Healthcare Expert Advisers Panel
The Freshwater Healthcare Expert Advisers Panel includes some of the UK’s most experienced health communication and engagement professionals. They provide Freshwater with a wealth of insight and experience from across the NHS and health sector and are available to support and assist our clients whenever necessary.
Our expert advisers are senior practitioners who have worked on every aspect of health communication, from engagement and consultation through to crisis and issues management. They understand the NHS, what it does and how it does it.
The panel includes people who have worked at the most senior levels in the Department of Health, NHS England, Integrated Care Boards, NHS Trusts, the medical Royal Colleges and NHS charities. They help us to ensure that at Freshwater we bring together the right mix of skills, knowledge and expertise for every one of our health clients.
John Underwood
John is an Executive Director at Freshwater and Director of the Centre for Health Communication Research at Buckinghamshire New University. He is strongly committed to the values of the NHS and, over the past 30 years, has worked extensively on the communication of complex issues in public healthcare. He has provided senior strategic counsel to a wide range of organisations including health commissioners, health providers, professional bodies, regulators and the Department of Health and Social Care
Before moving into communication consultancy, John was an award-winning TV journalist for the BBC, ITN and Channel Four. He uses this expertise at Freshwater to provide specialist communications and media training to a diverse client base.
Nick Samuels
A leading NHS board director and communications professional, Nick has more than 25 years’ experience in healthcare leadership, crisis management, transformation, public engagement and public affairs.
Specialising in developing communication functions and strategies, service change, and staff and public consultation, Nick has recently worked as Interim Director of Communications for Swansea Bay University Health Board and Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West NHS ICB.
He has held previous roles as Executive Director of Strategy, Communications and Policy for the Royal College of Physicians, Director of Communications for NHS Providers and Director of Communications for Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. A former chairman of the Association for Healthcare Communications and Marketing, he is also an occasional writer for the Health Service Journal.
Jane Meggitt
An experienced director of communications and engagement who has spent 25 years leading national, regional and local communication teams across the NHS.
With a career-long passion for patient-centred communications which make an impact, Jane was recently director of communications and engagement at Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board, where she worked on the ICB’s ‘Working with People and Communities Strategy’. She also led the pan-Bedfordshire communications response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as managing ICS communications for the vaccination programme, where her multi-channel campaign received warm recognition from the Cabinet Office.
A collaborative and accomplished leader, Jane has highly effective skills in stakeholder management and, while at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, she led an impressive influencing strategy for the new hospital, which saw more than 50 high profile visits including members of the royal family, the prime minister and secretaries of state.
Jane has received nine national industry awards, and the Department of Health described her team’s achievements while at Addenbrooke’s Hospital as an “exemplar model” for acute trusts.
Victoria Parker
A director of communication with more than 20 years’ experience developing communication and engagement strategies and providing senior counsel.
Victoria has held a number of senior leadership roles. As director of communications and engagement at Royal Berkshire Hospital NHS Foundation Trust she provided invaluable strategic counsel on narrative and brand messaging for the Trust’s new Integrated Care System. She also delivered a successful rebrand of the Royal Berkshire Charity, significantly improving stakeholder relations, which ultimately led to a seven-figure donation.
As previous director lead for BAME and LGBTQ+ groups, Victoria has played a key role in improving NHS inclusion, including at NHS Providers, where she worked with colleagues on the organisation’s highly regarded Race Equality Report. While at the NHS Trust Development Authority, Victoria developed an engagement programme to improve the capabilities of communications teams in the NHS.
Victoria is also an accomplished advisor in times of crisis, having led both public and staff COVID-19 communications at Royal Berkshire. While at the Department of Health and Social Care she was chief press officer, responsible for supporting ministers, including the prime minister with media relations and official visits. A former nurse, Victoria was also private secretary to the director general for social care and clinical engagement lead for Professor Lord Ara Darzi.
Nick Duffin
As a former chief executive of the Consultation Institute Nick is a leading expert in the fields of engagement, involvement and consultation.
Nick provides advice and guidance, quality assurance, risk analysis and evaluation of all types of engagement and consultation. He is an accomplished troubleshooter and problem solver and can deliver training, coaching and mentoring for staff involved in programmes of service change and engagement.
He also guides private sector organisations, investors, funders and not-for-profit businesses on working with communities and providing support to public bodies.
For several years, Nick was chair of the Shalom-Salaam Trust which aims to foster positive relations between Jews and Muslims, both in the UK and abroad, developing projects that help participants build their own opportunities for a future of peace and cooperation.
David Woodthorpe
As interim director of strategic communications and engagement, David recently led Freshwater’s support for an Integrated Care Board going through a period of change and major service reconfiguration.
David has 15 years’ experience of providing strategic advice to Boards and Executive teams across the NHS, on all aspects of stakeholder engagement, public affairs, media relations, reputation management, internal communications, team change and leadership.
As NHS England’s head of strategic communications and engagement for the Midlands and East, he has regularly been deployed to NHS Trusts across the region to help navigate highly complex and sensitive issues. As a consultant during the Covid-19 pandemic, he delivered regional communications for NHS England, as well as for one of the largest CCGs in the country.
Always patient-focussed, David’s expertise in narrative development means he has an impressive track record in delivering impactful stakeholder communications and campaigns. At the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, his work on the corporate public narrative during a period of serious system pressure, significantly improved staff morale, public opinion and stakeholder support.
Before joining the NHS, David worked for 15 years as a journalist in television, radio, national and local print, including as a BBC political editor and correspondent.