Trust Board

Professor Richard Scothon - Trust Chairman

Professor Richard Scothon was appointed as Chairman of County Durham & Darlington NHS Foundation Trust with effect from 1 March 2023, having previously been a Non Executive Director.  With senior oversight experience in Health Research & Innovation, Equality, Diversity & Inclusion, as well as Audit and Operational Performance.

Richard was previously Chair of the CDDFT Charity and is an advocate for enabling the Charity's fantastic work.

Beyond the Trust, Richard has a wide range of community roles, including sitting as a Justice. He holds an MBA from Durham University.

Mrs Sue Jacques - Chief Executive

Appointed as Chief Executive on 1 March 2012, having previously held the position of Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Operating Officer at the Trust, Sue Jacques has been a Director of Finance for more than ten years and holds an MA in financial management.

Mr Noel Scanlon - Executive Director of Nursing and Patient Experience

Noel Scanlon has been a registered nurse for over thirty years and spent the last ten or so in senior nursing roles in the NHS, including two Executive Director of Nursing positions and Deputy Chief Executive in large acute secondary hospital trusts.  He has also spent three years in a senior nursing role for the state health provider in Qatar.

Mr Jeremy Cundall - Executive Medical Director

Jeremy is a consultant surgeon at the Trust and has worked for the organisation since 2008.  He has held the position of Care Group Director for Surgery since August 2014.

Jeremy trained at St George's hospital medical school in London, graduating in 1995 and then achieved an MD thesis at Hull before completing his higher surgical training in the North East.

His clinical interests include general and colorectal surgery with a subspecialist interest in pelvic floor conditions such as rectal prolapse, constipation and incontinence.

Ms Lorraine Nelson - Executive Director of Operations

Lorraine has 30 years' experience in the NHS. She brings expertise and experience from a wide range of functions including finance and operational management. Most recently being divisional director for surgery and elective recover lead at a neighbouring trust. Lorraine is also the Trust's Accountable Emergency Officer.

Mr David Brown- Executive Finance Director

David Brown became Executive Financial Director in 2017 and is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants with many years of experience in NHS Finance. He has held positions within Acute Hospitals, Strategic Health Authorities, Primary Care Trusts and Foundation Trusts.

Ms Kathryn Featherstone - Non Executive Director

Kathryn has been a Trust governor for eight years, including a period as lead governor, working to ensure patients' and carers' concerns are considered when the Trust is developing strategies and work plans.  Kathryn has spent her career in healthcare, qualifying as a pharmacist in 1983.  She has many years' experience working as a community pharmacist, in NHS management and currently as a primary care pharmacist working within GP practices.

Kathryn is also clinical director for a company providing pharmacy support to GP practices.  She also played a key role in setting up the Listening Friends scheme, a telephone help-line for pharmacists under stress and was one of the national co-ordinators for 20 years.

Shirley Crawshaw - Non Executive Director

Mr Michael Bretherick - Non Executive Director and Vice Chairman

Appointed 1 June 2016 until 31 May 2019.  Michael is an experienced non-executive director, having served on the Board of North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust and with the housing association Tees Valley Housing.

A former Principal and Chief Executive of Hartlepool College of Further Education, Michael oversaw the building of the college's new £55m campus, and served on numerous local, regional and national committees in a career that spanned 34 years in further education.  Michael serves on the Boards of two local charities and as a Director of a local primary school.

Lisa Quinn - update in progress

Steve Crosland - Non Executive Director

Appointed 1 June 2018 until 31 May 2021.  Steve began his career in the public sector where he spent ten years working in economic regeneration, bringing inward investment to the North East.  He then took his skills into the private sector working for utility providers, where he developed a specialty in HR, ultimately working at Director level and subsequently working as a HR Director in the aviation sector.

Steve now runs his own HR consultancy, working for clients close to home and as far afield as Kazakhstan.  Steve is also a Non-Executive Director of Port of Tyne and operates his own UK wide mediation practice with a number of UK and European clients in a variety of sectors covering chemicals and processing, transport and logistics. media services, financial services and higher education.  Through a Birmingham-based charity, Steve undertakes mediation for children with special educational needs.