Group Boards in Common

Alan Downey took up his role as Group Chair in April 2026.

Alan brings extensive experience of leadership and governance across the NHS and wider public sector. He has previously served as Chair of York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Chair of South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, where he led boards through periods of improvement focused on patient safety and service quality. Earlier in his career he spent eight years in the civil service before joining professional services firm KPMG, where he led the firm’s public sector practice advising organisations across government, healthcare, policing, universities and local government.

Lyn joined the organisation in July 2025 on secondment from North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust.

She has many years’ experience at clinical and executive director level, working within the NHS at local, regional and national levels.

Lyn has served as an executive board director since 1992 across a wide range of NHS sectors. Her roles have included Executive Director of Patient Services at Newcastle Hospitals Trust; Executive Regional Nurse and Director of Operations and Workforce within Strategic Health Authorities; and national Director of NHS Operations at both the Department of Health and NHS England.

She has also worked as Regional Director for the North at the NHS Trust Development Authority, which subsequently became NHS Improvement.

Having trained as a nurse, health visitor and midwife, Lyn remains passionate about the delivery of safe, high-quality patient care, alongside the development and support of staff and services.

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Emma Sayner is a local resident and an experienced Chief Financial Officer having joined Humber Health Partnership in December 2024 following a successful and longstanding career in the local health care system (particularly across Hull and North Lincolnshire) having completed the NHS Graduate Finance Training Scheme in 2000.

Emma is passionate about all aspects of NHS finance and especially the role that it can play in enabling real change, by breaking down boundaries to achieve better outcomes for patients.

Emma continues to have a leading role in local estate strategy and delivery through her longstanding role representing the NHS interest as a Board member of Hull Citycare Ltd (LIFT), which has worked in partnership with the NHS to improve the health care estate across Hull.

Emma is Chair for the Yorkshire and Humber branch of the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA), the professional body for finance staff in the NHS.

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Sam commenced as Group Chief Delivery officer for Humber Health Partnership in March 2026. Sam is also the Accountable Emergency Officer.

Sam was most recently Group Chief Operating Officer for University Hospital Tees but had previously held the role of Chief Operating Officer role for South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust since 2021. Sam has worked in several organisations both locally and nationally, including time working for the NHS Leadership Academy.

Sam holds a MSc in Public Leadership and Healthcare and a bachelor’s degree in business management from the University of Hull. Sam joined the NHS via the NHS Graduate Management Training scheme where he worked in Hull and the East Riding.

Dr Kieran Baker joined us in October 2026 following four years as Chief Digital and Information Officer at South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board. In this role, he led programmes that brought NHS and local government organisations together to improve services across the region. His work focused on modernising technology, making better use of information, developing digital skills, and ensuring digital services are inclusive, secure and connected.

Across almost 14 years, Kieran has held a number of senior leadership positions across the NHS, including roles within an ambulance service, acute hospitals and a national organisation. He is also an Honorary Senior Lecturer in the Sheffield Centre for Health and Related Research at the University of Sheffield.

Julie has a strong passion for public sector services and believes they make a significant contribution to the happiness, health and wellbeing of individuals and communities.

She has worked in the public sector for 40 years, fulfilling a broad range of roles within a single local authority, most recently serving as Chief Executive of a district council for 11 years.

Julie has been actively engaged with the health sector through a variety of platforms, including involvement in the development of an Integrated Care System. She believes this creates opportunities for new dialogues focused on the wider determinants of health and wellbeing. Julie is experienced in exploring stakeholder perspectives to achieve shared understanding and agreement on a way forward.

Jane joined Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust in August 2023 and brings 30 years’ NHS experience, having worked in finance across acute, mental health, community and commissioning settings.

She previously served as Chief Executive of East Riding CCG for five years and Finance Director of North Yorkshire CCG for three years before taking up her non-executive role.

David joined Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust in March 2024. He is a Consultant Physician specialising in stroke medicine and continues to practise clinically. He is also a Medical Examiner and runs a private medicolegal practice.

David has extensive experience in medical leadership, including serving as Chief Medical Officer at Medway NHS Foundation Trust between 2018 and 2021. His key areas of focus during this period included mortality, quality of care, infection control and patient flow.

Jo is a registered nurse with a 39-year career spanning frontline healthcare, commissioning, NHS leadership and the commercial healthcare sector. She is currently a Clinical Non-Executive Director at Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, where she chairs the Quality Committee and is Maternity and Neonatal Safety Champion. Her previous roles have included Director of Clinical and Product Assurance at NHS Supply Chain and senior roles with NHS England covering improvement and digital primary care. A local resident and user of local health services, she has spoken of her commitment to ensuring the views of patients and families remain at the heart of Board decision-making.

Dr Paul Edmondson-Jones MBE has more than 30 years’ experience as a senior strategic leader across the NHS, local government, third sector and Armed Forces. Most recently, he served in senior roles at Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care Board, including Chief Medical Officer, Deputy Chief Executive, Interim Chief Executive and Transition Director. A doctor and public health specialist, Dr Edmondson-Jones has also held senior public health and local authority positions across England. He was awarded the MBE in the 1991 Gulf War Honours List and was named Local Government Corporate Director of the Year in the 2021 MJ Awards. He now lives in Kilham in the East Riding

Dr Ekta Elston is a GP partner at the Roxton Practice in Immingham. She is a former Medical Director of NHS North East Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group and former Clinical Director for North East Lincolnshire at NHS Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board.
She has extensive experience of clinical leadership across the Humber health and care system and is particularly passionate about integrated models of care and empowering staff to lead improvement. She was a member of the NHS 10 Year Health Plan working group and has helped shape national thinking on integrated neighbourhood teams and outpatient transformation.

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