership, and strategic roles.
He is a professionally registered Chartered Engineer and has an MSc in Engineering and Management. Craig’s last role in the military was as a Defence Air Accident Investigator, investigating UK military incidents and accidents, globally. Craig was excited to join HSIB in February 2019 to continue his passion for improving system safety in a different and challenging sector.
Helen Jones
National investigation team
National Investigator
Helen has a clinical background, with professional qualifications of registered general nurse and registered midwife.
She worked in clinical practice for 14 years at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, before moving into governance, risk and patient safety roles. Before joining us at HSIB Helen was a regional quality manager for NHS Improvement. In this role she oversaw quality and patient safety at several NHS trusts. Helen holds an MSc in Healthcare Risk Management.
Melanie Ottewill
National investigation team
National Investigator
Melanie is a qualified nurse and social worker.
She has worked in the NHS for over 30 years and has extensive experience of patient safety and clinical investigations. She spent 10 years as Head of Clinical Investigations for Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, where she carried out serious incident investigations and led on the implementation of the duty of candour. Melanie has significant teaching experience and specialist understanding of supporting patients and families through the investigation process.
Deinniol Owens
National investigation team
National Investigator
Deinniol splits his role between being a national investigator and one of the senior investigation science educators at HSIB.
Deinniol studied law at the University of Durham and qualified as a solicitor in 2008. He went on to work with the Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman investigating complaints about NHS care and treatment and completed a Professional Certificate in Ombudsman and Complaint Handling Practice via Queen Margaret University.
Deinniol subsequently worked as a Patient Experience Manager at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and completed the NHS leadership academy award in healthcare leadership. He joined the Care Quality Commission as an inspector, and then inspection manager, in its acute hospitals directorate. Deinniol completed further study and obtained the NHS Leadership Academy award in senior healthcare leadership and an MSc in Healthcare Leadership.
Deinniol joined HSIB in January 2018 and has since gone on to develop his interest in human factors, completing an MSc in Patient Safety and Clinical Human Factors at the University of Edinburgh and becoming a technical member of the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors.
Deinniol has presented to a variety of audiences on the work of HSIB and how it adopts safety science in its approach to investigations. He hopes to continue his development and move toward becoming a chartered ergonomist at the earliest opportunity.
Deinniol is married to a veterinary nurse and so has lots of animals in his life. When he isn’t looking after their five dogs, chickens and guinea pigs, he enjoys walking and both playing and watching rugby.
Amber Sargent
National investigation team
National Investigator
Amber has been an investigator in the health sector for more than 9 years.
She joined in the central investigation team at the Healthcare Commission and then went on to work with Verita. In these roles she was involved in many independent investigations and inquiries. Amber is experienced in conducting investigations across the healthcare landscape, including acute, mental health and social care settings.
Nick Woodier
National investigation team
National Investigator
Nick is a qualified medical doctor who moved from clinical medicine into patient safety and healthcare safety investigation.
Before coming to HSIB he worked as the Patient Safety Lead at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, developing considerable experience leading investigations into serious incidents.
He holds an MSc in human factors and is undertaking a part-time PhD in patient safety. He is also an Honorary Assistant Professor with the University of Nottingham where he delivers education around patient safety and human factors to healthcare students.
Professor James Walker
Maternity investigation team
Clinical Director of Maternity Investigations
Jimmy is a retired Clinical Professor in Obstetrics having worked in the University of Leeds with Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust for 25 years.
He has a particular expertise in patient safety, investigation and clinical governance. His main areas of clinical interest are pre-eclampsia, early pregnancy failure, premature labour and delivery. His main driver to his work has been in how to improve patient care and clinical outcome. He has used the cycle of audit, investigation, recommendation, implementation and re-audit to achieve clinical improvement particularly in the area of pre-eclampsia. He has been involved in working with patient groups and developing guidelines for management of clinical problems.
He has carried out numerous reviews into hospitals, units and clinicians in trouble. He has done this on personal invitation, on behalf of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and at governmental invitation. He was a member of the panel of the Kirkup review into Morecambe Bay on behalf to the Department of Health (DoH) in England and sat was on the National Maternity Review chaired by Baroness Cumberlege.
He has been commissioned to write reports for the General Medical Council and the DOH into legal matters and given evidence in civil, criminal, coroner and procurator fiscal courts as well to regulatory bodies in England, Scotland, Ireland, USA and Hong Kong
In 2011, he was elected Senior Vice-President of the RCOG with a remit for global health. From 2013 to 2017, he was a Non-Executive Director of the Bradford Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust. He chaired its Quality and Safety Committee and has developed robust reporting mechanisms and a review culture.
Before joining us at HSIB, he was the Obstetric Advisor to he National Patient Safety Agency, Chairman of the Confidential Enquires into Maternal and Child Mortality, National Professional Advisor (NPA) on Maternity to the Care Quality Commission and Chairman of the National Sentinel Caesarean Section Audit He brings to HSIB his specialty skills in assessment of patient safety, root cause analysis, incident analysis and service evaluation.
Jimmy also works extensively for medical charities and was the inaugural President of the Ectopic Pregnancy Trust, is currently Medical Director of Action on Pre-eclampsia and the Honorary President of Baby Lifeline Training.
Sandy Lewis
Maternity investigation team
Associate Director of the Maternity Programme
Sandy joined HSIB in March 2017 as a national investigator.
She moved into the role of Associate Director of Maternity Investigations, and later Maternity Programme Director, after the Secretary of State for Health asked HSIB to carry out the work around maternity safety investigations outlined in the Safer Maternity Care action plan. Since then she has successfully overseen the rollout of our maternity investigation programme across 130 NHS trusts in England.
Sandy has more than 26 years of healthcare experience, in the NHS and Australia. She started her career as a healthcare assistant and later qualified as a nurse practitioner. The high-risk areas in which she’s worked – including intensive care and theatres, critical care and day surgery – led to an interest in patient safety, quality improvement and patient experience.
Prior to joining HSIB she held the post of Associate Director of Nursing at West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, where she led the development of patient safety policy and processes. Sandy holds an MSc in Leadership and Service Innovation.
Louise Page
Maternity investigation team
Clinical Leadership
Louise brings together her clinical and academic expertise in her role with us at HSIB.
She is a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at West Middlesex University Hospital, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Louise has an academic interest in patient safety, working to create safe systems of care within maternity services, and her clinical areas of interest include intrapartum care and maternal medicine. HSIB offers Louise the opportunity to consider maternity safety from a different perspective and she particularly enjoys the collaborative working not only within the branch, but also with maternity teams up and down the country. Louise’s great passion outside of work is travel, especially long distance rail journeys. Ask her about Hong Kong to London by train!
Sonia Barnfield
Maternity investigation team
Clinical Adviser
Sonia is a consultant obstetrician, with clinical interests in maternal medicine (women with pre-existing medical conditions who are pregnant), labour ward care and risk management.
She is speciality lead for obstetrics at Southmead Hospital Bristol (part of North Bristol NHS Trust) and is also the consultant lead for clinical governance, chairing the Trust’s clinical risk committee. Sonia’s passions are improving patient safety through learning from events and quality improvement.
She is on the PROMPT (Practical Obstetric Multi-Professional Training) faculty and has trained many units in the UK and worldwide. These experiences have led her to taking a lead role as a clinical advisor with HSIB and training maternity investigators.
Sonia also has an interest in obstetric care in the developing world and used her expertise to improve the care available to mothers and babies in West Timor and Kenya during a one-year fellowship through the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas). She has since run ‘train the trainers’ courses in Zimbabwe as part of PROMPT.
Chandrima Biswas
Maternity investigation team
Clinical Adviser
Chandrima is an obstetrician and clinical governance lead for women’s health at Whittington Health in London.
Previously she has held the posts of Clinical Director at the Trust and obstetric lead for the North Central London Maternity Network. She specialises in high-risk obstetric care.
Throughout her career her focus has been on maternal and perinatal safety, and she is excited to extend this to a national role at HSIB. Chandrima is a fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and a former president of the Maternity and Newborn Forum at the Royal Society of Medicine.
Joanna Gillham
Maternity investigation team
Clinical Adviser
Joanna is a consultant obstetrician and currently holds a clinical obstetric research post at the University of Florence in Italy.
Her passion and clinical interests are intrapartum care and proactive risk management. In her previous consultant post at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, where she was based between August 2007 and May 2018, she held the roles of labour ward lead, risk lead and clinical effectiveness lead.
Joanna was on the advisory panel for the Each Baby Counts project and was previously the labour and delivery representative on the British Maternal and Fetal Medicine Society committee. The safety of maternity healthcare has always been a huge consideration in her work, both on a local level in her NHS trust roles, and through exposure to adverse preventable outcomes in her role as an expert witness.
Katherine Hawes
Maternity investigation team
Head of Maternity Investigations (North and Midlands & East)
Katherine is a passionate midwife and an experienced midwifery leader.
She offers a wealth of clinical expertise and strategic insight into the understanding and complexities of providing safe and effective care within the NHS. She holds a master’s degree in Healthcare Leadership and a first degree in Midwifery and Woman’s Health.
Before joining HSIB in 2018, Katherine held the post of Deputy Regional Maternity Lead for NHS England in the Midlands and East Region. Katherine has significant regional and national experience in undertaking investigations and reviews. These have focused on individual practice and wider maternity services, with the aim of driving improvement in safety for women and babies.
Lisa Marshall
Maternity investigation team
Head of Maternity Investigations (South and London)
Lisa qualified as a general nurse in 1988 and as a midwife in 1991.
She has enjoyed a varied career in clinical practice and operational management in a number of trusts.
Prior to joining HSIB she held the position of Head of Nursing and Director of Midwifery at North Bristol NHS Trust. Lisa is experienced in research, quality improvement, risk and safety, clinical investigation reports, and clinical training.
Lisa is committed to championing the voice of the family within investigations. She holds a first degree in Contemporary Midwifery and has a master’s degree in Organisational Development and Leadership.
She enjoys working for HSIB as it offers the opportunity to work within a team who are all focussed on the improvement of safety for families and NHS staff. It has been an opportunity to bring together 30 plus years of clinical and operational management experience, within a like minded team, to support dissemination of safety learning to the wider NHS system.
Outside of work Lisa is married with two grown children, enjoys walking, travel and socialising with friends.
Amanda Morgan
Maternity investigation team
Regional Lead for Maternity Investigations (South)
Amanda is a qualified midwife with over 16 years of experience across all areas of midwifery.
She is passionate about safety, safeguarding and quality improvement in maternity care, which has been a thread throughout her career to date. The wide range of community and hospital-based positions she has held include ward manager, supervisor of midwives, safeguarding supervisor and patient safety team leader.
Using her skills in leadership and service development, in a previous role Amanda designed and implemented an infant feeding support programme, including recruitment of support workers and setting up infant feeding drop-in sessions to support new mothers. Amanda has completed the Lean for Leaders training programme at the Virginia Mason Institute.
Helen Smith
Maternity investigation team
Regional Lead for Maternity Investigations (North)
Helen is a qualified midwife passionate about delivering safe, personalised and evidence-based care.
She is an advocate for offering women an informed choice when it comes to maternity services. In her last role as a consultant midwife at East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, Helen developed a birth choices clinic for women seeking care outside of usual clinical guidance – for example supporting women to plan a home birth when they don’t fit the usual low risk criteria to be offered this option. She has previously worked as a delivery suite coordinator and birth centre lead.
Helen holds an MSc in Advanced Practice and is a newborn infant physical examination (NIPE) trained midwife. She has also volunteered in Africa, where she worked with midwives and birth attendants to improve midwifery care.
Lisa Manning
Maternity investigation team
Regional Lead for Maternity Investigations (Midlands & East)
Lisa is dual registered as an adult nurse and midwife.
She joined HSIB from NHS England where she was deputy regional maternity lead for midlands and east. Previously she has worked across all areas of midwifery and held the position of deputy head of midwifery at North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust. She has a particular interest in education and here she helped to establish human factors training and ran the mandatory training schedule for midwives. Lisa holds a master’s degree in health and medical education.
Jas Palak
Maternity investigation team
Maternity Investigator, Mids & East (West) team
Jas joined HSIB in 2019, and has come from a diverse background as a professional investigator, having worked across a wide range of safety-critical industries including automotive, rail and aircraft production.
In his role, he collates the facts of a case, in order to assess foreseeability and systemic risk.
Being trained in human factors and safety science, Jas really enjoys his role as a maternity investigator, because he feels HSIB looks to bring an entirely new approach to the investigation of healthcare safety incidents.
He particularly enjoys working closely with patients, families and healthcare staff and contributing to positive outcomes in extremely difficult incidents.
Maggie McKay
Senior management team
Associate Director of Finance and Performance
Maggie joined HSIB in 2018. She is an experienced accountant and has worked in both the public and private sectors.
Prior to joining HSIB she was financial controller at NHS Improvement and the NHS Trust Development Authority, and has also held finance roles at Brandon Hire, Butterfield Bank (Bermuda), Deloitte Bermuda and Relyon Group. Maggie is a fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.
Karl Heidel
Senior management team
Associate Director of Communications and Engagement
Karl has more than 25 years of experience in communications.
Initially he was a reporter and presenter working regionally and nationally for ITV news, and moving into communications and engagement for the NHS in 2009. He has worked in a national role for the NHS Sustainable Development Unit reducing the health service’s impact on the environment, and has led teams at Princess Alexandra Hospital and two mental health trusts in north London.
Karl has post graduate qualifications in public relations and healthcare communications. Throughout his career he has always ensured patient safety, patients and staff are the focus of health communications.
Alison McLellan
Senior management team
Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion & Patient and Public Involvement
Alison has a background in languages including medical and technical translation.
Before joining the HSIB team, she worked in international development for many years in the field of maternal and child health and family planning, in the Arab World Region. Her projects also focused on the issues of female genital mutilation, unsafe abortion and rights of the girl child. In the NHS, Alison has senior level experience in safety and learning, risk management and governance.
Louise Pye
Senior management team
Head of Family Engagement
Before she joined HSIB, Lou served as an officer in the police force for 30 years.
During this time, and from its inception within the police service, she specialised in the field of family liaison This involved setting up and implementing the processes to work with families during serious and complex investigations.
She also managed a team of specially trained officers who worked with families following mass fatality incidents or complex investigations. Lou’s role was also responsible for training, advising, and supporting this are of work locally, regionally and nationally.
Lou was recognised for her work within family liaison in the Queens New Year Honours (2017)
Lou is pleased to be able to work towards ensuring meaningful family engagement is central to all HSIB investigations.
Dawn Benson
Senior management team
Dawn Benson, Acting Head of Investigation Education, Learning and Development
Dawn is a sociologist with a specialism in disability studies and inclusion.
Much of her work has been in academia as a researcher and lecturer within healthcare, where she developed the concept of ‘high reliability parenting’ after undertaking research with families of birth injured infants. Dawn has worked at a number of universities in both social and medical sciences. Her most recent work, before joining HSIB, was with the Patient Safety Academy in Oxford lecturing and researching healthcare investigation and human factors.
Kirsty Benn-Harris
Senior management team
Associate Director of Data Compliance and Information Governance
Kirsty has over 10 years of experience working in regulatory and advisory roles.
Prior to joining HSIB, she advised on establishing and rolling out research ethics governance frameworks for independent research ethics committees, ready for integration into the Health Research Authority ethics framework.
Kirsty has also worked with university research departments on research ethics and clinical governance, held an advisory post at the National Institute for Health Research, and held senior information governance posts at Monitor (the NHS foundation trusts regulator) and NHS Improvement. She has a background in the history of art, language and law, completing the Bar Vocational Course in 2008.
Cassandra Cameron
Senior management team
Head of Policy and Strategy
Cassandra joined HSIB in January 2019 as Head of Policy and Strategy.
She leads on developing HSIB’s external relationships with organisations across the health sector, our organisational strategy and our contribution to national policy for patient safety.
Prior to joining HSIB she was policy advisor at NHS Providers, focused on quality of care and mental health policy, and has also worked internationally in diplomacy and central government in Australia, Canada and the UK. Cassandra holds master’s degrees in organisational and occupational psychology, and political sociology. She is passionate about organisational culture, patient safety policy, human factors and just culture in healthcare.
