Gerald has a background in health going back to the early 1980s when he joined the Board of the then Cambridge Health Authority. He subsequently became a Board Director of North Herts NHS Trust, based at the Lister Hospital, and joined the Addenbrooke’s NHS Trust Board in 1999. With the advent of NHS Foundation Trusts, he was appointed to the Board of Cambridge University Hospitals Foundation Trust in 2004. In 2009 he was appointed Chairman of the Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust. Nationally he served as a Board Director of NHS Employers and his overseas health study trips include visits to New York Presbyterian Hospital and the Horizons Specialty Hospital in Las Vegas. In addition to his NHS board appointments, Gerald has acted in a management consultancy capacity for a number of NHS trusts, the Audit Commission and the Department of Health, covering a wide range of issues, including; governance, performance and risk management, service delivery, patient and public engagement, workforce development, and occupational health. He has long been a highly visible champion for the improved management of chronic health conditions and end of life care. Gerald was invited to contribute to Dame Carol Black’s 2008 review of ‘Health of the Working Age Population’.
Gerald now divides his time between his consultancy and heading The Elizabeth Coteman Fund, a highly successful family charity established in memory of his late wife, who died from Pancreatic Cancer in April 2010. www.ecfund.org
He is a former Cambridge City and Cambridgeshire County Councillor, and an experienced non-executive director, having held a range of board positions in the private, public and not for profit sectors.