I worked in hostels for homeless people for ten years before qualifying in 1996 as a mental health nurse in Bradford. I went on to work in mental health intensive care at the Maudsley before returning to the homelessness sector as a clinician. I co-wrote two chapters of Professor Phil Barker’s Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing (Arnold 2004) about applying the assertive outreach approach to the care of homeless people. ​From 2002, I headed up the mental health investigation team for the Health Service Ombudsman and then led Guy’s and St Thomas’ nationally recognised complaints and legal team. In 2008 I took the position of Ethical Standards Officer at Standards for England, leading a team responsible for conducting investigations into allegations against local government members. In 2011, Alex and I established ch&i associates.

From 2011 - 2013 ch&i associates, along with CEDR, were appointed as the independent complaint reviewers for the Charity Commission; providing high level reviews of the Commission's regulatory casework across its jurisdiction of over 160,000 charities in England and Wales.  In 2013, I was appointed as the Independent Complaints Assessor for the Department for Transport, adjudicating in final stage complaints against the executive agencies of the DfT (including the DVLA, HS2 & DVSA). In 2018 I, along with Alex, was appointed to fulfil a similar role for both the General Medical Council and the National Archives. Since 2011, I have also undertaken independent investigations into homicides by patients of mental health services, conducted numerous investigations into the conduct of local government councillors, and carried out independent investigation work for the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman,  Ofqual and a Clinical Commissioning Group.

---