The Board of the Belfast Trust is responsible for the strategic direction and management of the Trust’s activities. It is accountable, through the chairman, to the Permanent Secretary at the Department of Health Social Services and Public Safety, and ultimately to the Minister for Health.
It is made up of a Chairman, seven non Executive Directors, five Executive Directors and seven other Directors. The Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety appoints non-executive directors, with the approval of the Minister for Health, Social services and Public Safety.
The Trust Board meets approximately 6 times per year and anyone can attend.
In addition to the Chairman Mr Peter McNaney, the following people are members of Trust Board.
Non-Executive members of Trust Board
Professor Martin Bradley
Professor Bradley was appointed as an Non-Executive Director with effect from 18 May 2015. He has previously held the positions of Chief Nursing Officer in the Western HSS Board from 1997 – 2003, Director, Royal College of Nursing (Northern Ireland) 2003 – 2005 and Chief Nursing Officer within the Department of Health Social Services and Public Safety 2005 – 2011. Prof. Bradley is also involved in voluntary work as the Chair of the Down & Connor Committee of the Irish Bishops Drug Initiative, Trustee of the Florence Nightingale Foundation and a Trustee of the UK Board of Healthcare Chaplaincy. He is a visiting Professor of Nursing at the Ulster University, a Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing and a Fellow of the Queens Nursing Institute. In 2013 he was awarded the OBE for services to nursing in the UK and is a Deputy Lieutenant for the County Borough of Belfast.
Ms Miriam Karp
Miriam Karp works in Health Regulation as a Tribunal member of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service and the General Optical Council, Fitness to Practise Chair for the Nursing and Midwifery Council and Social Work England, Panellist for the Exceptional Circumstances Body, Department of Education and she is a Lay Member of the Secretary Of State for Transport’s Honorary Medical Advisory Panel. She has previously been a Non-Executive Director of the Public Health Agency; the Northern Ireland Social Care Council; and the Northern Ireland Teaching Council.
Mrs Nuala McKeagney
Mrs McKeagney was appointed as an Non-Executive Director with effect from 18 May 2015 and is currently a Director of Blueprint Development Consultancy Ltd, a consultancy business she co-founded 15 years ago. Prior to this Mrs McKeagney worked as Economic Development Manager within Belfast City Council. She holds a BSc in Economics, a Masters in Business Administration and a Diploma in Company Direction from the Institute of Directors. She has served as a director on a range of voluntary boards and is currently Acting Chairman of St. Paul’s Junior High School Board of Governors in Lurgan.
Ms Anne O’Reilly
Ms O Reilly was appointed as an Non-Executive Director with effect from 1 July 2015. She has over 25 years experience as CEO and Senior Manager of a range of voluntary organisations working with older people and women and children. She is a professional foster carer, sits on the board as a volunteer director of two local women’s sector organisations, and is also a non executive director of the NI Social Care Council.
Dr Patrick Loughran
Dr Loughran was appointed as an Non-Executive Director with effect from 1 July 2015. He recently held a consultancy post within the Health Information and Quality Authority Dublin. Dr Loughran has previous career experience within health and social care including working as a Consultant Anaesthetist and as the Medical Director for the Southern HSC Trust until 2011. He is currently involved in voluntary work through the St Vincent de Paul Society, and the Southern Area Hospice in Newry.
Mr Gordon Smyth
Gordon Smyth was appointed as Non-Executive Finance Director to Belfast Health and Social Care Trust with effect from 5th April 2016 for a period of four years. He spent most of his career in the banking sector where he gained 28 years management experience from working in both Head Office and the branch network. He has a strong commitment to the voluntary sector where he has had a number of leadership roles. Gordon is a former board member of the Medical & Dental Training Agency ( NIMDTA ) and holds a public appointment as a non-executive financial board member at the Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) where he has been Chair of the Audit Risk and Governance Committee since October 2014.
Professor David Jones
Professor Jones gained a BSc (1st class honours) in Pharmacy (1985), a PhD in Pharmaceutics (1988) and, in 2006, a DSc., all from Queens University of Belfast.
He registered with the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland in 1989. From 1989-1992 he was a lecturer in Pharmaceutics at the University of Otago and from 1992-1994 he held the position of Head of Formulations at Norbrook Industries Limited (NI).
In 1994 he was appointed to a lectureship at the School of Pharmacy, QUB, was promoted to a Senior Lectureship in 1997 and again promoted to a personal Chair (based in the School of Pharmacy).
His research concerns the characterisation, formulation and engineering of pharmaceutical materials/dosage forms and biomedical devices.
He is the author of two textbooks, 6 patents and over 400 research papers/communications and has been awarded the Lilly prize for pharmaceutical research and the British Pharmaceutical Conference Science Award.
Professor Jones is both a Chartered Engineer and a Chartered Chemist and is an elected Fellow of the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland, a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society, a Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a Member of the Institute of Engineers in Ireland.
He is the Editor of the Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology and is a previous holder of the prestigious position of a Royal Society Industrial Fellow.
Executive Members of Trust Board
The Executive Team are also members of Trust Board. Read about the Executive Team here.
Code of Accountability
A Code of Accountablity for board members of Health and Social Care bodies. These codes provide a basis on which Health and Social Care bodies should seek to fulfil the duties and responsibilities conferred upon the by the Department of Health.
Click here to read the full Code of Accountability.
Code of Business Conduct and Code of Accountability 2018-19 – Non Executive Directors
Code of Business Conduct and Code of Accountability 2018-19 – Directors