Our Patrons

Brian Pollard

Local artist

“Having worked as a family doctor for 30 years in Plymouth, I know St Luke’s plays an invaluable role in caring for people at the end of life. The holistic care and support given extends across the community, reaching people at home, in hospital and at the specialist unit at Turnchapel. This means the majority of patients are able to spend their final days in the comfort of their own homes, with loved ones – which I think most of us would wish to do.

It is a real privilege to be a patron of this much-loved local charity.”

Mark Ormrod

Royal Marine, Invictus Games athlete, motivational speaker

“When I was asked to be a patron of St Luke’s, I had no hesitation in accepting. My cousin is one of their home nurses, so I know what a difference they make across Plymouth, where I was born, and the surrounding areas. I’m also aware of the charity’s trial project whereby veterans support other veterans towards the end of their lives, and that’s something I have a close affiliation with. I know that when a family loses a loved one, it can be a very emotional and traumatic time – my own family faced real challenges when I was injured, and I was fortunate enough to pull through.

“The more support you have around you during those times, the better. That’s why I wanted to get involved and do what I can to help promote the great work they do.”

Mark Ormrod is an internationally acclaimed motivational speaker, a peak performance coach, and the author of the award winning auto-biography Man Down. He is a source of daily inspiration for the thousands of people. As well as a peak performance coach he is a mentor and a role model to other amputees and an ambassador for the Royal Marines Association.

Mark is passionate about his community and has kindly become a Patron of St Luke’s Hospice Plymouth, to fully support our End of Life Military Compassion project, where we utilise St Luke’s as a specialist end of life care service, to improve the engagement, access and quality of care for current/former military personnel in the last months/days of their life and help develop a compassionate support network for both patients and families within existing military communities. Last year alone, we cared for over 80 military families. He aims to influence a future with St Luke’s being there.

To find out more, click here.

Our Trustees

Nick Thomas, Chair of Trustees

Areas covered: Income Generation Group.

Nick is the retired deputy CEO of University Hospitals Plymouth and has enjoyed a rich career encompassing multiple aspects of health and care at UHP, including planning, IT, estates and finance. An accountant by training, Nick has most recently been involved in making business cases and business plans and putting commercial projects together. Nick believes St Luke’s has a pivotal role to play in raising the standards of end of life care across the wider local system, while maintaining its own well established commitment to service excellence.

Originally from Llanelli in South Wales, Nick has lived and worked in Devon for nearly 30 years, becoming part of the community in Ivybridge and in Plympton, where he and his wife now live.

Dr Martin Walker, Vice Chair of Trustees

Areas covered: Finance & Audit Committee and Clinical Review Group.

Martin became a Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine and Anaesthesia at Derriford Hospital, Plymouth in1994 after training in London, Dallas and Oxford. He had to retire in 2012 due to serious ill health, but now wishes to contribute to the wider community of the Plymouth area as a Trustee. His NHS position involved leading a multidisciplinary clinical team and working in a close-knit team. He had various local, regional and national management and advisory roles.

Fiona Field

Areas covered: Organisational Risk and Audit Committee and BEESafe Health & Safety Committee.

Fiona has 38 years of experience in the health and social care sector as a provider and commissioner. Her specialisms include; older people services, safeguarding and integration. She is also the Independent Chair of the Safeguarding Adults Board for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

Fiona brings a wealth of experience in health and social care to St Luke’s, including a high level of safeguarding expertise and knowledge of strategic work.  She has been an executive director in the NHS for 15 years and has been a Trustee of Cheshire Young Carers.

Steven Carter

Areas covered: Organisational Risk & Audit Committee and Income Generation Group.

Steven is a professional and compassionate leader with extensive experience in commercial contracting, procurement management and the delivery of major capital projects. He has a diverse background gained most recently within health care at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, but previously within marine engineering and quality assurance sectors.  He is an active listener and great communicator and enjoys interacting with all members of the organisation.

Nikki Duncan

Areas covered: People & Transformation and Reward & Remuneration

Nikki has recently retired after over 40 years as a specialist Employment Law Solicitor, working first in London, and then as a partner in two south west commercial law firms. In recent years Nikki has coordinated all legal services to a Hospice, and advised a further Hospice, as well as a range of other Health Sector clients. As such, Nikki is able to bring relevant legal experience to complement the St Lukes’ Board.

Nikki has always been passionate about training up the next generation of lawyers. She spent several years on the Management Committee of the Employment Lawyers Association, which represents both barristers and solicitors, including time as its national Training Coordinator. This give Nikki the opportunity to help the Association provide excellent training and development for lawyers working in the developing Employment Law field of practice. These national roles, and her time on the Law Society Council, also gave opportunities, working with various Government departments, to input to the development of new Law, and to the professional standards needed to best serve the public. Again she hopes skills learnt may be helpful to St Lukes’ Board.

Nikki shares the ethos of St Lukes’, and is proud to be associated with such a valued local charity.

James Henniker

Areas covered: BEESafe Health & Safety Committee, Income Generation Group, Organisational Risk & Audit Committee.

James currently works as a civil servant, heading up the contract management function within HMNB Devonport. He has a strong project and programme management background and has recently helped lead the procurement of a new Naval Base Services contract for HMNB Devonport. This experience has equipped James with a strong background in commercial contracts and transformation/change management skills which he hopes will benefit him in his role as Trustee. James is also a workplace representative for GMB Union and regularly provides advice and guidance for members on a range of areas such as pay, remuneration, and employment law. Prior to taking his role as contract manager in Devonport, James worked as a Senior Project Manager for a number of other Government organisations in Bristol, mainly focussed on defence procurement and early careers development schemes where he has mentored and coached many new graduates and apprentices.

James was born and raised in Plymouth, where he attended school at Devonport High School for Boys before completing his BSc (Hons) Business Management degree with the University of Plymouth. James has always been appreciative of the brilliant care that St Luke’s provide throughout the community, so is both honoured and excited to start his new role as Trustee.

Jack Henniker

Areas covered: People & Transformation and Reward & Remuneration.

Jack was a born and bred in Plymouth, attending Devonport High School for Boys through his teenage years before commencing a BSc (Hons) Business Management undergraduate degree with the University of Plymouth. Following this, Jack was fortunate in gaining a place on the NHS Graduate Management Training Scheme (GMTS) despite a competitive recruitment process which saw him participate against 16,000 other applicants across the UK. This fast-track leadership programme saw Jack complete several placements across the Devon healthcare system, including University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust (UHP) and Devon CCG, gaining extensive competence in a variety of disciplines such as HR, Leadership and Project Management. Jack later returned to UHP as Medical HR Manager before joining Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust (RCHT) in his current role as People & Organisational Development Partner, acting as the lead specialist within the Urgent, Emergency & Trauma Care Group for all People, Employee Relations, Recruitment, Learning and Development and Organisational Development activity.

Jack hopes his passion and expertise within health and social care will be of value

Helen Hocking (Treasurer)

Helen worked in finance within the public and charity sector in Plymouth for over 30 years.  She qualified as a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) at Plymouth City Council and worked in a number of roles before becoming Head of Finance.

In 2009 she took a lead role in the transfer of the City’s Council houses from the Council to a new charity, Plymouth Community Homes, where she became Financial Controller.  This gave her the opportunity of working in the charity sector and also seeing how important good and secure housing is.

Helen retired with her husband in 2018 and have since enjoyed spending their time gardening, walking and exploring.

Helen feels honoured and very fortunate that she can now use her skills to support such an inspiring charity as St Luke’s.

Jemma Edge

Jemma Edge

Jemma is currently a Deputy Chief Operating Officer at Derriford Hospital and responsible for elective care and cancer. She has extensive senior management experience across a number of acute specialties including surgery and medicine, and is a currently an Expert Advisor for the national team.

Lesa Annear

Lesa has more than 30 years’ experience at senior and board level across private and, more recently, public sector organisations, including EDF Energy, Plymouth City Council and Serco Group.

Mainly specialising in strategy, finance and commercial disciplines, she is a qualified Chartered Management Accountant and European Business graduate.

Lesa is very pleased to be a trustee of St Luke’s Hospice Plymouth, an organisation she says plays a vital role in our local community.

She also serves as a board member of Horizon Multi Academy Trust in Plymouth.

Passionate about the countryside, in her spare time she enjoys rambling, cycling and racketball.

Will Warrender

Will served as an officer in the Royal Navy for 32 years, rising to the rank of Rear Admiral and holding multiple senior command and personnel training posts during his distinguished career. He was appointed a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in 2018 in recognition of “gallant and distinguished services in the field”.

Retiring from the Forces in 2020, Will was appointed CEO at South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT), seeing the organisation through the Covid pandemic and becoming the national lead for employee wellbeing at the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives.

Nick Green

Nick is an influential and award-winning Commercial Partnerships Director with over 20 years’ experience working predominantly within the sports media sector. He has significant industry expertise having worked with some of the UK’s largest news brands, developing robust and sustainable collaborations with high-profile brand partners.  He currently works at the Telegraph, as the Head of Sport Partnerships.

Nick was born in Plymouth and St Luke’s is a charity that is close to his heart, having looked after both his mum and his step-grandad. He is looking forward to being able to now give something back and offer support to a charity that he feels does so much great work across the local community.

Our Senior Management Team

George Lillie, Chief Executive

Susan Cannon, Director of Finance and Resources and Deputy CEO

Adrienne Murphy, Director of People Services

Tricia Davis, Director of Clinical Services

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