The Board is made up of the PCB chair, PCB chief officer, chairs of the four primary care discipline boards, PCB managing director, and additional representatives from each of the four primary care disciplines – community pharmacy, dentistry, general practice and optometry.
Dr Tracey Vell, Chief Officer, Greater Manchester Primary Care Provider Board
Tracey has worked in general practice for 30 years and in the NHS for more than 34 years. She has political, digital, business and educational leadership backgrounds.
She persevered to bring primary care providers to the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Devolution programme and was chief officer of the Primary Care Provider Collaborative for NHS Greater Manchester (formerly Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership) from October 2015 until April 2024.
As chief officer for Greater Manchester Primary Care Provider Board (PCB) she developed GP Excellence as a peer-based quality improvement and leadership development academy. She also connected frontline primary care providers to Integrated Care System strategy, as well as running innovative and transformative programmes in all disciplines of primary care.
Until October 2024, Tracey split her time between the PCB and Health Innovation Manchester (HInM) as their medical director where she built a clinical office to give timely insight to all innovation.
In November 2024, Tracey stepped down from her role at HInM to expand her position as PCB chief officer and devote more time to primary care providers amidst the changing landscape of primary care.
Tracey was awarded an MBE in the New Year’s Honours in 2018 for her work.
Twitter: @TraceyVell
Luvjit Kandula, Chair, Greater Manchester Primary Care Provider Board
A pharmacist by background and fellow of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, Luvjit has a wealth of leadership experience making her ideally placed to chair the Greater Manchester Primary Care Provider Board, supporting the four discipline-specific boards to come to together with a unified voice for primary care in Greater Manchester.
Luvjit also chairs the Greater Manchester Community Pharmacy Provider Board and is Director of Pharmacy Transformation and Chief Officer of Greater Manchester Local Pharmacy Committee.
Luvjit’s previous roles include Head of Local Pharmacy Committee Engagement and Collaboration at Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee, Chief Officer of Leicestershire and Rutland Local Pharmaceutical Committee, a secondment to NHS Digital to support digitising medicines and pharmacy, Head of Pharmacy Services at Day Lewis, Head of the Pre-registration Training Programmes at Lloyds Pharmacy, and Chair of Warwickshire Local Pharmaceutical Committee.
Luvjit has extensive experience working as a community pharmacist, having also worked in hospital pharmacy and in industry, both in the UK and abroad. She also has a voluntary role as Community Pharmacy Integration Lead for the Primary Care Pharmacy Association.
Twitter: @LuvjitKandula
Don McGrath, Chair, Greater Manchester Dental Provider Board
Don is a general dental practitioner with more than 35 years’ experience caring for patients in South Manchester. He joined Manchester Local Dental Committee 25 years ago and has seen many changes impacting both patients and dentists.
As the Greater Manchester representative on the national General Dental Practice Committee for the last eight years, Don endeavours to represent the interests of our area in a robust and constructive way. He strongly believes dentists have a professional responsibility to support patient requirements to achieve what is best for their continuing care, while representing all dental colleagues to achieve the best care possible.
As Chair of Greater Manchester Dental Provider Board, Don believes it is important to engage with all other primary care groups in order to present a unified voice when negotiating with NHS England and local commissioners and has been working to develop these connections over a number of years.
Twitter: @donmcgrath63
Dr Tim Dalton, Chair, Greater Manchester General Practice Provider Board
Tim has been a practising GP in Wigan since 2000. He has extensive leadership experience, having chaired the former Wigan Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) for 10 years and co-chairing the Healthier Wigan Locality Board.
Tim has a passion for supporting all parts of general practice. He is committed to driving quality improvement for patients and is a champion for training among his colleagues, having turned his own surgery from a single-handed practice to an award winning, four partner training surgery.
As well as his work at locality level, Tim recognises the importance of representing general practice in the wider context of primary care and on a regional scale. He is currently an associate medical director across Greater Manchester, making him ideally positioned for the role of Greater Manchester General Practice Provider Board chair.
Tim is also vice-chair of the Greater Manchester Primary Care Provider Board (PCB), deputising for the PCB chair to support the four discipline-specific boards of dentistry, general practice, pharmacy and optometry to provide a unified voice for primary care in Greater Manchester.
Twitter: @Daltonwiganccg
Dharmesh Patel, Chair, Greater Manchester Optometry Provider Board
An optometrist by background, Dharmesh is chair of the Optometry Provider Board and is Chief Executive of Primary Eyecare Services, which is the lead provider of extended eyecare services in Greater Manchester and beyond. He has wide-ranging expertise in service design, procurement, delivery and quality improvement.
Dharmesh has been a primary care system leader since the beginning of Greater Manchester’s devolution, having previously chaired the Greater Manchester Primary Care Provider Board from its inception in 2015 until August 2023.
Dharmesh is a Trustee of the disability charity SeeAbility. He remains a member of Greater Manchester East Local Optometry Committee and has previously chaired the Greater Manchester Local Eye Health Network.
Twitter: @DharmeshP108
Additional voting board members
Community pharmacy
| Louise Gatley | Director of Services, Greater Manchester Local Pharmaceutical Committee Vice Chair, Community Pharmacy Provider Board |
| Aneet Kapoor | Chair, Local Professional Network – Pharmacy Board member, Greater Manchester Local Pharmaceutical Committee |
| Fin McCaul | Vice Chair, Greater Manchester Local Pharmaceutical Committee |
Dentistry
| Stuart Allan | Secretary, West Pennine Local Dental Committee |
| Martin Longbottom | Vice Chair, Dentistry Provider Board |
| Jim Rochford | Secretary, Manchester Local Dental Committee |
General practice
| Amir Hannan | Chair, West Pennine Local Medical Committee Chair, Association of Greater Manchester Local Medical Committees Co-Chair, NHS Values Group GP, Haughton Thornley, Hyde |
| Eve Mannerings | Chief Executive, Salford and Trafford Local Medical Committee |
| Michael Smith | Chief Officer, Bolton GP Federation |
Optometry
| Matthew Jinkinson | Jinkinson Opticians Chair, Greater Manchester Local Eye Health Network Chair, GM East Local Optical Committee |
| Kevin Liu | Specsavers Chair, Manchester, Salford and Trafford Local Optical Committee |
| Julia Maiden | Asda Opticians Chair, Ashton, Leigh and Wigan Local Optical Committee |
