Experienced Non-Executive Chair Appointed to South Eastern HSC Trust

19th April 2023

The South Eastern HSC Trust is delighted to announce the appointment of Mr Jonathan Patton as Chair of the Trust.

Mr Patton commenced his role as Chair of the South Eastern Trust on 15 April 2023 and will have the opportunity to continue in this role for a period of up to four years.

Since March 2020, Mr Patton has been carrying out the role of Acting Chair. From 2017 he held the position of a Non-Executive Director within the Trust.

Mr Patton’s career has given him a wide range of experience across the private, public and charity/voluntary sectors. Starting out in his career with Kraft Foods, Mr Patton has worked across several industry sectors in Belfast, Edinburgh and London at senior leadership levels. He has extensive knowledge of the regulatory sector having served on Fitness to Practice Committees with the Northern Ireland Social Care Council, the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland and the Bar Council for Northern Ireland. For over three decades Jonathan Patton has worked in many roles in the voluntary service across the charity sector. Mr Patton currently serves as Chairperson of Community Rescue Service and sits on the Advisory Board of Sense NI. Mr Patton holds one other public appointment with the Department of Health as Lay Member and Vice President of the Council of the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland.

During his time as Acting Chair Mr Patton has hosted a number of celebration events for staff and volunteers and taken part in a variety of health awareness events including; Restart a Heart day, where he participated with staff to learn how to resuscitate someone in cardiac arrest and numerous mental health awareness events where he has had the chance to discuss support services and the mental health recovery journeys of people who have lived experience of mental illness. Mr Patton also attended the recent launch of the Forget-Me-Not Woodland Tree Planting Project which aims to support families who have been bereaved by the loss of a pregnancy or the death of a child. This offers a quiet place to quietly reflect and remember their precious children.

As he begins his role as Chair of the South Eastern Trust, following his appointment by the Department of Health, Jonathan commented, “It is a great privilege to continue my journey with such an amazing team of people who work tirelessly to care for others. I appreciate each and every one of you and I am looking forward to embracing every challenge and celebrating every success with you over the next four years.”