Cath Heaney joined NHS Elect in October 2022, arriving with over 20 years of experience working in the NHS in a variety of sectors, including primary care, acute hospitals, mental health, and integrated care systems.  Her aim is to nurture the skills & confidence of NHS people.    

Cath is an Improvement Advisor, a graduate of the Institute for Health Improvement’s IA programme, and an Organisational Development Practitioner, having trained with Roffey Park Institute. She is an accredited mentoring practitioner, a Healthcare Leadership Model 360 degree feedback facilitator, an MBTI Step 1 practitioner, an Affina Team Journey coach (Affina OD), and trained in the application of Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT) in the workplace (City University of London).  

With a passion for facilitation, Cath trained at Roffey Park Institute in Practical Facilitation Skills and with the Q Community (Health Foundation) in Liberating Structures and Community of Practice leadership.   

Recent accomplishments  

Cath’s recent accomplishments include being an Improvement Advisor to a number of clinical directorates at East London NHS Foundation Trust (ELFT) through the Covid pandemic, growing Quality Improvement practice to tackle emergent challenges and nurturing the role of the Quality Improvement coaches. In addition, she recently moved into the virtual world of facilitation on Zoom, Microsoft Teams and WebEx, designing and delivering reflective workshops for 250+ staff & service users to shape the future of services together. A personal highlight for Cath of working with ELFT was the co-production of Quality Improvement work with service users and carers, in particular in services for young people and talking therapies.   

Cath was an Organisational Development Manager through the acquisition period at Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, with a focus on organisational values, staff engagement and building effective team-based working & has been a speaker at NHS Do OD conferences. 

How she can help you 

Cath specialises in Quality Improvement – building capacity, capability and developing strategy and infrastructure, including service user involvement. She can also help with facilitation and workshop design and with personal development - through mentoring (London and South East Leadership academies).