Our Sunderland GP Alliance Staff
Sunderland GP Alliance has a highly experienced team of professionals who are all committed to providing the best health care possible for the people of Sunderland.
Our clinical staff are at the forefront of patient care but we also have a core team of professionals in IT, communications, finance, project management and HR working behind the scenes to support those on the front line.
Board Members
Dr James Bell
Chair
James has worked in General Practice since 1999, initially as a Career Start GP in the original Sunderland Scheme. James is a full time Partner at Springwell Medical Group in Sunderland.
Dr Martin Weatherhead
Director
Martin has worked as a GP partner since the early 90’s and he is the chair of the Altogether Better executive group.
Martin is committed to the principles of the GP Alliance and believes that it offers the best chance to manage the difficult challenges that lie ahead for all GPs.
Raj Bethapudi
Director
Dr Bethapudi has been a qualified GP since 2009 and is a postgraduate GP trainer, appraiser and local Macmillan GP. His areas of interest include cardiovascular disease, cancer and medical education.
Dr Bethapudi is the co-chair of CVD cardiovascular prevention network in NENC and is passionate about driving technological innovation in practices and making General Practice more sustainable. He also represents RCGP NE as the vice chair of the faculty board.
Outside medicine, being a married dad of two boys, playing cricket, practicing yoga and meditation keeps him well occupied.
Dr Tracey Lucas
Director
Tracey is originally from Glasgow and is a GP partner and GP trainer working in Sunderland for over 18 years.
She is the senior responsible clinician for urgent and intermediate care for All together Better Sunderland and is the Clinical Director for the East PCN.
Her main focus is on working together across our health and social care organisations to make sure that our patients have the best possible care to meet their needs and to live a healthy life for as long as possible.
Tracey is also committed to that general practice in Sunderland remains strong and sustainable during these changing times.
Dr Rory Mackinnon
Director
Rory is the Medical Director of the Alliance. He originally trained in Sheffield before completing his GP training in the North East.
He has strong interests in education and collaborative working. He firmly believes that by working together we can be the leaders of change and develop primary care in the best interests of our patients.
Carol Aitken
Carol has worked as a GP in Sunderland for over 20 years. Carol believes in the ethos of the SGPA to support and enable practices to provide the best possible care for their patients.
Fadi Khalil
Dr Khalil is a well-established GP leader across Sunderland the North East. Dr Khalil completed his medical school training in Egypt and moved to the North East almost 20 years and is an adopted Mackem. He has held several senior roles in the City such as Clinical Vice Chair of the CCG, Clinical lead for Sunderland’s Vanguard programme as well as Medical Director for ATB Alliance. Dr Khalil remains very passionate about being a GP and is an experienced GP trainer and partner at the Broadway Medical Practice and Hylton Medical Group.
Dr Khalil is a strong advocate for integrated care and providing high quality, proactive care to the people of Sunderland. He has led on multiple initiatives such as the establishment of the Sunderland GP Alliance, development of the enhanced health in care homes , development of Community Integrated teams and is currently the Chair of the Ageing Well Group with a keen interest in supporting people living with frailty.
He continues to support the various General Practice and PCN initiatives in his role as Clinical Lead for Primary care in Sunderland and has spearheaded the primary care response to the COVID pandemic during 2020 /21 and the successful roll out of the COVID vaccination programme with SGPA and ICB partners.
Senior Management Team
Jon Twelves
Chief Executive
Jon is a Chartered Accountant by trade, training with Ernst & Young and qualifying in 1994. He has a wide range of commercial and public sector experience, and is a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Housing.
Jon’s role as Chief Executive of the Alliance is to drive forward the development of General Practice working at scale to deliver better services for patients, and improve the sustainability of the sector in a challenging climate.
Jon is keen to ensure Sunderland is placed at the forefront of developments in the NHS, responding to local and national agendas.
Andrea Rose
Finance Manager
With over 30 years’ experience gained in the private sector Andrea is a highly
experienced finance professional with an in-depth knowledge of all aspects of financial and commercial management, statutory regulations and business processes.
Andrea supports business objectives and delivery and implements and manages processes to identify and effectively control financial and commercial risk.
Anna Nesbit
HR Manager
Anna has extensive experience in all aspects of Human Resources having worked in the private sector for over 20 years before joining Sunderland GP Alliance. With a Masters degree in Organisational Behaviour Anna leads the HR team to deliver a people centric approach to achieving business objectives. As part of the Senior Management Anna utilises her commercial experience with a pragmatic approach to the challenges of the healthcare sector.