The board for 2010 - left to right (back row): Greta Thornbory, Sarah O'Hara, Christina Butterworth, Siobhan Clarke, Suzanne Elliott; left to right (front row): Teresa harrison, Diana Snelgrove, Jeremy Smith, Anne Newham. 

Following the AGM in November 2009 several other members volunteered to join the AOHNP Board.  We are pleased to welcome Susanna Everton and Kate Kyne.

President -Jeremy Smith
RGN NEBOSH Cert BSC Hons (OHN)

Jeremy was re-elected President at the AGM on 12 November 2009 having previously held several roles on the board including that of Regional Director for the South East and Vice President.

Jeremy started his nursing career in 1985 at Charing Cross Hospital and has worked in occupational health since 1996, after spending several years in A&E. Jeremy has worked in occupational health in the south east area in a number of different roles since that time. He is now Occupational Health Manager at Kent County Council.

As well as working full time Jeremy is also a serving member of the Territorial Army and holds the rank of Captain, QARANC (V). This led to him being deployed to Iraq for 6 months in 2003 where all of his Trauma and Occupational Health skills were put to good use.
 
Jeremy is passionate about Occupational Health and his interests include coaching, respiratory medicine and trauma.

He is also extremely knowledgeable regarding the nuances of the Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations.

Vice President -Christina Butterworth
RGN OHND PG Dip Health Ed/Health Promo

Christina was elected Vice President in November 2009.

Christina has worked in the Occupational Health field of practice for 18 years within various International, National and local organisations. Her present role is that of Health Risk Manager for BG Group, with responsibility for; developing and implementing health standards, providing strategic occupational health advice and auditing both medical facilities and BG businesses around the world.

Prior to this appointment Christina has gained in depth experience and developed her skills in; health surveillance, absence management, health risk assessment, office ergonomics, stress management and travel health. She has presented at various national and international conferences on topics such as travel risk assessment, behaviour change and the RCN OH competencies. Christina is the former Chair of the RCN OH Managers Forum and has helped to develop 2 RCN publications: 'Clinical supervision in the workplace - Guidance for Occupational Health Nurses' and 'Competencies: An integrated career and competency framework for Occupational Health'.
 

Directors – in alphabetical order

Siobhan Clarke - London
RGN HDipOccHealth & Hygiene

Siobhan was born and raised in Ireland (pre Celtic Tiger).  On completion of her general nurse training in 1986 she worked in Australia, Saudi Arabia and the UK, gaining a wide experience of nursing within different cultures, primarily in intensive care, at hospitals such as the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton and the Royal Free in Hampstead.

Siobhan returned to Ireland, in 1997, to complete a Higher Diploma in Occupational Health & Hygiene at the University of Ireland, Galway.  She subsequently came back to the UK in 2000 and worked within the occupational health setting in a number of investment banks, before setting up her own business in 2003.  During the next five years she worked in variety of challenging roles for organizations such as The Met Police, Royal Mail, & HMPS gaining experience in both occupational health and running your own business.  In April 2008 she joined Capita Health Solutions as the Lead OHA for the Foreign & Commonwealth Office contract, where she now manages a team of OHAs and provides advice and support to employees worldwide.

In her spare time Siobhan assists a local charity, providing assistance in areas such as the Disability Discrimination Act and has presented on this subject at their annual seminars.

During the last six years Siobhan has found the AOHNP an invaluable source of information and a way of meeting like-minded people with whom to share experiences.  When asked to become a board member in November 2008 she felt she should stop being an armchair supporter and it was time she became an active member!  As a director for the Association she would be able to share the skills she has learnt through working in a number of different industries and roles during her OH career, and is keen to promote OH and sharing of information, particularly across the South East which has been her home for the last 9 years. 

Suzanne Elliott - Cheshire
RGN OHND AIOSH

Suzanne was born in Sheffield but spent most of her earlier years travelling around the world with her parents. She trained at the Royal Hospital Sheffield and went on to work in various places within the health service taking breaks to gain a husband, two children and to gain some "life experience".

Suzanne has been in Occupational Health for a number of years. Her grounding was with ICI and Zeneca who supported her through her OH diploma training. Previous to entering OH she worked in the health service mainly in the operating theatre.

Suzanne has set up and continues to run a successful business, Everwell Occupational Health Ltd. This service offers OH support and advice to a range of companies from office-based to manufacturing and production. The company employs or contracts to independent practitioners. It is this side of the business that made Suzanne realise that associations such as the AOHNP offer a vital link for the independent OHA.

Working as an independent practitioner can be a lonely, isolated existence. The independent OHA needs the sort of interaction and support that the association is able to provide. It is Suzanne’s hope that the association can grow and become a leading centre of excellence for all OHA’s.

When looking at the web site she felt that the North West region appeared to be lacking representation at the moment. The NW has a large number of OHAs and some very active local associations. Suzanne would like to see these properly represented within the association.

Susanna Everton - London
OHN CSP CMIOSH MSc OH&SM

Susanna Everton joined the Board in January 2010. She was born and has lived in the SE of England for most of her life.  She trained as a state registered nurse at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, and after a few years as a Sister in general medicine at Queen Mary’s in Roehampton, she moved into the field of Occupational Health.  She joined the BBC in 1985, as the OH Nurse specialist, and was based at Broadcasting House, Central London supporting Radio, engineering and transmission function, and the London based Orchestras. Here, she developed a particular interest in hearing health surveillance.

In 2002, she was awarded a Master of Science degree from Brunel University in Occupational Health and Safety Management, completing research and a dissertation on the hearing of a group of orchestral musicians.  She is a Chartered Safety Practitioner with IOSH.

She then moved into the field of occupational health and safety management and managed a multi-disciplinary team supporting the Radio & Music, Sport and Worldwide Divisions at the BBC, and extended her interest and expertise in hearing health and noise.

She left the BBC in 2006 and after a ‘gap year’ took up the post of Head of Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare at the City of London Police.

She has presented at various national and international conferences, has written articles for Occupational Health and SHP magazines and was on the HSE working party producing industry guidance for the Control of Noise at Work Regulations and ‘Sound Advice ‘ website.

Teresa Harrison - Leicestershire
RGN NEBOSH

Teresa was elected to the Board in October 2008.  Teresa started her Occupational Health career in 1994 in the NHS after meeting Gail Cotton (past President of the Association) two years previously on a training course and, as for most of us who have met Gail, there was no looking back!  Teresa had the OH bug.  From there on her interest in occupational health began.

While in the NHS at Leicester Royal Infirmary she completed a BSc (Hons) in Community Health (Occupational Health) attaining Specialist Practitioner (OH) at the University of Wolverhampton in 1999.

After 5 years of working with the NHS Teresa ventured out into the private sector and  worked for PowerGen, looking after three sites in the East Midlands.  She joined the Leicestershire Fire & Rescue Service as the Senior Occupational Health Nursing Adviser, working under Gail Cotton several years ago.

Teresa has worked for the Association as a Director previously and looks forward to working with the current board in these exciting times for Occupational Health.

Kate Kyne - Wiltshire
RGN OHN Dip NEBOSH Cert MBA

Appointed a director in December 2009.  Further details awaited.

Anne Newham - South Humberside
EN(G), RGN, ENB 405, BSc(Dip) Health Studies
OH(Dip) Warwick

Cornish/Irish Anne Newham was appointed a Director in November 2009 after volunteering in April 2008 to be our “Student Board Member”. 

Anne is larger than life and passionate about her role within Aunt Bessie’s Company based in Hull. She is their first Occupational Health Advisor and has been there since February 2007 when she began her first Occupational Health role. Previously Anne had been nursing mainly within then NHS, but had also spent 10 years nursing in the Middle East.

She started her career in Plymouth in 1980’s and has worked in areas such as orthopaedics, operating theatres, endoscopy although most of her career has been spent looking after premature and sick babies on special care baby units. After meeting her husband when she was working in Oman, she soon came home in 2002 to settle down. Once back in the UK she focused more on nursing management within the NHS.  She has gained various experiences from working with HR and occupational health teams whilst also managing her own staff.

Her interest in occupational health has grown over the years and Aunt Bessie's felt "that with her 25 years experience and  enthusiasm to take on yet another challenge, she had a great deal to offer the company." She had to start from scratch ordering the “tools” of the trade - from thermometer to hearing booth! With advice from the new company Occupational Health Physician, Dr Bob Guest and his specialist Occupational Health team, she set up a structured plan for the service.

Anne is  looking forward to not only meeting everyone on the board but to encourage all newcomers to occupational health.  She hopes to give them all the encouragement and support that she herself has received.

Sarah O'Hara - Norfolk
RGN, BSc(Hons), MSc, CMIOSH

Sarah worked in the family business and obtained a Business Management qualification before starting her nursing career in 1985. She has been working in OH since 1996 and obtained her MSc from the Robens Institute at the University of Surrey. She has previously served as SE Regional Director and Deputy Director for the AOHNP.
 
Sarah has worked in a wide variety of OH settings in public and private sectors and manufacturing and service industries. She finally 'took the plunge' and formed Chantry Health Services Ltd in April 2007.

Sarah also maintains her interest as a Director in the family run marina on the Norfolk Broads. Its facilities with on site workshops involve just about every Health & Safety topic you could mention! She is also a published author of a non fiction book 'Moonraker & JCL Ltd - Colin Chapman's Boat Industry'.

Sarah is passionate about providing quality and relevant OH services for today's employment and business market.

Greta Thornbory - Professional Development Director - Oxfordshire
TD MSc. RGN ROH PGCEA CMIOSH 

Appointed PDD at the AGM on 23 October 2008. 

Greta Thornbory isan occupational health and educational consultant with 30 years experience in OH practice and teaching. During that time she has worked with government departments, professional bodies; pharmaceutical, educational and other companies on a variety of occupational health and safety projects. She also worked for the Royal College of Nursing for 12 years as a senior lecturer and programme director of both OH and CPD. She is now Consulting and CPD Editor of Occupational Health. She also wrote Occupational health 2008: Making the business case published in Nov 2007 and co-author with Joan Lewis of Employment Law and occupational health: a practical handbook published in 2006. More details can be found at www.gtenterprises-uk.com

Diana Snelgrove - Student Board Member - Hampshire
RGN

Appointed Student Board Member in November 2009. Further details awaited.

Association Administrator, Treasurer, Secretary
Linda Riseborough
admin@aohnp.co.uk

Linda has worked for the Association since 2000, following her administrative assistance with the 1999 and 2000 symposium. She now works 15 hours a week as the Administrator, Treasurer and Secretary of AOHNP (UK). Although on the National Board Linda is a non-voting member.

Linda lives near Peterhead, Aberdeenshire where she runs a boarding kennels as well as the Association. She is generally sitting at her desk sometime between 10am -12 noon and 2 - 4pm. Naturally every now and then she needs to play with the "guests" and check them in and out so if you miss her, just leave a message. The voicemail/fax machine is on 24 hours a day and she does try and return all calls the same day. Similarly, she tries to respond to emails by return - assuming she knows the answers to your questions.

Linda tries to co-ordinate the running of the Association efficiently but asks for your patience when major projects such as the RAML, conference, Good Practice Forum and AGM upset the usual routine of book-keeping, membership updates, OH Today, contact with the board, website update etc.