Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust
We are committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels safe, valued and able to be themselves.
Our key areas of focus for 2026/27 include tackling inequalities, improving staff safety and wellbeing, and addressing discrimination in all its forms—including race, sex and gender. We also work to ensure all colleagues can access the support and reasonable adjustments they need to thrive.
We’re proud to be part of Inclusive Companies as we continue to learn, improve and create a truly inclusive culture for all.
Anthony Hassall
Chief Executive
Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust
CEO STATEMENT
“At Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust, we are committed to creating an organisation where people feel seen, heard, valued, and respected. We believe that inclusion is fundamental to providing high-quality care and creating a workplace where everyone can thrive. Guided by our values of Kindness, Fairness, Ingenuity and Determination, we work to create an environment where diversity of thought, experience and identity is recognised as a strength, helping us deliver better outcomes for our staff, service users, and communities. Inclusion is not a standalone programme; it is embedded in the way we lead, make decisions, develop our workforce, and improve our services.
We know that meaningful inclusion begins with listening. Through our staff networks and engagement with colleagues, we create opportunities for people to share their experiences and influence change. This reflects our commitment to kindness through listening with empathy, and fairness through ensuring that all voices are heard. Our staff networks work closely with senior leaders to shape policies, improve recruitment and development opportunities, and help identify priorities that support a more inclusive workplace.
Creating environments where people can succeed is a key part of our approach. We have redesigned performance and development conversations so that wellbeing, inclusion, and career aspirations are considered together, recognising that everyone should have the opportunity to grow and achieve their potential. Our Neurodiversity Network has introduced peer support initiatives that help colleagues feel understood, connected, and supported, reinforcing our belief that people perform at their best when they are able to be themselves at work.
We are committed to removing barriers and creating equitable opportunities. This includes practical changes that improve accessibility, such as enabling colleagues to submit award nominations through spoken rather than written applications, ensuring recognition is accessible to a wider range of people. We have introduced a digital system that enables adjustment needs to be shared across more than forty teams, reducing the need for service users to repeatedly explain their circumstances and helping to ensure support is delivered consistently. These initiatives demonstrate our ingenuity in finding practical solutions that make everyday experiences more inclusive.”
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“Our commitment to fairness also drives our wider inclusion priorities. During 2026/27, we are focusing on becoming an actively anti-racist organisation, reducing violence and aggression towards staff, improving the experience of colleagues who require reasonable adjustments, tackling inequality and discrimination, and ensuring our services and workplaces are inclusive for everyone. We recognise that inclusion requires action as well as intent, and we are determined to create lasting cultural change that improves experiences and outcomes for all.
Beyond our workforce, we are committed to reducing health inequalities and ensuring our services are responsive to the diverse communities we serve. We continue to invest in approaches that place people at the centre of decisions about their care and support, ensuring that individual goals, preferences, and experiences help shape the outcomes they receive. Through targeted programmes and meaningful engagement, we are working to build services that are compassionate, accessible, and equitable.
Inclusion is an ongoing journey, not a destination. Even in the face of significant operational pressures and increasing demand, our determination to create a more inclusive organisation remains unwavering. By continuing to listen, learn and act, we will build on the strong foundations already in place and create a culture where everybody feels they belong, every voice matters, and everyone has the opportunity to contribute, succeed and thrive.”
Claudette Elliott
Chair
I became the Chair of Pennine Care in October 2025, having previously joined the organization as a non-executive director in November 2020 and being appointed as deputy chair in September 2023. I am a public sector senior manager with over 38 years’ experience across health and social care. I grew up in Wythenshawe and my very first job was at Wythenshawe Hospital as an auxiliary nurse. I qualified as a social worker in 1992 and, in 1999, became the assistant director for older people’s services, before returning to the NHS in 2003. I spent four years as the chief operating officer/deputy chief officer in South Manchester Clinical Commissioning Group, where I led the development of integrated health and care teams working directly with primary care and mental health services. Throughout my professional journey, I have been a prominent advocate for addressing health disparities in the Black community and championing robust anti-racism campaigns across Greater Manchester. In 2020, I started working as a management consultant, with my first assignment at King’s College Hospital London and the Southeast London Integrated Care System. I also spent 18 months as a programme director in the Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Integrated Care System, driving forward their local care programme alongside system leaders across health and local government. I am deeply committed to supporting ethical and values-based practice as a compassionate leader, and I feel strongly about supporting staff, engaging with service users to ensure positive experiences, and connecting directly with local communities.
Why I enjoy working at Pennine Care NHS foundation trust
Pennine Care holds an incredibly special place in my heart, and I am constantly inspired by the compassion and commitment of our teams. For me, true inclusion means actively tackling health inequalities and building an environment where every single staff member is treated with total dignity and respect. I enjoy working here because our leadership operates with clear, values-based integrity, ensuring our diverse workforces and communities feel safe, heard, and deeply valued.
Anthony Hassall
Chief Executive
I joined Pennine Care as Chief Executive in April 2022. Before that, I was Regional Chief People Officer at NHS England and Improvement in the North West, and earlier spent six years as Chief Accountable Officer at Salford Clinical Commissioning Group. During my time in Salford, I led a high‑performing team that achieved an ‘outstanding’ rating from NHS England and Improvement every year. I have also held a range of board and senior roles across NHS organisations in Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Merseyside, bringing extensive system leadership experience.
Alongside my role at Pennine Care, I am Chair of the North West Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism Collaborative, ensuring the voice of specialist trusts across the region is represented nationally. I also sit on the national NHS Chief Executive Advisory Group, represent acute mental health on the NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board, and am a board member at Health Innovation Manchester. Earlier in my career, I was a trustee of a mental health charity and led a service user engagement programme to redesign community services in a US mental health organisation. I am also an independent governor at Manchester Metropolitan University and a trustee of the Salford Foundation, which supports people with mental and physical health challenges back into employment and training.
Recently under my collaborative leadership, our Trust successfully advanced its CQC rating to ‘Good’.
Why I enjoy working at Pennine Care NHS foundation trust
What makes Pennine Care so remarkably special is our people and our collective focus on continuous, kind learning. I am incredibly proud of how our teams embrace collaborative team building and work intentionally to close care gaps for our patients. I love leading this organisation because we are genuinely dedicated to removing barriers to inclusion, ensuring a supportive welcome for new starters, and valuing representation at every level of our system leadership.