Ruth leads the SWAG Cancer Alliance, driving cancer transformation across four Integrated Care Board systems. She oversees strategic planning, programme delivery, and stakeholder engagement, ensuring SWAG's vision aligns with operational goals. Ruth joined SWAG in early 2024, bringing senior leadership experience from NHS England South West and the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital. Her clinical background is in specialist physiotherapy, focusing on sarcoma and metastatic bone tumours. Ruth is passionate about leading a dynamic team to deliver meaningful change and improve outcomes for cancer patients and their families.
Ruth Carr, Managing Director
Helen is a Consultant Medical Oncologist who joined SWAG as Clinical Director to lead improvements in cancer outcomes and patient experience. She trained at Barts and UCLH, completed a PhD at Oxford, and has worked internationally. Her role includes developing workforce and clinical leadership strategies, embedding research and clinical trials, and addressing health inequalities through the CORE20PLUS5 framework. Helen is committed to driving excellence in cancer care, accelerating diagnosis and treatment, and ensuring patients remain at the heart of everything SWAG does.
Dr Helen Winter, Clinical Director
Tyrone has worked in the NHS for over 10 years and joined SWAG in 2024. His background spans various operational roles including clinical coding, IT, and management within GP practices and NHS Trusts. At SWAG, Tyrone oversees day-to-day operations, including finance, recruitment, performance monitoring, and information governance. He works closely with the wider business team to ensure smooth and efficient delivery. Tyrone enjoys problem-solving, improving processes, and collaborating with colleagues, especially when hearing how services have positively impacted patients.
Tyrone Purling-Bond, Business Manager
Nicola has worked in the NHS for 22 years in clinically as a Physiotherapy as well as more recently, operational (Therapy and Cancer) and strategic (Cancer and Elective Care) management, working in primary and secondary care as well as in regional and national roles. Nicola’s interests are delivery of evidence-based improvements to patient cancer pathways and scaling up innovative solutions to challenges for improved patient experience and more efficient use of scarce resources. Nicola’s skills include system wide programme, improvement, project and financial management.
Nicola Gowen, Programme Manager - Faster Diagnosis and Operational Performance
Prasanth joined SWAG Cancer Alliance in August 2024, bringing 18 years of experience across project management, operations, data, IT, and business support in the UK, UAE, and India. At SWAG, he supports the Faster Diagnosis and Operational Performance team by coordinating project activities, managing programme documentation, SITREPS, and improvement plans, and ensuring key milestones are tracked and delivered. Prasanth enjoys working collaboratively to streamline processes and support impactful service improvements.
Prasanth Kunjumon, Project Support - Faster Diagnosis and Operational Performance
Liina joined SWAG Cancer Alliance in September 2024 to lead the implementation of the national ACCEND programme, which supports cancer workforce development through structured career pathways and learning opportunities. Originally from Finland, Liina moved to the UK in 1997 after qualifying as a nurse. Her career spans hospital and primary care settings, including roles in A&E, GP practices, and leadership as a Lead Practice Nurse. Before joining SWAG, she facilitated cancer care training for primary care staff in Bath and North East Somerset. Liina enjoys the variety of her role, working across local, regional, and national levels, and offering one-to-one support to cancer workforce colleagues.
Liina Haythornthwaite, Aspirant Cancer Career and Education Development Lead
Hassan joined SWAG Cancer Alliance as the Senior Project Manager for the Lung Cancer Screening (LCS) Programme. Hassan is responsible for ensuring that the LCS Programme is delivered across our region, working with colleagues across primary and secondary care, ICBs, local authorities, VCFSE organisations, patient groups and NHSE. Prior to SWAG, he worked in the employment and skills space, working for a private company and a local authority to support underserved communities and long-term unemployed to get back into work.
Hassan Amjad, Senior Project Manager - Lung Cancer Screening
Becky's whole career has been within the NHS, starting as an administrator and project support within Commissioning before moving into Contract Management and latterly, cancer services having worked as a Programme Manager at national, local, and regional level. Becky's focus is on driving forward all things innovation and working with partners and stakeholders to identify innovative best practice across cancer care.
Becky Clack, Programme Manager - Innovation
Anna joined SWAG in January 2025 and has worked in the NHS since 2012. Prior to her current role, she was the Lead Digital Systems Trainer for Maternity. At SWAG, Anna supports the management of the Clinical Advisory Groups by organising meetings, handling administration, and maintaining membership records. She enjoys being part of a collaborative environment where professionals share knowledge and best practice to improve patient care across the region.
Anna Curry, Clinical Advisory Group Administrator
Kevin is Chief Executive Officer at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and joined as SWAG Cancer Alliance's Executive Chair in 2025.
Kevin McNamara, Executive Chair
Chris Levett, Lead Cancer Nurse
James joined the NHS in 2022 and became part of SWAG in January 2025. His career began in customer service, insurance, and technical support before moving into NHS safeguarding administration. At SWAG, James provides business, project, and technical support, manages databases, supports finance and procurement, and maintains procedural documentation. He values working with a team focused on making a positive difference and enjoys seeing the direct impact of his work while continuing to learn and grow professionally.
James Adair, Business Support
Chris has worked in the NHS for over 20 years and joined SWAG in August 2024. His experience includes clinical policy, contract implementation, and advising on evidence-based best practice. At SWAG, Chris leads the rollout of teledermatology services across SWAG and supports the development of non-medical prostate biopsy supervision. He enjoys sharing knowledge and working collaboratively across boundaries to solve problems and improve access to care.
Chris Ashdown, Senior Project Manager - Faster Diagnosis and Operational Performance
Trudy has worked in the NHS for nearly 35 years and joined SWAG in early 2025. Her career spans both primary and secondary care in the Bristol area, with experience in information management, quality improvement, clinical audit, project and operational management, and radiotherapy training. At SWAG, she leads the Personalised Care and Support (PCS) programme and the Treatment Variation workstream. Her role involves embedding personalised care across cancer pathways and working with Clinical Advisory Groups to identify and address variations in treatment.
Trudy Gale, Senior Project Manager - Personalised Treatment and Care
Nellie joined SWAG Cancer Alliance in 2024 as the PPV and Health Inequalities Lead and in April 2025 became Programme Manager for Early Diagnosis and Health Inequalities. Prior to this Nellie had been working in the Devon health system for 13 years in both acute hospitals and then the Integrated Care Board in communications, community involvement, inclusion, health inequalities and acute hospital transformation. Nellie is passionate about community empowerment and collaborative working to reduce health inequalities and ensure everyone has equal opportunities for the best access, outcomes, experiences of cancer care.
Nellie Guttmann, Programme Manager - Early Diagnosis and Health Inequalities
Leah is a Senior Project Manager at SWAG, focusing on early diagnosis in primary care. She has led the local delivery of the national pancreatic case finding project and recently launched a working group to improve access and equity in primary care education. Leah also supports PCNs and GP practices to develop new case finding initiatives. She joined SWAG in November 2024 and has worked in the NHS for 11 years, beginning her cancer services career as an MDT Co-ordinator at Weston General Hospital. Leah is also a qualified project management practitioner.
Leah Pearson, Senior Project Manager - Early Diagnosis
Nicola Kelly, Administrator
Amanda has worked in the NHS for 16 years and joined SWAG in 2024. Before that, she worked for cancer charities including Marie Curie, Young Lives vs Cancer, and Tenovus. Her NHS roles have included cancer commissioning, governance, and service redesign. At SWAG, Amanda focuses on improving Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy (SACT) services across the region, supporting providers to manage demand and adopt new treatment modalities. She values working with a passionate team and enjoys the multidisciplinary approach to driving change in cancer care.
Amanda Saunders, Programme Manager - Children, Teenagers and Young People,
Tim is Chief Executive Officer at North Bristol NHS Foundation Trust.
Tim Whittlestone, Deputy Chair
Patricia McLarnon, Operational Manager
Penny joined SWAG Cancer Alliance in 2025 as the first Communications and Engagement Manager role for the alliance. Previous to this, Penny worked in Communications for the Police, and multiple charities, including Young Lives vs Cancer and the Great Western Air Ambulance Charity. At SWAG, Penny is passionate about using communications and engagement to raise awareness of the importance of early diagnosis in cancer and increase knowledge of early symptoms amongst the public, as well as showcasing the work happening across SWAG to improve cancer care and treatment.
Penny Heaton, Communications and Engagement Manager
Funmilayo has worked in the NHS for nearly three years, joining SWAG in 2024. Her background is in Health Data and Information Management, with a focus on using analytics to improve healthcare delivery. She leads on data quality and analytics across SWAG, managing cancer data flows, developing dashboards, and supporting partners with insights to enhance cancer pathways. Funmilayo finds it rewarding to turn complex data into actionable insights that help reduce delays, address disparities, and improve patient outcomes.
Funmilayo Oladipo, Senior Data Analyst
Hannah joined SWAG in 2025, following three and a half years in the NHS supporting patient experience, engagement, safety, and quality improvement. Her background also includes event management. At SWAG, she provides project support across Early Diagnosis, Health Inequalities, and Personalised Treatment and Care. Hannah enjoys the variety of her role, particularly the opportunity to contribute to improvement work, community outreach, and reducing health inequalities.
Hannah Brain, Project Support - Early Diagnosis & Personalised Treatment and Care
Rachel joined SWAG in 2025 but has previously spent 33 years working in the NHS. She is a GP and Partner at Montpelier Health, where she has led on cancer and women’s health for Bristol Inner City Primary Care Network. With extensive experience in both areas, Rachel now supports SWAG’s work to encourage earlier cancer diagnosis through primary care case finding. She enjoys collaborating with colleagues across the Alliance and values the opportunity to connect with professionals from a wide range of disciplines.
Dr Rachel Brown, Clinical Lead for Primary Care Case Finding
Divya has worked in the NHS since 2007, when she graduated with a degree in Therapeutic Radiography and has worked for the South West Aftercare Oncology Team providing holistic wellbeing support for survivors of childhood/teenage and young adult cancers. She also spent 5 years working in Public Health on population health and reducing health inequalities before joining SWAG in August 2025 to lead on projects related to reducing health inequalities. Divya is passionate about making cancer services fairer and more accessible for all.
Divya Bassi, Senior Project Manager - Health Inequalities
Helen has worked in the NHS for over 20 years and joined SWAG in August 2014. Her background includes post-operative care, critical care audit, clinical research, and governance. At SWAG, Helen manages fifteen Cancer Clinical Advisory Groups (CAGs) and oversees the Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy (SACT) Protocols, which are used nationally by healthcare professionals. She plays a key role in supporting clinical collaboration and standardising cancer treatment approaches across the region.
Helen Dunderdale, Clinical Advisory Group Manager
