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Kerry Smith appointed as Interim Chief People Officer

Headshot of Kerry Smith

North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust would like to announce that Kerry Smith has been appointed as Interim Chief People Officer.

Kerry joined the Trust in 2011 as a People Business Partner and has worked in various roles during this time. She was appointed as the Trust’s Deputy Chief People Officer in 2021, and also acted-up as the Chief People Officer for a short time in 2022.  

Having started her HR career in the private sector, Kerry joined the NHS in 2004 and has enjoyed working across many different NHS settings across Staffordshire, Shropshire and Cheshire, including acute trusts, community trusts, commissioning services, and, more recently, within Mental Health, Learning Disabilities, Primary Care and Substance Misuse services.  

Kerry holds a degree in Business Studies, a Master’s in Strategic Human Resource Management and a professional CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) qualification.  

Kerry is also extremely passionate and fully committed to continuing the great work of Paul Draycott’s legacy and a commitment for compassionate leadership driven through our People Plan, our values and behaviours, and how we ensure consistent equality, diversity and inclusion for everyone.

Recent updates

Combined Healthcare, alongside other organisations within Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent, Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, are looking for organisations that are key contributors to serving our community’s health and social needs for our local population who would be interested in providing stretch placements for the 2026-2027 cohort of the High Potential Scheme (HPS).
Colleagues pose for a photo at the Oliver McGowan training recruitment day
On Thursday 4 June 2026 Combined Healthcare hosted an Oliver McGowan Training Recruitment Day. The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism is named after Oliver McGowan, whose death shone a light on the need for health and social care staff to have better training.  All colleagues at Combined Healthcare are required to complete the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism. To help facilitate the sessions, the Trust is looking to employ more experts with lived experience of autism or learning disability, to support this essential training as co-facilitators.

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