Meet the SMT and Delivery Team DRAFT

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

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 Community Pharmacy Greater Manchester.

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.

An optometrist by background, Dharmesh is a member of the Greater Manchester Optometry Provider Board (OPB) and chair of the Greater Manchester Primary Care Provider Board (GMPCB) Finance and Audit Committee.

He 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 GMPCB from its inception in 2015 until August 2023, as well as chairing the Greater Manchester OPB until April 2026.

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.

Ben is an experienced leader with 20 years experience in health. He has a particular focus on working with organisation to drive change to deliver sustainability. Ben is experienced in developing collaborative solutions that will endure as staff and structures evolve. 

Ben has worked at board level in commissioning organisations in a range of finance, management and programme transformation roles. He has supported work in developing solutions for community gynaecology, ear, nose and throat (ENT) and dermatology services.

Helen is an experienced senior manager, with over 24 years experience in health and care. She has a passion for developing community-based and integrated health and care services, as well as wider public service reform to support the work of Greater Manchester Primary Care Provider Board (GMPCB).

Having worked for acute and community providers in various Greater Manchester roles, Helen brings programme, project and transformation management skills, along with strategy design, development and delivery, strategic and operational planning, commissioning and service integration.  

Rob joined the NHS in 1992. He has experience as an executive director on both primary care and NHS trust boards. Most recently he was the chief commissioning officer for NHS Greater Manchester (NHS GM).

As chief commissioning officer for NHS GM, Rob was responsible for a commissioning budget of more than six billion pounds. He led the co-production process for the Greater Manchester Primary Care Blueprint, and was the senior responsible officer for the Greater Manchester Health and Care Review and the Greater Manchester Financial Recovery Programme.

Since retirement from full-time employment, Rob has worked as an independent consultant. As well as working with Greater Manchester Primary Care Provider Board GMPCB), he also works with the voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise (VCFSE) sector in Greater Manchester and across the north west. He is a non-executive director at Six Degrees Social Enterprise, based in Salford.

Joanna has been a GP partner in Greater Manchester for 27 years. She is a GenerationQ Fellow of the Health Foundation and a Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) clinical adviser and college representative for quality improvement and transgender healthcare. She has held board positions at AQUA and Healthwatch England.

Joanna has a Masters degree in Leadership for Quality Improvement and is co-author of the RCGP Guide to Quality Improvement (QI). Her particular interest is in making established QI methodology relevant and accessible for primary care and encouraging all who work within healthcare to develop their leadership skills.

Joanna can help providers with support related to QI, leadership and organisational culture. 

A GP by background, Chris has held a range of senior system leadership roles including GP partner, head of a large multi-site social enterprise practice and director of a GP federation.

He currently works as a salaried GP at Cornbrook Medical Practice and serves as chief clinical information officer and GP digital lead for Greater Manchester Primary Care Provider Board (GMPCB), where he leads clinical input into data, digital and information governance strategy.

In addition to his NHS roles, Chris is chief medical officer for Zonder Health, a tech-enabled chronic disease care provider. He is also chief medical officer for CoreHealth Partners, a specialist consultancy dedicated to strengthening NHS primary care, community services and adult social care.

With over 20 years’ experience, Lorna brings a deep understanding of the realities of care delivery, and the pressures faced by those leading in primary care organisations. She has led complex service re-design, supported multidisciplinary teams, contributed to large-scale transformation and delivered national improvement programmes.

While her roots are in general practice, Lorna is committed to supporting the wider primary care system and the role all providers play in delivering joined-up, patient-centred care. Her approach focuses on turning system priorities into practical programmes that deliver meaningful impact for front-line teams, ensuring that programmes are realistic, relevant and add genuine value by supporting workforce resilience, leadership development, and sustainable service improvement.

Ann joined Greater Manchester Primary Care Provider Board (GMPCB) in 2021. She works primarily on the general practice and dental excellence programmes and has been part of the GP excellence team since its inception in June 2017.

Ann has wide-ranging primary and community care experience, having managed the Greater Manchester GP contracting team from 2013 to 2020. Her previous roles include primary care development manager for Bury and Rochdale Health Authority and head of primary care at Heywood Middleton and Rochdale Primary Care Trust (PCT).

Ann has supported the GMPCB excellence programmes to provide practices and their staff with access to training and development opportunities in areas such as Care Quality Commission (CQC), leadership, coaching and mentoring, as well as an extensive portfolio of practical in-person and pre-recorded webinars covering topics including complaints handling, quality improvement, business continuity, appraisal and many more. 

Andrew is an experienced programme manager with over 20 years’ experience in the NHS. He has worked across commissioning, provision and strategy and has a wide portfolio. Andrew also has experience of working in local government and the voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise (VCSFE) sector.

He is a generalist programme manager, meaning he has worked on both health related as well as technical programmes.

Andrew was responsible for leading on the Greater Manchester Proactive and Personalised Care Programme. He has also worked on educational programmes for primary care networks (PCNs) to assist them to deliver circulation health projects.

Andrew really enjoys the delivery of programmes and engaging with all primary care disciplines. He has experience with stakeholder engagement, and he relishes being able to bring organisations and people together to collaborate on schemes and programmes working within wider population health management.

Dominic is an experienced manager with over 30 years’ expertise in project and programme management, service development, and quality improvement across multiple sectors. He has a proven track record of leading initiatives from design through to evaluation, with a strong emphasis on collaborative working and integrated approaches.

Dominic speacialises in the co-ordination of health and wellbeing approaches for individual and teams, with a background in social prescribing and wellbeing coaching.

Dominic is also a training facilitator working in partnership with the NHS Leaders’ Wellbeing Faculty, supporting the delivery of the NHS Leaders’ Wellbeing Programme for the Greater Manchester primary care workforce. The programme provides a practical solution towards driving a fundamental cultural shift towards compassionate, inclusive, and collective leadership to improve staff experience and organisational productivity.

Rose is a project officer with 10 years’ experience of co-ordinating quality improvement programmes and large-scale events for the NHS workforce.

She is skilled in stakeholder engagement, communication and project administration.

Rose is committed to continuous improvement and supporting healthcare professionals through well co-ordinated and high-quality programmes.

With over 13 years’ experience working in primary care, predominantly in general practice, Mercedes has developed extensive knowledge and expertise in healthcare administration and operational support.

She has worked for Greater Manchester Primary Care Provider Board (GMPCB) for over two years providing support across all four GMPCB sub-boards.

Mercedes holds a Level 5 qualification in Operational and Departmental Management, which has strengthened her leadership, organisational and strategic management skills.

Her key responsibilities at GMPCB include providing administrative support to each GNPCB sub-board, co-ordinating and arranging meetings, and delivering finance support to ensure the smooth and efficient running of services.

She is passionate about supporting effective healthcare delivery and maintaining strong organisational processes that enable teams and services to perform at their best.

Karen is a strategic freelance communications specialist and a qualified journalist, with more than 27 years’ experience in both the public and private sectors.

With a background in local government and NHS communications, Karen is skilled at advising and influencing at a senior level, including politicians, stakeholders, and the media.

She is experienced at engaging with different audiences, reputation management, planning and delivering communications strategies, and converting complex information into clear and concise copy.

Julia has over 10 years’ experience in communications across the NHS and public sector, including roles at Bury Council, North West Ambulance Service, Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale CCG and NHS Greater Manchester.

She has all-round communications experience, with a particular focus on digital communications.

Julia currently works on a freelance basis for Greater Manchester Primary Care Provider Board (GMPCB) providing communications support, helping them to manage and grow their digital channels.