Management Structure

The hospital is managed by a Board of Directors, which consists of a Chair five
non-executive directors and seven executive directors.

Executive directors (voting)

		Cara Charles-Barks Chief Executive Hello, my name is Cara Charles-Barks and I am the Chief Executive here at Royal United Hospitals Bath. I am an accomplished, knowledgeable, and proactive advanced healthcare management professional with over 30 years' experience in the public and private health care sector. » Read more I qualified as a Registered Nurse in 1990 in Australia. I work hard to build relationships and to communicate effectively with diverse health and social care professionals; and develop and motivate large teams to deliver the best care possible for the people within my organisation and at system level. I aim to provide strong, visible and inspiring leadership and support to ensure that we constantly drive ourselves to improve. I have demonstrated my ability to deliver complex, organisational changes whilst ensuring that all of our people feel included and able to shape the future. I also have a proven track record of leading through engaging, continually supporting, developing and motivating staff. I have been named as one of the NHS's top 50 Chief Executives four times - in 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023 - and in June 2019 I was awarded an MBE as part of the Queen's Birthday honours for inspirational and outstanding leadership. This was in recognition of my leadership of Salisbury Foundation Trust during the Novichok incident. Also in June 2019, I was appointed Honorary Colonel of 243 (Wessex) Field Hospital, part of the Army Reserve Medical Services. One of the key priorities here at the RUH for me is ensuring that we create a culture whereby the people that work here and the people who use our services have an exceptional experience. This experience should be built on the foundation of humanity and the connections we have with each other to make a difference. I also want to ensure that our culture here enables everyone to be themselves, so that they can thrive in what is a safe, open and inclusive environment. Priorities such as our kindness and civility program, our improving together leadership program and our just culture program are all ways in which we are slowly making changes. The thing that I love most about working in the NHS and at the RUH is people. People are central to everything we do and by this, I mean the people that we care for, the people that work here and the people in our community. It is a real privilege for me to work in a role where I can make a difference every day. I am proud to be part of the team here at RUH and our community here in Bath. cara.charlesbarks@nhs.net Declared interests: Member of the Advisory Panel of Nourish - an organisation that promotes healthy eating and nourishment for those going through illness or medical treatment. (Ceased 31/03/23) Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Health and Applied Sciences at the University of the West of England. Deputy Chair of NHS Quest, a leadership/development provider. Son working on the Staff Bank within the People Directorate. (Ceased 16/08/23) « Close
		Toni Lynch Chief Nurse Hello, my name is Toni and I am the Chief Nurse here at the RUH. I joined the Trust in April 2021 from Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, where I was Deputy Chief Nurse and acting Chief Nurse providing leadership to 7000 nurses and midwives through the first two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. » Read more I have also previously held senior roles both in clinical and operational management. I hold a Masters' degree in Advanced Nursing Practice and have completed the Nye Bevan Executive Leadership programme. antonia.lynch4@nhs.net Declared interests: Spouse is a Matron at Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust « Close
		Andrew Hollowood Chief Medical Officer Hello, my name is Andrew Hollowood and I am the Chief Medical Officer at the RUH. I am a Cancer Surgeon specialising in gastric cancer and previously worked at the University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust as Deputy Medical Director and Site Medical Director at Weston Hospital. » Read more I trained in the South West and completed my training in Japan at the National Cancer Centre. I am committed to creating a culture of listening to staff in order to problem solve and create solutions. I am also focussed on reducing waiting times and embedding our clinical strategy. I am passionate about taking positive action to reduce the impact of health inequalities by raising awareness and making it everyone's business. Outside of work I have recently become Non-Executive director of Bristol-based Boomsatsuma, which provides young people with the opportunity to work in the creative industries. a.hollowood@nhs.net Declared interests: Director of Andrew Hollowood Ltd; FH Intuition Ltd; Boomsatsuma Creative Arts Education Company. Wife is a General Practitioner at Hartcliffe Surgery, Bristol. « Close
		Libby Walters Director of Finance, Deputy Chief Executive Hello, my name is Libby Walters and I am the Director of Finance and Deputy Chief Executive at the RUH, Bath. I have spent my career in NHS finance working in acute hospitals in the South West. My roles have also included board leadership for digital, estates and facilities functions. » Read more I am passionate about ensuring we spend our money well to enable high quality services to be provided to our patients. We see people at often the most vulnerable times in their lives and reducing unnecessary waste to enable further investment in services and improve the experience of our patients makes a huge difference to those needing our services. I have recently worked on the acquisition of an independent sector hospital to ensure we can have as much capacity as possible available for our patients and reduce the time they wait for our services. I am really proud of the progress being made on constructing our new Cancer Centre as this is going to be a fantastic facility for our patients. I am committed to ensure staffing working in the NHS can flourish. Working in the NHS through Covid-19 has been challenging for everyone and by ensuring safe staff levels, this will support the fantastic people working in the NHS to recover and thrive in their roles. There is more we need to do to reduce health inequalities and improve diversity and inclusion in the NHS and I am committed to taking this forward at the RUH. I am passionate about the importance of exercise in maintaining health and wellbeing and I do this through playing and coaching hockey. libby.walters1@nhs.net Declared interests: Husband is on the Radiology portering bank. Daughter holds a bank portering contract with the RUH. « Close
		Jocelyn Foster Strategy Director Hello, my name is Joss Foster and I'm Director of Strategy at the RUH with particular responsibility for our teams skilled in longer term planning, major projects, communications and fundraising. » Read more Across my career I've worked in similar or related roles in many different sectors including strategic consultancy, logistics, utilities, council and mental health services. My priorities include ensuring the RUH remains fit for the future and I'm privileged to have the opportunity of working alongside so many amazing colleagues both in the RUH and our wider health and care system striving to make a difference everyday for the people we serve. jocelyn.foster@nhs.net Declared interests: Complaints Panelist for the Dental Complaints Service. Investor in Veloscient Ltd (An organisation developing a platform to facilitate structured data capture for a range of markets including healthcare). « Close

Executive directors (non-voting)

		Alfredo Thompson Director for People and Culture Hello, my name is Alfredo Thompson and I'm the Director of People and Culture. I joined the organisation in February 2022, and have previously worked as a Director inside and outside the NHS. » Read more I'm passionate about organisational culture, staff experience and inclusion. I believe that treating our people with kindness and respect is key to ensuring that everyone feels like they are able to contribute to the success of RUH. It's really important to make sure we recognise each other's individuality and we consider the ideas and suggestions offered by our colleagues. We are working hard at creating an environment where our people feel cared for and like they are able to express their true feelings at work. alfredo.thompson@nhs.net Declared interests: Attends Locum's Nest Special Interest Group meetings. Locum's Nest is a private organisation that the Trust uses to book Medical Locums. « Close
		Brian Johnson Director of Estates and Facilities Hello, my name is Brian Johnson and I am the Director of Estates and Facilities. I've been with the Trust since 2018 having previously worked at Director level outside of the NHS. I have a wealth of design and construction delivery experience and I am passionate about team working, innovation and sustainability across the spectrum of everything that we do, from construction to catering and sterile services to security. » Read more My teams deliver a diverse range of services that support the daily operation, maintenance, safety and security of our Trust for our staff, patients and visitors. Alongside my team, I act as a custodian of the RUH helping to maintain and improve the quality of our Estate and associated services, for current and future generations. brian.johnson12@nhs.net Declared interests: Director of Estates at Salisbury Foundation Trust « Close

Regular Attendees

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