Two women standing in front of a hedge with their arms around each other and smiling at the camera

Our Board

Our Board works to ensure that we are fulfilling our legal and statutory obligations. You can find out more about our Board members below. 

Our Chair, Phil Griffin

Prior to his retirement 5 years ago Phil gained extensive experience of working within senior NHS management across the Black Country and significant experience in commissioning, change management, and public engagement. Phil is also a trustee of two voluntary sector boards and the current Independent Chair of the Walsall Together Service User Group.

Phil has worked and lived within the Black Country for almost 30 years. Engagement with local communities and using the voice and experiences of local people to help improve and shape services are extremely important to Phil.

Combined with his excellent track record of working at senior and board level, primary care, commissioning and market development, Phil’s ambition is to work on behalf of local people and make a difference to the quality and effectiveness of health and social care services they access and need from time to time

Our Board

Dave Bradshaw

I have lived and worked in Sandwell for many years and have a keen interest in health and social care issues facing local residents. I have worked in the community and voluntary sector for nearly 25 years and currently manage an advocacy organisation working throughout Sandwell. I am committed to supporting people in Sandwell to secure their rights, represent their interests and access services they need. I believe that local services are best shaped by involving people who use them in a spirit of true co-production.

I have been fortunate enough to be able to play a role in the strategic development of a number of organisations over the years and have organised and facilitated consultation meetings, user group forums, conferences, Annual General Meetings and 'away days'. At a national level I am an Executive Committee member of the National Coalition of Advocacy Schemes which brings together advocacy schemes from around the country to have a representative and collective voice. I am also Vice-Chair of the Older People’s Advocacy Alliance, the only national organisation supporting independent advocacy services for older people in the UK.

I joined Healthwatch Sandwell in July of 2019 because I feel that I wanted to contribute to an organisation that shares my belief in supporting local people being included in decisions about local service provision.

Patricia Johnson

Pat’s academic life commenced in North London where she gained a BSc (hons) Psychology degree at Middlesex University. On completion of her degree she started her career in mental health which now spans over 25 years. Pat has worked for a number of Third sector organisations including; Mind in Birmingham and Rethink mental illness. Pat’s employment in her current job with SACMHF commenced in 2002 where she introduced a programme of change and transformation. Certain of the changes she led included increased and mixed income streams, implementation of ISO 9001 Quality Standard, increased service delivery, wider geographical reach and embedded user involvement and participation. Pat achieved a Master of Business Administration (MBA) at Wolverhampton University in 2012 which helped to cement some business acumen!

Pat has previously held roles as Trustee for the then African Caribbean Health Improvement Programme in Sandwell, a former member of a Regional Implementation Group for the West Midlands region which worked on the wider recommendations from the Breaking the Circles of Fear report and as an Advisor for the Foundation for Social Improvement, Small Business Advice Hub. Currently Pat is a Director of a local Consortia, Communities in Sync, where SACMHF is a consortium member, a Community Panellist for the Social Investment Business.

Stephanie Thomas

Stephanie Thomas migrated from the twin-island of Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. She is a highly motivated and competent healthcare professional with over 30 years ‘experience in speciality areas including general nursing, intensive care, midwifery and health visiting. Her stewardship of healthcare is evidenced by positions held - staff nurse, midwife and community nurse - being part of the team that commissioned the EWMSCA ICU and Haemodialysis Units in Trinidad. Thomas worked in NHS Yorkshire and the West Midlands Region for over 10 years as Renal Dialysis Nurse, Clinical Nurse Specialist and with other community based organisations as a volunteer . She is currently reading for a MSc in Public Health. 

Valisha Malhi

I have lived and worked in Sandwell and Birmingham for 6 years and I am passionate in improving services and therefore recovery outcomes for those facing any difficulties within the community. I completed my undergraduate in Psychology at the University of Liverpool in 2019 and I am currently undertaking my MSc in the Clinical Applications of Psychology alongside full time employment. I have previously worked as an emotional well-being volunteer, a CBT mentor, a therapist, a mental health support worker and I now currently work as an Emotional Health and Well-being Practitioner for The Children’s Society. I have joined the board to help make positive changes for the community in health and social care by ensuring their voices are heard, especially the voices that can often be disregarded, like young people and the BAME community

Past Board papers

We make the papers for our public Board meetings available online. We also publish a summary of what was discussed. Check out our past meetings to read more.

Find out more