Patient Participation Group Committee

Personal Profile of Committee Members

Mrs Sue Stanbridge (Chair) – married with two grown up children.  I have lived and worked in the Tunbridge Wells area most of my working life.  We ran our own sports retail business for 15 years.  For the last 25 years I have worked in the health service – originally for the Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust (and its predecessors). For the last five years I worked for the Practice Based Commissioning Groups / West Kent Clinical Commissioning Group, where I closely supported GP practices and helped to commission services.  Although I retired from West Kent CCG, I am still working within the health service in various roles, and am keen to continue to play an active role in the Kingswood PPG.

Mrs Mary Chamberlain (Vice Chair) – 71, married, two children, nine grandchildren, one of whom has special needs. Retired Registered Nurse. Worked for the NHS for 40 years, including ten years in Care of the Elderly, and fifteen years in Ophthalmology. I have a special interest in the Care of the Elderly and End of Life Care. Alongside nursing I also worked in sales for a friend who had a leisure wear business and taught Synchronized Swimming for several years at Monson Swimming Club. I am a keen sailor and traveler. Having been a patient at Kingswood for 40 years it is a pleasure to support the surgery by serving on the PPG committee.

Mrs Elizabeth Malik –  I am married with two grown up children and four grand children who live locally. I taught in Primary schools in London and in Tunbridge Wells at Rusthall and Bishops Down. I also worked at Citizens Advice as an advisor and advocate on a Mental Health Project funded by the Hospital Trust and Social Services. This experience led me to become a director of a Mental Health charity in Southborough. I consider my main role on the committee is to gather information and useful contacts, particularly in the voluntary sector, hopefully enabling patients to access services fully.

Mr Stephen Parris – As a family, we have been with Kingswood since 1972. We have always been happy with the quality of care from both doctors and nurses. In the past, I have put forward a couple of ideas, which have been well received. I do not believe in change for the sake of change; but do believe in making life easier for all concerned. I am very cost conscious and I do believe that Kingswood spends its budget well. The PPG has done much to improve the lives of patients and staff and I hope will continue to do so. My own experience on committees is wide, ranging from C of E church councils overseas to residents’ associations. My career in the Diplomatic Service presented many challenging situations involving people in very difficult situations, some of them tragic. I therefore have a good understanding of how tough life can be for the medical profession.   In retirement, I was a volunteer with Hospital Radio for 10 years and on one occasion interviewed Dr Thallon who gave a very interesting outline as to how he came into the medical profession. I am a great believer in self help to keep healthy and as a result do a great deal of walking including leading groups both locally and on long distance trails. I also work as a volunteer at Trinity Theatre.

Fiona Pring – I am a 46-year-old mother of three grown up children. As a family we have been patients of Kingswood Surgery for the past 20 years. Having run my own business whilst bringing up my children I decided on a change of career and in 2007 I was accepted onto a four year degree course at Surrey University to study nutrition and dietetics. I now work as a specialist complex obesity dietician in the West Sussex area. I very much appreciate the support my family and I have received from the team at Kingswood surgery over the years and feel privileged as a PPG committee member to now use my experience as a health professional and patient in supporting the practice.

Joanne Adam – I joined as the Practice Manager in March 2015, having previously worked in operational management, most recently for a private medical insurance firm. In addition to my ex-officio role as Treasurer, I am the day to day liaison between the PPG and the Kingswood Surgery partnership, which enables me to fulifil my mandate of identifying and introducing appropriate change into the practice.
I also welcome suggestions for improvement from the wider patient community, who can contact me at work or pop in for a chat during office hours.