Meet the Board

Vanessa Taylor
Chair

Vanessa attended university and qualified as a pharmacist. Initially she worked for Boots and left when she had children (three who are all grown up). Until they were older she worked part time in both hospital and retail.
Vanessa then went back to work for Boots where she progressed through the organisation – ending as Regional Professional Development Manager working across the whole of the South East and liaising closely with head office in Nottingham.

Vanessa set up as a consultant. She worked as the chief officer for the Local Pharmaceutical Committee, provided consultant services to a number of pharmaceutical companies both in the UK and abroad.

Vanessa also worked to provide training on medicines to care homes across the South East.

In 2018 she retired from work as a pharmacist and applied for her name to be removed from the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) register.

Vanessa now volunteers for the foodbank in Eastbourne and also acts as chair of the Digital First IT programme for the East Sussex wide NHS Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

Vanessa joined our board in January 2020.

Roger Sweetman
Non-Executive Director

Now retired , Roger was an active trade union member, and had experience of different officer roles within his branch throughout his 35 year career in the Civil Service, which was almost entirely spent in East Sussex.

He has been involved in the voluntary sector for many years as a member of numerous groups including the Hastings & R other Health & Social Care Forum, trustees of Hastings Voluntary Action, and of a Community Centre. He was chairman of the Hastings Charity, the Friends of St. Mary-in-the- Castle for 10 years and he is proud that with the Secretary and other trustees he obtained one of the first grants in excess of £1 million from the National Lottery.

Always a campaigner for and advocate of equality and diversity since the mid 70’s. He has always had a special interest in health, social care and gay rights. He is a member of his surgery’s PPG and proud to be a patient representative for Hastings & Rother on ESHT (East Sussex Health Trust’s End of Life Care Improvement Group).

Roger lives in Hastings with Paul, his civil partner and Monte, their Blenheim King Charles Spaniel.

Baldev Soni
Non-Executive Director

Baldev moved to the UK from Kenya at the age of 16 and his first job was working at Tesco for 50 pence a day! Over the next few years he worked hard and qualified as an accountant by the age 22. He has now retired after working for 37 years in local government and as a Pensions Officer at Sussex University. He speaks four languages.

Baldev now spends his time using his vast knowledge and experience to undertake charity work and his list of voluntary jobs is extensive to say the least. He was Chair of Governors while the new secondary school in Peacehaven was being built and was also responsible for finance as Treasurer on the Board of Governors of Varndean School, Brighton. As a board member, Treasurer, Company Secretary and later Chair of Mosaic, a charity in Brighton, he was responsible for raising funds and preparing / implementing financial regulations and policies. He was Secretary of the Sussex Branch of the Royal Institute of Public Administration and acted as Treasurer on the board of Brighton’s Branch of Marriage Guidance Council – now renamed Relate. Baldev jointly managed the Parosi Group in Brighton to teach English to ethnic women, represented Peacehaven minorities on Meridian Older Peoples Forum and was on the Executive Committee of Sompriti based in Lewes. For many years he was an examiner for the Chartered Institute of Public Finance Accountants.

At present, alongside Baldev’s role on the board of East Sussex Community Voice, he is organiser of events for the Sussex Indian Punjabi Society.

Phil Hale
Non-Executive Director

I have worked in health and social care for over 45 years.

In March 1979 I started work in the London Borough of Newham as an unqualified social worker, and then completing my social work qualification in 1984. I moved to East Sussex County Council in 1987, where I continued to work as a Social Worker, including as, what was then called, ‘an approved social worker under the Mental Health Act’. I also worked with children in care, young offenders, older people and co-ran groups for children who had been sexually abused.
I became a senior social worker in 1990 and a social work manager in 1991. I ran an intake and duty team, responding to people in crisis. I provided regular supervision and management to social workers and others in the social work team.
I moved into regulation in April 1992, initially as a Children’s Inspector. I took on a broader base of work in 1997, when I began working with adult services. I transferred into the National Care Standard Commission, when this became operational, in April 2002.
I became a manager of a team of Inspectors in 2003. I continued working in this capacity in the various Commissions until March 2010, when I retired from the Care Quality Commission, due to a management restructuring at that time. I currently work as an independent care consultant, working with providers of health and social care.
I have also been a volunteer with Healthwatch East Sussex for over 10 years and lead on some of their projects, including their enter and view of care homes. I have also carried two pieces of research on behalf of NHS England and local NHS Commissioners, through Healthwatch East Sussex. I sit on the Safeguarding Board of a national charity for older people.

Janet Springate
Non-Executive Director

Janet moved from a rural area near East Grinstead to South East London to start a family. She then moved to Eastbourne in 1981 and started working in the care profession from the ground floor upwards eventually retiring in 2020 as a Registered Manager in a rehabilitation facility after nearly 30 years working for ESCC.

Janet has worked with both children with Learning Disabilities and Adults with a Learning Disability then ventured into Older People’s services . This enabled her to gain various communication skills to engage with the more vulnerable members of society.

She started working with Healthwatch as a volunteer and is motivated by the life stories of the people she has engaged with to help promote an inclusive health and social care service for all.