Membership of the Executive Committee will comprise:
- Eight GP members of the Governing Body – to include Lay Members and Practice Managers
- Accountable Officer, Chief Finance Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Contracts Officer, Chief Redesign Officer, Chief Corporate Services Officer and Chief Nursing Officer
Dr Christopher Browning
(Chair)
Dr Browning has 10 years’ experience in hospital medicine and 12 years’ experience as a GP. He has had operational experience in the out-of-hours service and many years’ experience representing his GP colleagues on the LMC.
Dr Browning is the chair of the Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire CCG Network.
Dr Andrew Hassan
Dr Hassan qualified from Sheffield, held junior doctor appointments in Sheffield, entered General Practice in 1980 and was a senior partner at Avicenna surgery in Hopton until retirement from practice in 2015.
Dr Hassan has also served as the Chairman of the Bury St Edmunds PCG; PEC Chair and Board Member Suffolk West PCT; Chair of the Individual Funding Panel and Clinical Priorities Group for the joint management team of Suffolk CCGs and Medical Director of NHS Suffolk until disbanded in 2013. He has served as President of the Anglo French Medical Society since 2006.
Dr Zohra Armitage
Dr Armitage is an experienced GP. She has had various clinical and management responsibilities within different practices and the CCG. Her clinical interests include adolescent health, sexual health and end of life care. When not at work she is a busy mum and wife, and enjoys running and reading.
Dr Firas Watfeh
(GP and lead for Haverhill locality)
Dr Firas Watfeh is a GP partner at The Haverhill Family Practice. He is the GP lead for prescribing and has keen interest in Dermatology. He represents his GP colleagues on the LMC Board.
Geoff Dobson (lay member for corporate governance)
In his role Mr Dobson will provide strategic and impartial advice on financial management issues to make sure the CCG meets its statutory guidelines and carries out its work according to nationally agreed standards. He will oversee key aspects of corporate governance including audit, remuneration and managing conflicts of interest.
Geoff worked in local government finance for more than four decades, most recently as Suffolk County Council’s director of resource management.
He has lived in west Suffolk for 30 years and possesses a commitment to ensuring resources are best used to deliver effective NHS services in the area.
Steve Chicken
(Lay Member)
Steve Chicken joined the CCG’s governing body in early 2017 as lay member. He is also working for Ipswich and East CCG in the same capacity.
Steve has held senior roles in global manufacturing businesses and is a specialist in continuous improvement. He and his wife have lived in Suffolk for 17 years as do his whole family including parents, grown children and grandchild.
Dr Ed Garratt (Chief Officer)
Ed has led the Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care System since 2019. He is a Visiting Professor of Integrated Care at the University of Suffolk (2021-2024).
Ed is Chief Executive of Ipswich and East Suffolk, North East and West Suffolk CCGs, gaining ‘outstanding’ ratings in all three CCGs. Previously he was Deputy Director of Commissioning and Head of Communications and Engagement at East of England and NHS Midlands and East. He has over 15 years’ experience of working in the NHS and currently co-chairs the East of England Health Inequalities Board and Mental Health Board; and commissions the East of England Ambulance Trust. He has also worked on major national policy by supporting the Department of Health in the development of the NHS Constitution and the government’s NHS White Paper 2021. Ed holds a doctorate in English Literature from the University of Cambridge.
Kate Vaughton
(Chief Operating Officer)
Kate joined the NHS in September 2001 and has gained extensive knowledge from working across various NHS organisations. Prior to joining WSCCG Kate was working at North East Essex CCG as Chief Operating Officer playing an active role as a Board member contributing to the development of the vision, aims and business objectives of the CCG.
Amanda Lyes
(Chief Corporate Services Officer)
Amanda Lyes is the chief corporate services officer and has a NHS career spanning 20 years. Although professionally qualified in human resources, her portfolio also encompasses IM&T, corporate governance, information governance, data security as well as HR. Ms Lyes’ strengths lie in the field of change management, organisational development and employee relations.
Amanda Lyes has a wide understanding of NHS service delivery and is passionate about delivering a high standard of service. She is an experienced Board member having held Board level positions in two other NHS organisations and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and holds a MSc in Human Resource Management
Richard Watson
(Deputy Chief Executive)
Richard is the CCG’s Chief Redesign Officer.
Richard has worked across the NHS and local government in a variety of roles most recently at NHS Enfield CCG where he led on the redesign of clinical services across the borough. He has also been an elected local councillor and cabinet member within a London borough where he led on community safety, leisure and libraries.
He is passionate about improving outcomes and his strength lays in managing complex service redesign in partnership with other stakeholders.
Jane Payling
(Chief Financial Officer.)
Jane joined the CCGs in September 2017 at Chief Financial Officer. She has responsibility for making appropriate arrangements to support, monitor and report on the CCG’s finances, and overseeing robust audit and governance arrangements leading to propriety in the use of CCG’s resources.
Most recently, Jane worked at CIPFA (Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy) as Head of Health and Integration. This role involved supporting finance staff working in health and social care, researching and commenting on health policy and helping finance teams in integration.
Jane was previously Director of Finance at Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust for 10 years, with responsibility for procurement, contracting and performance. During this time she was part of the team which secured the go ahead for the New Papworth Hospital, a PFI scheme which is planned to open in 2018.
She joined the NHS in 1992 as a graduate finance trainee with the former East Anglia Regional Health Authority and has worked in a range of NHS organisations in East Anglia spanning provider, commissioner and health authorities. She is committed to developing finance teams, previously chairing the Eastern region Finance Staff Development board and helping to support Future Focussed Finance.
Lisa Nobes
(Chief Nursing Officer)
Lisa Nobes Chief Nursing Officer for Ipswich and East Suffolk CCG and West Suffolk CCG .
She started her nursing career at West Suffolk Hospital 29 years ago and moved to Manchester to train 
and practise as a children’s nurse at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital before relocating back to Suffolk to work at the East Anglia Children’s Hospice. She enjoyed working at both the hospice site and providing care to children at the end of their lives in their homes. She left EACH to become a Lecturer in Children’s Nursing and then a Senior Lecturer in Service Improvement, teaching service improvement methodologies to under and post-graduate health students. She has worked in the acute sector at both West Suffolk Hospital and Ipswich Hospital in senior nurse leadership posts, most recently as Director of Nursing at Ipswich Hospital before taking up the CNO role in the Suffolk CCGs.
Her academic background is in psychology, interprofessional healthcare education and health psychology and she has recently been appointed as Senior Visiting fellow at University of Suffolk.
She is interested in co-production of services with users and families and is keen to work with the wider Suffolk community to understand how services need transforming to meet the needs of Suffolk residents. Nursing remains a career that she loves and she is keen to work with senior nurse leaders across Suffolk to be the voice for nurses, midwives and AHPs.
Lynda Tuck
(Lay Member for Patient and Public Involvement)
Lynda joined the CCG’s Governing Body in 2018.
Her role is to ensure the patient and public voice is listened to and remains integral to the decision-making of the governing body.
Lynda has enjoyed an extensive career in health care, both in delivering frontline services and in an educational setting.
She began her career as a nurse and midwife followed by an appointment as Associate Dean (Health) at Bedfordshire University, with responsibility for nursing and midwifery programmes. Latterly, Lynda held senior posts at Bedford Hospital NHS Trust, including Associate Director of Operations, building a well-deserved reputation for her focus on improving services for patients through training, innovation and partnership working.
