Who we are
The Board consists of a Chairman and not less than 11 and not more than 20 members all of whom are appointed by the Secretary of State. Our membership must include members with professional knowledge or experience of physiotherapy, occupational therapy, social work, nursing disabled people and medical practice.
Our Board must include at least six members who are themselves disabled and at least one carer.
All our vacancies are advertised and applications are welcome from both men and women, ethic minorities and people with disabilities from anywhere within Great Britain.
We are committed to making appointments based on merit, independent assessment and openness. All our members must subscribe to the objectives of the DLAAB and uphold our code of practice.
The members of the DLAAB also follow the Seven Principles of Public Life set out by the Committee on Standards in Public Life.
- Seven Principles of Public Life (this links to the Committee on Standards website)
The Board's membership
Chairman
Mrs Anne Spaight, MBE, MA, MCSP
Mrs Spaight was appointed to the Board in May 1997, becoming Deputy Chair in June 1999 and was appointed Chairman in May 2003. A physiotherapist and health management professional with over thirty years of experience of NHS therapy services in various parts of the country, she is currently working as Associate Director of clinical governance for Lincolnshire Ambulance and Health Transport Service NHS Trust. She has a special interest in rheumatology, and has lectured widely on this subject not only in the UK but also overseas in places as varied as Latvia and South Africa.
Assistant Chair
Dr Ben Ko, MB ChB, MRCP, FRCPCH
Dr Ko was appointed to the Board in January 2003. He is a Consultant Community Paediatrician in East London. He has special interests in childhood neurodisability, especially pervasive developmental disorders. As a council member and trustee of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, he contributes to setting national standards for Paediatric practice and training. He was formerly a member of the Appeals Service.
Members
Dr Amit Arora MD, MRCP, MSc
Dr Arora is a Consultant Physician with interest in Stroke Medicine at the North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust in Stoke-on-Trent. His MD (Medicine and Pharmaco-therapeutics) was on coronary risk factors and his MSc in Geriatric medicine was on the topic of hearing related disability in older people. He deals with people with disability through his work as a geriatrician and a stroke physician. His special interests are in management of acute stroke, risk factor modification and community participation in disease prevention. He is helping with implementing thrombolysis service for acute stroke. He is a module leader for MSc course in Geriatric Medicine at Keele University. He is also a member of BMA Medical Speciality Sub committee.
Dr. Rajesh Gowda MB ChB MRCPsych
Dr. Gowda is a Consultant Child and Adolescent psychiatrist working for the Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, he has previously worked at the Priory Hospital Bristol. Dr. Gowda, who contracted polio at an early age, is a former member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists special committee on ethnic issues and is a former member of the Disabled uphill ski club.
Mrs Judith Holt, DipCOT, MAOT, SROT
Mrs Holt was appointed to the Board in September 2001. An occupational therapist she has 28 years experience of working with both physical and mental disability. She is currently working with mentally ill patients, assessing their needs and providing care and treatment within a community mental health team. She was appointed in 1980 to the Mental Health Review Tribunal Service reviewing the detention of patients treated under the Mental Health Act. She has a particular interest in people with mental health problems and their re-integration into the community. Since 2005 she has sat on DLA tribunals as a disability qualified member.
Mrs Anne Carton Kelly
Mrs Kelly is currently a part-time self employed case manager having previously worked as a healthy living centre co-ordinator for Bristol City Council and as a community field worker for Scope West Community team. Mrs Carton-Kelly is also a Disability Panel member of the Appeals Tribunals Service.
Mr Pat Kelly RMN RGN DPM
Mr Kelly is the Condition Management Programme Lead for Dumfries and Galloway Health Board. He is former Chief Area Nursing Officer for the Board and is a General Member of the Mental Health Tribunal Scotland. He is also an inspector with the Scottish Social Work Inspection Agency. He was also a member of the United Kingdom Central Council for Nurses and Midwifes and a Council Member of the Scottish Social Services Council.
Mohammed Zubair Khan
Mr Khan was appointed to the Board in September 2007. He is a Crime Scene Manager, Diversity Champion and Chair of Diversity Forum with West Midlands Police, currently stationed at Solihull Police Station. He is a lay member of Employment Tribunals, Public Governor at Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust and a School Governor. He is also an Authorised Assessor for new police recruits and a member of Solihull Police Development Board. He is a Visiting Lecturer in Crime Scene investigations at Sutton Coldfield college. Mr Khan has experience of caring for a disabled person and has assisted people within the community with applications for benefits and other provisions.
Dr Mohammad Obaidullah, MB BS, FRCOG, FRCGP
Dr Obaidullah was appointed to the Board in November 2004. He is a part-time general practitioner, with a special interest in obstetrics and gynaecology, dermatology and palliative care. He is a member of the local Research Ethics Committee in Swansea and a member of the Multi Research Ethics Committee for Wales. Dr Obaidullah is a member of the Appeals Service and an associate member of the General Medical Council and sits on Fitness to Practice panels. He also works as a GP appraiser for the University Of Wales College Of Medicine, and is a volunteer on the Doctor's Support Line and past President of the Bridgend Rotary Club. He has recently been appointed as Clinical Adviser to the Statutory Committees of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain and a Peer Reviewer of the Health Care Inspectorate Wales.
Dr Ronald Pearce
Dr Ronald Pearce is Consultant Neurologist at Charing Cross Hospital and West Middlesex University Hospital and Honorary Senior Lecturer in Neuropathology and Clinical Director of the UK Parkinson's Disease Society Tissue Bank at Imperial College. He runs specialist clinics in Epilepsy, Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders and also Botulinum Toxin Injection clinics for treatment of focal dystonias and other related involuntary movement disorders. He formerly directed the Neurorehabilitation Unit at Charing Cross Hospital. He has a PhD based on research into the Neuropharmacology of Parkinson's disease and his ongoing research interests include brain changes is Parkinson's disease and psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia and depression.
Mrs Sarah Playforth, MCLIP, DipPSM, DipITEC
Mrs Playforth was appointed to the Board in November 2003. She is a freelance access, diversity and equalities trainer/consultant and has worked in this field since leaving her post as Chief Librarian in a new unitary authority in 1988. She has been a lay member on Employment Tribunals since 2000. A chartered librarian and holder of diplomas in public service management, anatomy, physiology and body massage, she has over 20 years experience as a volunteer, Trustee, middle and senior manager in both the statutory and independent sectors, managing and developing public library services and equal access to them, and researching, planning and campaigning for equality of access and inclusion in society for D/deaf and disabled people. Sarah is deaf.
Mr Douglas Ross
Mr Ross was appointed to the Board in November 2003. He has worked in the disability sector since 1990, principally in the field of employment in relation to disabled people. He currently works for the Leonard Cheshire Foundation on their award winning 'Workability' project having previously worked for the RNIB and the Government's Employment Service (now Jobcentre Plus) Disability Service. He is a former member of the British Computer Society Disability Group Committee and the Greater London Employment Network on Disability Working Group. He has been disabled since birth as a result of spina bifida.
Alison Sargent
Ms Sargent has worked for children, young people and adults with learning disabilities since 1987. Her past experience includes working for Mencap as Director for Education and Employment Services, Head of Service for learning disabilities both commissioning and providing within local authorities and special needs tutor for The Rathbone Society. Her main professional interest is education and employability services, increasing life skills and raising expectations for people with learning disabilities to enable individuals to establish their chosen role in the community. She currently works for Pathway Care an organisation providing services for looked after children including parent and child assessment for adults with learning disabilities who have become parents.
Professor David L Scott, BSc, MD, FRCP
Professor Scott was appointed to the Board in January 2003. He is an academic rheumatologist leading an integrated team of eight medical and six nursing staff who deliver specialist care at King's College Hospital. He also provides academic leadership for an integrated clinical and laboratory research team of nearly 40 research staff. The main thrust of his own research work is to improve outcome and reducing disability in arthritis by providing optimal medical care. Prior to joining the Board he had edited Rheumatology, the leading European specialist journal in the field for 5 years. He is heavily involved with patient groups including Arthritis Care and the Myositis Support Group and is a member of the executive of the Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance, an umbrella organisation of patient and professional groups.
Professor Tom Sensky, PhD, MB BS, FRCPsych
Professor Sensky was appointed to the Board in April 2004. He is Professor of Psychological Medicine at Imperial College London, and Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist at West London Mental Health NHS Trust. Most of his clinical work involves psychiatric or psychological problems concerned with employment, or the psychological aspects of chronic illness, physical as well as mental. His research has focussed on the understanding and management of psychological problems associated with a variety of long-term illnesses, ranging from rheumatoid arthritis to schizophrenia. He regularly gives lectures or workshops to doctors, medical students and others on a variety of topics. He has a particular interest in evidence-based practice, and regularly runs workshops on this in the UK and elsewhere.
Mrs Sarah Vines
Mrs Vines was appointed to the Board in July 2004. She qualified as a physiotherapist in 1988, since when she has worked in the acute, community and voluntary sectors. She works for Croydon PCT wheelchair service, working with adults and Children with disabilities. She also acts as a freelance assessor for Access to Work and as a physiotherapist for North East Surrey MS Society. Her main professional interest has been with adults with acquired neuro-disability. In the course of her work she has dealt with many people who have become disabled and has assisted them with applications for benefits and other services.
Ms Teresa Waldron
Teresa Waldron was appointed to the Board in June 2008. Teresa brings with her direct experience of being disabled, having a deafblind condition - Ushers syndrome. Teresa is a senior manager at Chesterfield Law Centre and is an Executive committee member of Law Centres Federation. She also works as an Expert by Experience for Derbyshire Coalition for inclusive living and Barking and Dagenham CIL. Teresa is also a member of Disabled People Involvement for ACAS.
Dr Michael Webley
A consultant rheumatologist based in Buckinghamshire, he was Chairman of the Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance and is a Board member of the Early Arthritis Network. He is involved with local groups of Arthritis Care and ARMA. Dr Webley is committed to improving the quality and equity of standards of care for individuals with Musculoskeletal disorders and disability. Dr Webley was appointed to the Board in 2008.
