Gerry Taylor

Executive Director, Public Health and Integrated Commissioning

Gerry returned to her native North East in November 2020, becoming Executive Director,  Public Health and Integrated Commissioning for Sunderland. She had worked as a Director of Public Health since 2008 in the South East and has been a registered PH consultant since 2006.

Gerry also has significant experience of commissioning and adult social care, have led integrated commissioning teams across health and social care. Gerry has a strong focus on tackling inequalities and evidence based practice.

Dr Claire Bradford

Medical Director

Originally from North London, Dr Bradford trained at Nottingham University and worked in Nottingham and Plymouth prior to moving (and staying) in the North East in 1989. She has worked in the NHS since 1984 as a haematologist after junior doctor posts.

Since 1994 Claire has been a public health physician as DPH in Newcastle Primary Care Trust, Health Protection Agency, North East Public Health Observatory and NHS England.

During her public health career, her achievements have included leading teams to develop the English health profiles, European health profiles and the National Library for Public Health.

Fiona Brown

Executive Director of Neighbourhoods (non-voting)

Fiona has a number of years’ experience in local government and health, especially in health and social care integration, events and designing new forms of service delivery vehicles. All of her career has been spent in the North east, working for a number of local authorities and acute health trusts.

She is particularly known for her work on strategic commissioning and creating innovative community solutions for independent living. Fiona is an active member of a number of associations.

Scott Watson

Director of Contracting, Planning and Informatics

Scott was born and raised in Sunderland and has spent over twenty-five years working for local health and care services across the North East of England.  Having joined the CCG’s director team six years ago, he is currently the CCG’s lead director on the transformation of local hospital services via the Path to Excellence programme and provides leadership for strategic planning across County Durham, Sunderland, and South Tyneside CCGs. Recently, Scott has also taken on a wider role leading on the recovery of elective services alongside key system partners across the North East and North Cumbria ICS.

Scott is a qualified health informatician, with postgraduate and masters’ qualifications in information management. He is also a graduate of the NHS Leadership Academy where he gained an award in Executive Healthcare Leadership. Scott is married and has three young children.  When not working, he likes to spend time with his family and is heavily involved in local grassroots sports within County Durham.

Deborah Cornell

Head of Corporate Affairs

Deborah has over 20 years’ experience of working in the public sector.  She started her career in HM Prison Service in London in 1997, moving to the Home Office in 1999 and then back to the North East in 2001 to join the NHS.

Deborah has held several senior level corporate governance roles within the NHS and has been the Head of Corporate Affairs in Sunderland CCG since 2013 and has also undertaken this role for South Tyneside CCG since November 2020. She has been an affiliated member of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators since 2016.

Clare Nesbit

Director of People and Primary Care

Clare has lived and worked across the North East all her life, and worked in the NHS for over 20 years. Clare is an experienced Director of Organisational Development and Primary Care with a history of working in both commissioner and provider organisations.

Clare has a background in strategic partnership working, HR, training and development, Primary Care, reform and transformation and culture change. Clare has also worked for the private sector as a qualified engineer in production management and lean working.

As a senior OD leader Clare recognises that its people are the most valuable asset an organisation can have.

When not travelling, Clare enjoys cooking and planning the next family adventure.

Patricia Harle MBE

Lay Member - Primary Care Commissioning (non voting) and Quality Safety Committee Chair

Pat has over 40 years’ NHS experience, in acute, community , teaching hospital, and consultancy, the last 20 years at board level in NHS commissioning and provider services. Most recently she was a non-Executive Director at South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust prior to joining the CCG in January 2018.

Pat has held a number of national offices, and was awarded an MBE, a Probe Lifetime Achievement Award and a Medal of Distinction from the British Dental Association.