Authoritative Guidance

 
About Our Appraisal Process Executive Group Appraisal Panel Assessment Group Signposting Group PPI Standing Group HTW Team

The Appraisal Panel considers the Health Technology Wales appraisal evidence within the context of NHS Wales, and produces the Health Technology Wales guidance. The panel also helps us to identify important topics, evaluates the uptake of guidance and facilitates stakeholder engagement. Current members are listed below. This meeting is open for members of the public to observe.

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Consultant Interventional Cardiologist, Appraisal Panel Chair

Professor Peter Groves

Peter is a Consultant Interventional Cardiologist at the University Hospital of Wales. He is also Chair of the MHRA Devices Expert Advisory Committee and the NICE Medical Technologies Advisory Committee, and has a great interest in the regulation and health technology assessment of innovative medical devices in the context of the UK NHS. Peter is committed to teaching and research, and has published widely on the scientific basis for medical technology development and utilisation.

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Pippa Anderson

Head of Swansea Centre for Health Economics

Biography >
X Pippa moved into the field of health economics and outcomes research after gaining her Masters in Health Economics. Following her time in health economics consultancy, Pippa followed a long held ambition to complete a PhD in Health Economics and joined Swansea University, where she is now Acting Head and a Director of the Swansea Centre for Health Economics. Her expertise covers economic analysis, priority setting, healthcare policy, and research and economic evaluation using observational data.
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Professor Saeed Ashraf

Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon, Swansea Bay UHB

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Fran Beadle

NHS Wales Informatics Service

Biography >
X Fran is the National Clinical Informatics Lead (Nursing), currently advising nursing on the standardisation and digitalisation of nursing documentation across Wales with the aim having one nursing language across Wales in support of a “Once for Wales” electronic record. She is the current Chair of the British Computer Society nursing committee, Fellow of UKFCI and Welsh representative on the Five Nations Nursing Informatics Group and Holds a MSc in Health Informatics alongside her Registered Nurse qualification.
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Dr Paul Buss

Medical Director, Consultant Paediatrician, Aneurin Bevan UHB

Biography >
X Paul has been a Consultant Paediatrician since 1993 and has been involved in clinical management roles since 2003. He has been Chair of the All Wales Medicines Strategy Group, Chair of a ‘task and finish’ group for Non-Surgical Cosmetic Procedures in Wales, and Chair of the All Wales Medical Devices and Consumables Strategy Group. Paul’s chief interest is aligning clinical policy with evidence-based decision making and increasing senior clinical involvement in NHS resource decisions.
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Dr Tom Crosby

Consultant Oncologist, Velindre Cancer Centre

Biography >
X Tom is Medical Director of the Wales Cancer Network, Clinical Lead of Clinical Systems Transformation at Velindre Cancer Centre. He is based in Velindre Cancer Centre and currently specialises in upper gastrointestinal cancer; Tom is a leader in Upper Gastrointestinal Oesophageal Chemo-radiotherapy Research, Service and Development in the UK. Tom is also currently the clinical lead for the Transformation of Cancer Services Programme in South East Wales.
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Graham Davies

Deputy Director, Procurement Services, NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership

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Ifan Evans

Director of Technology & Transformation, Welsh Government

Biography >
X Ifan is the Welsh Government lead for technology and innovation in health and care. He works closely with NHS Wales, universities and businesses to support open innovation partnerships, and the use of new and emerging technologies. Ifan also leads the delivery of A Healthier Wales, the new national plan for health and social care in Wales.
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Catherine Evans O'Brien

Public Partner

Biography >
X Catherine has been Health, Housing and Social Care Lead at the Older People’s Commissioner for Wales since 2013. She is passionate about using the voices and experiences of older people to drive policy development. Catherine has led a number of high profile projects for the Commissioner, including undertaking large scale engagement with older people in Wales to gather their experiences of accessing primary care to inform a national report and legal Guidance.
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Professor Chris Fegan

Consultant Haematologist, Cardiff & Vale UHB

Biography >
X Chris is Director of Research & Development in Cardiff, and has a long-standing clinical and research interest in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia (CLL). He is a member of the British Society of Haematology Guidelines group and the Clinical Trials Committees of the National Institute for Health Research CLL group. Chris has also been an expert medical advisor to NICE, and medical advisor to the charities Chronic Blood Cancer Support Group and Leukaemia Care.
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Professor Arpan Guha

Betsi Cadwaladr UHB

Biography >
X Arpan is Deputy Executive Medical Director at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board. He has previously held hospital Medical Director posts in England and Qatar and also academic posts at the University of Liverpool and other international universities. The implementation of NICE guidance to enhance patient care is part of his portfolio and he is keenly interested in the application of evidence based technology in healthcare which is largely derived from his clinical work as a critical care medicine consultant working in a technology-rich area.
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Julie Keegan

Assistant Director of Commissioning, Cwm Taf UHB

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Debbie Laubach

Operations Manager, MediWales

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Dr Sally Lewis

General Practitioner, Aneurin Bevan UHB

Biography >
X Sally has front-line experience of primary care at its most challenging, as she rebuilt a struggling valley-based GP practice into one of the most successful in South East Wales. Her current interests include the utilisation of value-based principles to allocate resource in publicly funded systems, patient outcome data and digital transformation. Still practising as a GP, Sally is now National Clinical Director for Value-based and Prudent Healthcare, and Honorary Professor at Swansea School of Medicine.
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Sian Lewis

Managing Director, Welsh Health Specialised Services Committee

Biography >
X Dr Sian Lewis is Managing Director of Welsh Health Specialised Services having previously worked there as Acting Medical Director. Prior to taking up this post she also worked as a part time consultant haematologist. Previously she has held medical management roles within Health Boards in Wales and a number of roles within the Wales Postgraduate Deanery. She has led on a number of major change management initiatives including remodelling A&E services within a district general hospital and establishing the first postgraduate medical education quality systems in Wales.
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Alan Meudell

Public Partner

Biography >
X Over the past 19 years, Alan has worked with a variety of organisations and has built up an extensive knowledge and experience of how public and patient involvement can benefit policy, practice and service design across all sectors. He is currently co-investigator on a research study at Cardiff University and is advising on developing public and patient involvement for a research initiative in India and Pakistan.
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Dr Stephen Monaghan

Public Health Wales

Biography >
X Previously the Public Health Director of both Cardiff & Vale and ABM University Health Boards, Stephen is now a Consultant in Public Health Medicine for Public Health Wales. He is a member of the British Medical Association Welsh Council, and was previously Welsh Member on the UK’s Faculty of Public Health Board. Stephen is dual accredited by the General Medical Council as both a public health physician and general practitioner (GP).
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Dr Susan Myles

Director, Health Technology Wales

Biography >
X Susan has been engaged in applied health technology assessment for 25 years. Before joining Health Technology Wales, she led the development and work of the Scottish Health Technologies Group. Susan has received scholarships from the Department of Health and Medical Research Council, and is a previous recipient of a Harkness Fellowship in Health Care Policy. She holds qualifications in Economics (BA), Health Economics (MSc & PhD) and Epidemiology (PgDip).
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William Oliver

Hywel Dda UHB

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Denise Puckett

Head of Health & Care Engagement, Life Sciences Hub Wales

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Karen Samuels

Head of Patient Access to Medicines Service, All Wales Therapeutics & Toxicology Centre

Biography >
X Following a successful career in community and hospital pharmacy, Karen joined the All Wales Therapeutics and Toxicology Centre in 2003 as part of the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) team. In her current role as Head of HTA, Medicines Optimisation and Programme Director, Karen’s core role and key interest is making sure that patients have timely access to new clinically- and cost-effective medicines in Wales.
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Dr Raman Sakhuja

Consultant Psychiatrist, Cwm Taf Morgannwg UHB

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Jeffrey Stephens

Consultant Diabetologist. Swansea Bay UHB

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Dr Jared Torkington

Consultant Colorectal Surgeon, Cardiff & Vale UHB

Biography >
X Jared is a Consultant Surgeon in Cardiff & Vale University Health Board. His clinical and research interests include Bowel Cancer and Laparoscopic Surgery. He was appointed Associate Medical Director for Innovation to support the new collaboration with Cardiff University in the field of Clinical Innovation. He chairs the novel Multidisciplinary Team approach to Clinical Innovation.
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Luella Trickett

Director, Association of British HealthTech Industries

Biography >
X Luella joined ABHI in 2019, with over 25 years' experience in the pharmaceutical and HealthTech industries. Her career has seen her hold numerous specialist manufacturing and commercial roles at Baxter Healthcare, with responsibility for a range of product portfolios across the HealthTech spectrum within the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa.
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Dr Lisa Trigg

Assistant Director, Research, Data and Intelligence, Social Care Wales

Biography >
X Lisa’s role is to support the social care sector in Wales with evidence and research to inform policy and service design. Before joining Social Care Wales, Lisa spent seven years at the London School of Economics conducting comparative research on long-term care systems. Her PhD research explored approaches to quality in residential care. Before this, Lisa spent seventeen years in management and consulting roles in Australia and the UK.

The Appraisal Panel includes senior representatives from every health board in Wales, alongside other key stakeholders. To learn more about the purpose of the group, see the Health Technology Wales Appraisal Panel Terms of Reference.