Changes to the North Kensington Recovery Team
As we head towards the end of the summer and the usual busy September period, we wanted to take this opportunity to update on some significant changes in the North Kensington Team that is providing support to those affected by the Grenfell Tower fire.
We will sadly be saying farewell to Dr Meena Nathan and Dr Oisin Brannick from their North Kensington Recovery clinical lead roles. Both of them have been an integral part of the recovery programme work since the fire over six years ago and have supported the community in their practices both before and since the night of the tragedy. They have provided expertise, guidance and insights into how we best support the Grenfell impacted community recovery.
They have always made themselves available to both team members and the community and have consistently gone above and beyond in their personal commitment. Fortunately, they will both be continuing as GPs in their practices and will therefore continue to work with the community in that capacity. We would like thank them both for their contributions and positive impact.
We are delighted to have recently appointed Dr Amy Wheelwright, who will focus on the links between physical and respiratory health. We are also planning to appoint another GP clinical lead in the near future.
Mary Mullix, who has been the Director of North Kensington Recovery since 2019, will be retiring from September 2023. Mary’s leadership and clinical insights has been invaluable over these last four years that have necessitated navigation through to yet more unprecedented events. This included steering the programme successfully through the Covid-19 pandemic and the recovery response, public inquiry, CCG changes and challenging media stories and fallout. We have been very fortunate to have Mary at the helm, bringing with her not only her calm, proficient, inclusive and compassionate management but also her years of experience as an effective clinical leader working with communities.
Mary has worked in the NHS for nearly forty years – starting out as student nurse in 1984 at Great Ormond Street Hospital and since then has held a variety of clinical and managerial roles returning to NW London in 2014, as the Deputy Director for Quality and Patient Safety for the then CWHHE Collaboration of CCGs.
Mary has always been someone the system and residents can rely on; this is clearly evident in her many roles over the years. We want to thank Mary for her many years of service within and for the NHS and most recently the work she has been doing in North Kensington where she will be very sorely missed by the team, partners and the community. We wish her every success and happiness in this next phase of life. Michael Martin has been appointed as the interim Assistant Director for the North Kensington Recovery programme.
Changes to the Executive and leadership team with the ICB also mean that Janet Cree will be moving into a new role as Director of Clinical Programmes in October. This necessitates her place based role, including the oversight for North Kensington Recovery Programme, transferring to other directors ahead of an Executive Director of Place being appointed. Rob Hurd will retain overall leadership and personal oversight for the North Kensington Recovery Programme and this will be supported by his executive team. We would like to thank Janet for her leadership and direction over the last two and a half years.
As we plan for the next phase of the programme, working closely with NHS England and our partners, we will ensure that we continue to meet the needs of the community both in terms of health, wellbeing and monitoring. It is therefore timely that we also review the programme team functions and form as part of the NHS North West London organisational design work that is currently underway.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to get in touch with us by emailing nhsnwl.nkrt@nhs.net.
