Meet the LWDP Staff

Dymphna Knowles, Chief Executive came to her post at LWDP via a career in Health. She is a qualified RGN; Social Care - she managed a large domiciliary care organisation and Education - a qualified teacher. Dymph taught Health & Social Care and Management in Further Education and worked independently as a Training Provider.
Safeera Suleman is the Training Funding Administrator at the LWDP. She deals with all funding applications, payments and any other funding queries; she also manages Training Provider registrations on LancashirePlan. Safeera joined us from Lancashire County Council where she worked after finishing her Economics and Business degree at UCLAN.
Jack Moorehead is the new Quality and Evaluation Officer and also leads on our National Minimum Data Set project with Skills for Care. Jack has vast experience in the social care and education fields.
Leeann Smith was previously the HR Training Administrator who worked alongside Katie Burgess to ensure the LWDP HR Training courses ran smoothly..Due to some company changes Leeann has changed her job role slightly. Working part time in administration she assists the LWDP team with various administrative duties to help different project’s run smoothly.
Sam Frankland, Care Ambassador Project Officer.
Sam has worked for the LWDP for 2 ½ years and brought to the organisation experience gained in the not for profit sector and the NHS. She has started her new role – Care Ambassador Project Officer in April 2009.
She is responsible for recruiting people who are working in the Care industry who will then undertake presentations and workshops at schools as Care Ambassadors. They will attend careers fairs and conferences to encourage young people and others to consider the Care field as a career option.
Katie Burgess is the Training Co-ordinator. She joined LWDP as the HR Training Co-ordinator almost 2 years ago and is enjoying the challenge of working with social care partners to develop and provide a suite of training activities to develop management activities across the sector. Her background is in education and training, working as a senior consultant specialising in the design and delivery of bespoke training programmes for the service industry sector and as external verifier for an awarding body. Her experience also includes work within the NHS at trust level and most recently as a national project manager with NHSU.
Stephanie Wrigley works alongside Safeera as a training funding administrator processing applications and claims and dealing with other funding queries. She is also working alongside Gavin in conjunction with The Computer Project’
Gavin Blackwell - Computer Project Lead. Gavin comes from a teaching background where he worked for Lancaster & Morecambe College as an IT lecturer. Currently he is working on a joint LWDP and LCC Computer Project, supplying computers and training to all preferred care providers in Lancashire.
Neil Byers is a p/t LWDP Networker supporting the voluntary sector and service users with physical disabilities; predominantly sensory impairment. Neil has recently taken responsibility for developing a focus group of service users and is becoming our resident expert on Personalisation Agenda PA. Neil has many years of experience working with the voluntary sector through his involvement with VOISE.
Pat Blakey is a full time LWDP Networker supporting Older People’s and Children’s services. Pat’s background is NHS and working as a Communications Officer with NHS Direct and has also worked for The Strategic Health Authority. Pat has a vast experience of working within the community. Pat has recently completed her BA (Hons) in Public Health with UCLAN.
Katy Mercer is an LWDP Networker supporting Older People’s services. Katy has also been involved in a SfC Migrant Worker project for the LWDP. Katy studied at UCLAN to complete her degree in Criminology & Social Policy.
Julie Bisset is a part time LWDP Networker and has been actively supporting older people’s services in East Lancs for 3 years. Previous to her networking role, Julie has many years of experience working in social care, including residential and domiciliary care, but specialising in rehab support services.
Ann Love is Project Development Manager at LWDP. She provides support and information to learning disability and mental health providers on the various benefits LWDP offers and helps them to access funding from LWDP and training as appropriate. She is also the Secretary to Lancashire Learning Disability Consortium. She undertakes various workforce related projects and has just completed a recruitment & retention survey across all care sectors in Greater Lancashire. The report is available on the LWDP website.

Ann has worked with staff and service users to develop a resource pack (WOW – Wonder of Working with people with a learning disability). The pack consists of a DVD, leaflet and pull up banner and aims to help raise the profile of working in learning disabilities and give people a unique insight into what it is really like. To view a clip from the DVD visit the LLDC website www.lldc.org
Fran Dickason is a part time LWDP Networker primarily covering the geographical area of Fylde & Wyre. Fran is a qualified Trainer, Assessor and Internal Verifier with over 14 years experience of working within the Training Industry.
Becky Bradley is a part time networker for LWDP supporting South and West Lancashire. Becky has a BA(Hons) English from Edge Hill. Becky has worked in social care for 14 years in various different roles and has a wide range of skills and experience working with different client groups.
Diane Saffery – Operations Manager joined LWDP in March 2009. Diane brings experience of Strategy, Business Planning and Marketing to the organisation having worked previously for a large corporate organisation, a charity and a period when she was self employed as a Consultant. Diane manages the Operations team which includes the Networkers, Quality & Evaluation, Marketing and HR Support Services.
Stella Smith is Personal Assistant to the Chief Executive. She has experience of working in a wide variety of organisations, notably two of the international firms of Chartered Accountants, and has more recently worked for a number of managers in the NHS.
Melissa Fisher works part time as the Marketing and Communications Officer. Prior to joining LWDP, her most recent role was a Marketing Manager at MBNA Europe Bank Limited in Chester. She holds a BA (Hons) in Administrative Management and brings over ten years of Marketing experience to her role.
Natasha Furnell works part time as a Recruitment & Retention Officer. Prior to joining LWDP, her most recent role was as a Business Manager. She brings over 15 years of Management experience gained whilst working within a large multi-national organisation where her role covered recruitment, training and development, finance and operations.
Claire Wardle is the Receptionist and Conference Room Host for the LWDP. She has over 20 years experience of reception and administrative roles, working in health, vehicle and sales organisations. She holds a General Diploma in Business Studies.
David Kitching, Finance Officer. David is a Chartered Management Accountant and joined us after a long and varied career mainly in manufacturing. Recently he has successfully branched out into the Theatre and Students’ Union; - establishments with Charitable Status. At LWDP he’s responsible for the development and maintenance of the accounting systems and smooth running of the Finance department. Always found with a smile on his face, David says he will not rest until his colleagues realise that accounting and Accountants are fun!
Sea Mooi Austin joined the LWDP in June 2009 as the Finance Manager. She works part time and provides Financial support and advice to the company.
LWDP Marian House, Beech Grove, Ashton, Preston, Lancashire, PR2 1DU 01772 761855

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Meet the LWDP Staff