NELFT’s Joint Director for Delivery and Partnerships, Clare Burns, is taking on a new role as the interim Executive Director of Partnerships this week.

Clare has been with the NHS since 2003 and joined NELFT in mid-2022. She has always been in the health and social care sector, working in a care home from the age of 14 ─ first in the kitchens making breakfasts and then caring for the patients.

Clare said:

“It was incredibly rewarding work, supporting people to live as independently as possible, even though they were in full time care.”

She worked in several different local authority care homes in Coventry and has also been a community safety officer, which started her career in neighbourhood development ─ supporting residents to deliver change in their neighbourhood.

Since joining the NHS over 20 years ago as a performance manager, Clare has worked across providers and commissioners, including BHRUT and Havering CCG, and at Broomfield and Southend hospitals.

In her new role, Clare will be involving patients and staff in reviewing the organisational strategy, building on the involvement in the collaboratives in both London and Essex to make a difference to patients in the community across NELFT’s localities.

Clare added:

“I’m really excited to be able to lead on the strategy for our role in the collaboratives because we are entering a phase in the NHS where organisations are working together to do the right thing for our patients and residents.”