About the team
Our role is to champion for the interests of those using health and social care services across Halton and to give local people an opportunity to speak out about their concerns and health care priorities.
We have a small staff team supported by a dedicated group of volunteers.
Lydia Hughes - Joint CEO for Healthwatch Halton and Healthwatch Warrington.
Lydia has over 30 years’ experience across the private, public and voluntary sectors. Lydia has held senior roles in social care services, including CEO of Healthwatch Warrington, Director of Operations and Service Development for a Homelessness Charity and CEO for a Domestic Abuse Charity in Greater Manchester.
Lydia is qualified Level 7 in Leadership and Housing Practitioner, Level 5 Business & Management & Domestic and Sexual Violence. She created her own Reflexology and holistic business and in September 2022 joined the Board as Director/Trustee of a Domestic Abuse Charity in Berkshire.
Lydia is passionate about empowering people & believes in quality person-centered services.
Jude Burrows - Engagement & Information Lead
Jude leads on our role in communicating with our community and local stakeholders. She is also responsible for our social media channels, updating the website and producing our e-bulletin. Jude has worked in the voluntary sector for over 20 years and joined Healthwatch Halton in 2017.
Kathy McMullin - Community Outreach Lead
Kathy joined the team at the start of August 2022. Having served in the British Army for 8 years, Kathy went on to work within the criminal justice sector, working with offenders of all ages and later within family welfare. She has experience of working for a supported housing charity for teenage parents and within outreach support, where she set up and ran local ethnic minority and mental health support groups across Halton.
Kathy leads on all aspects of our work with the public and local voluntary and community groups.
Dennis Dewar- Patient and Public Reference Group Co-odinator
Dennis is passionate about bringing people together to improve services and ensure communities are heard. Working across healthcare and community settings, Dennis engages with service users, carers, volunteers and local organisations through consultations, surveys and co-production projects. With a strong focus on inclusion and accessibility, Dennis helps ensure that feedback from diverse communities influences decision-making and service development. Dennis enjoys building meaningful partnerships and supporting people to have a genuine voice in shaping the services that affect them.
"I’m excited to be returning to work in the voluntary and community sector. I look forward to meeting and working with service users, carers, and local voluntary groups. Their experiences and insights will be invaluable in helping improve how our hospital and community health services work together."