About us

Dean has a longstanding association with the NHS which includes senior board appointments with NHS Providers, and the NHS Confederation’s Mental Health Network, as well as a wide-ranging portfolio of roles in the commercial health and care sector.

He is currently chair of the Quality Committee for the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, a member of the Academy of Health and Care Science Regulatory Board, an Honorary Professorial Fellow of the Institute of Mental Health and Honorary Professor of Healthcare Leadership at the University of Nottingham Business School.A former army reservist, Dean is also a trustee of the military and mental health charity Care After Combat.

Andy has over 20 years experience of senior NHS operational and strategic nursing roles. He served as  Executive Director of Nursing and Quality at Central and North West London NHS Trust, one of the largest providers of mental health and community services in the South of England, and has extensive experience working in secure mental health settings.

Andy was Chair of the London Mental Health Trust Nurse Directors group and was involved in London-wide innovations including the Capital Nurse programme, focusing on recruitment. He is particularly interested in patient safety, staff development and education. Andy is a visiting Professor at Buckinghamshire New University.

Chris joined in 2022 and leads Oxehealth's Operations, covering delivery, implementation and success.  Chris has spent over 25 years in a range of operations, compliance and technical roles within the active medical devices segment, in the UK and Switzerland, in firms ranging from startup to scale-up, SME and blue-chip.

Outside work, Chris spends time with his family, walks his dogs, cultivates his vegetable patches and works out.

Ed is chair of Assura Plc, the leading FTSE250 healthcare property company and adviser to HCA, Cognetivity LLP and other health and life science businesses. He is also chair of Birmingham Health Partners, a collaboration of universities and NHS Trusts in the Midlands. His past roles include those of chair of NHS Improvement and deputy chair of NHS England, chair of the Student Loans Company, WWF UK, University of Birmingham and Senior independent director of HS2 Ltd. His first career was at PricewaterhouseCoopers over a 30-yearperiod. Ed is also a leading advocate of sustainability and diversity and acts as a mentor to next generation leaders.

In addition to her role as Chair of University Hospitals Derby and Burton, Kathy is also Chair of the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board and a Non-Executive Director of both Barts Health and Barking, Havering and Redbridge NHS Trusts. Prior to its merger with NHS England Kathy was Executive Medical Director and Chief Operating Officer at NHS Improvement. She worked as a Consultant Physician at Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for fifteen years and served as Executive Medical Director. Her work has focused on improving quality by building clinical leadership and expertise across the system. In 2018 Kathy was awarded an OBE for services to leadership across the NHS.

Mary tries to make the best use she can of the experiences she has of working as a doctor for many years and, more recently, of experiences as a patient, particularly of inpatient and community care for serious mental health problems. During a wilderness decade with depression, self-harm and suicidality she spent many months on acute wards, almost always detained under the Mental Health Act and sometimes on intensive care wards far away from her home and family .She was one of only a few patients in the first cohort of the Q initiative and is involved in a range of quality improvement initiatives in mental health care. She contributes in various ways to mental health research projects, medical education and medical leadership development. She has several roles with the Royal College of Psychiatrists, including as co-chair of its Patient Safety Group which champions the importance of safety as something co-created by patients, families and professionals working well together. She is part of a core team at the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health tasked with a major review of so-called ‘Personality Disorders’ and peoples’ poor experiences of care as a result of this diagnostic label. She is now delighted to be able to use her experiences as an inpatient to help Oxehealth develop innovations to improve safety and quality of life for people on mental health wards.

Raf’s role as an expert by experience has seen him use his perspective as a former mental health service user in a variety of organisations within the sector, including National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), Royal College of Psychiatrists and NHS England which has also seen him consult government within the UK and internationally. He is currently the Expert by Experience Lead with Cygnet Healthcare and an expert by experience with the Care Quality Commission where he has taken part in more than 150 CQC inspections to date. His experience of working on both a strategic and local level within Cygnet Healthcare has been recognised as ‘an area of outstanding practice’ by the Care Quality Commission and a number of other external and independent organisations. Raf was one of 12 chairs on the Independent Review of the Mental Health Act commissioned by the Department of Health and Social Care and is a Fellow at the Mental Health Collective. He has an MSc in mental health recovery and social inclusion and is currently preparing for a doctorate in public health policy.

“Clinical observations have for a long time been an extremely important, yet equally sensitive topic within in-patient services.  Aids such as Oxehealth enhance patient safety and experience in a least restrictive and minimally intrusive manner through striking a balance between keeping people safe and preserving peoples right to privacy and dignity. Health and social care should be at the forefront of embracing the digital transformation and the technologic al advancements that have and continue to help services deliver safer and more effective compassionate care.”

Vanessa is a carer for her husband and to her son, Harry, who has a diagnosis of has a diagnosis of high functioning autism and schizo-affective disorder. A keen and committed supporter of services, Vanessa won the 2019 carer contributor of the year award from the Royal College of Psychiatrists and advocates for improvements in the way mental healthcare listens and engages with carers.  She has spoken at NAPICU and is hoping to join their Board as a carer representative.

In her spare time, Vanessa loves sewing and making clothes for her grandchildren. “I chose to work with Oxehealth as I was so impressed with the technology and really feel that this system is a safer, more accurate way to monitor patients. I really appreciate the work Oxehealth to include monitoring sleep.”