Meet the team

At the start of her career, Sandie trained and practiced as a Diagnostic Radiographer working in several hospitals in and around London and the South East. Sandie went on to specialise in Nuclear Medicine and spent a year working in New Zealand.

After leaving the health service, Sandie went onto a number of roles in local government and the voluntary sector, including managing hostel services in Lewisham, Community Safety Manager at Maidstone Council and CEO of a domestic abuse outreach service. Since moving to Cambridgeshire, she has worked at Cambridgeshire County Council, most recently as Strategic Development Manager working on the personalisation of Adult Social Care. 

Sandie has a first-class degree in Social Policy and a MA in Social Sciences, both gained through the Open University. Her community work has included being a school governor, Vice-Chair of Medway Racial Equality Council, Treasurer of Greenwich Women’s Aid and she is currently a Parish Councillor.

Caroline has a background in education and training. She’s worked in a number of roles within local disability organisations and in recent years she has managed the delivery of contracts in both advocacy and information, advice and guidance. 

Caroline has considerable experience of working with people affected by both physical and learning disabilities, long term health conditions, including mental health issues, and also families caring for disabled children.

Emma comes from a nursing background. She worked as an RGN nurse for fifteen years before taking a break to live in France with her husband where they started a family. Since returning, she was keen to continue working in a health-related role and initially volunteered for us, before joining us as a sessional project worker in 2015.

Emma has supported a number of projects including young people’s mental health, and drugs and alcohol use. In 2017, she became a Project Manager and is working on intelligence-led projects in a job-share with Janine Newby-Robson.

Following a long career in planning and commissioning health services in Cambridgeshire, Heather has spent more recent years working for a number of local voluntary sector organisations where she has continued to develop her interests in the needs of disabled people, older people and carers. She joined Healthwatch in early 2014.

In her current role, Heather works closely with local communities, groups, organisations and individuals to make sure people's experiences of using local health and care services are heard. 

For over 20 years Graham has been involved in the voluntary community sector; working in project management, community development, facilitating groups and workshops, training, mentoring of staff and volunteers, as well as managing service delivery of local and national projects.  He has worked in a variety of settings, from homeless hostels, youthwork, health promotion, supporting victims of crime, and working with people who have lived experience of disability and older people.

As Partnerships Manager, Graham supports the work of the Adult Social Care Partnership Boards in Cambridgeshire. This brings together statutory, voluntary and community sector organisations with people of lived experience of disability, older people and carers to help feedback on and improve adult social care services.

Heather has over 30 years’ experience of working to enable and empower people. She has worked in a variety of different roles including, development of public policy, disability awareness and education in schools, community service development as well as volunteer management.

Heather’s job is to look after our volunteers and make sure they have the training and support they need to volunteer with us. She is passionate about equality, and making sure that Healthwatch can harness the skills and interests of people from across the communities of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

Following a career in Retail Banking, up to Area Director level Jo has enjoyed working in a number of roles within the voluntary sector. She is passionate about equality for all and celebrating diversity, and has previously worked with both mental health and physical disability charities.

Jo is responsible for looking for funding opportunities and developing our local partnership work, enabling us to do more projects and carry out more activities across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

Julie spent 27 years working in public libraries before joining Healthwatch in 2013.  She developed library services for older people and people with disabilities, including library services to people in care settings. 

She now runs our Information and Signposting service, responding to members of the public who contact us with questions about local health and care services. She also manages our information systems.

Janine has previous experience in the health service working as a personal health trainer helping patients to make lifestyle changes to improve health. She has also worked in the field of adult and childhood weight management and sexual health.

Her role within Healthwatch is to find out about people's experiences of using local health and social care services, for example giving talks and attending community events.  In 2017, she became a Project Manager and is working on intelligence-led projects in a job-share with Emma Amez.

Angie has over twenty years' experience of working in the voluntary and community sector in Cambridgeshire. She started her career as a community fundraiser for Vitalise, a national disability charity, and has since worked across a variety of roles in charity management, volunteer management, community engagement and communications. 

As Communications Manager, her role is to let people know what Healthwatch is up to. She is committed to making Healthwatch communications clear and accessible to everyone. 

Carole comes from a background of working with the Royal Navy, Police, Fraud investigations, Insurance and Aero metals supply. She has a wide range of experience which she now brings to her role as Office and Finance Manager. Carole makes sure our offices run smoothly and safely, and that the incoming and outgoing expenses are accurate.

Anne has a background of 38 years in the NHS as a learning disability nurse specialising in care and services for children. She managed residential respite services across Cambridgeshire, before becoming a special needs school nurse. 

Anne is active in the local community as a Director of Huntingdon Mencap Society. She also volunteers for a range of other local organisations.

Anne helps Julie run our Information and Signposting service, responding to people’s questions about local health and care services.

Debbie works with Graham to support the Independent Members on the Cambridgeshire Partnership Boards. She also helps us run local community health forum events across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

Having worked with disabled people in a variety of roles in the voluntary sector for many years, she brings a huge amount of warmth and practical experience to our team at Healthwatch.

Debbie was an active member of the Learning Disability Board for many years as a parent carer. She was also a Board Member for Cambridgeshire Alliance for Independent Living, a former local disability charity.

Kate is passionate about supporting the patient and public voice in the improvement of health and care services, having also worked in Community Health Councils, PPI and the local LINk. She has a particular interest in older people’s care and is a Dementia Friends Champion.

Kate is part of our engagement team and spends most of her time out in the community talking about Healthwatch and listening to people’s experiences of local services

After moving to the UK in 2002, Rebwar worked with fellow members of the Kurdish community in Peterborough, helping them to access local support and services. He went on to become a community organiser in the Eastfield area and then worked as a sexual health outreach worker for EAST, working with local communities. He has also undertaken research projects for Citizens’ Advice Peterborough and the Norfolk-based sexual health charity EAST.

Rebwar spends most of his time out in the community, listening to the health and care experiences of people who are less likely to share their stories.

James graduated as a social worker in 2012.  After working in a day centre for people with learning disabilities, he moved onto working for an organisation that represented the voice of people with disabilities, older people and carers in Cambridgeshire.

As Communications Officer, James helps to let people know what our Healthwatch is up to.  He is our Information Access Champion and will be helping us to make sure that information about our Healthwatch is accessible to people with disabilities.