The Kentown Support Team
Helena Dunbar, Chief Executive Officer
Helena is an experienced children’s nurse with 30 years in clinical practice. She has worked in numerous clinical positions across the community, hospital, hospice and home, working with children and families with complex medical needs. Her most recent nursing position was as Consultant Nurse for Children’s Respiratory Conditions at University Hospitals of Leicester.
She then went on to become Associate Professor of Teaching and Learning and Head of Division at De Montfort University’s Leicester School of Nursing and Midwifery, where she led the design and delivery of teaching and learning in children’s/adult nursing for eight years. Helena continues as an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at De Montfort University.
In 2021 Helena became Director of Service Development and Improvement at Together for Short Lives. As the clinical lead for the charity Helena was able to progress various programmes of delivery, including the Kentown Palliative Care Programme, which have resulted in the charity’s increased reach and support to children, families and professionals across the UK. Her passion for research, education and networking has resulted in the development of various networks and forums for sharing best practice.
It was this work that led to Helena’s appointment as CEO of Kentown Support in 2025.
During all this time, Helena has continued to study and conduct important research in the field of paediatric care. In 2020 Helena was awarded a Winston Churchill Fellowship to explore palliative care provision, education and training in an international context and travelled to Australia and Canada.
In 2017 she completed her doctorate focusing on the concept of attachment theory in Children’s Hospices. She is passionate about delivering and supporting high quality education and research and has recently also completed a small study working with siblings of children with life limiting conditions.
Alongside her Doctorate Helena holds a Masters in Autonomous Health Care Practice, a Postgraduate Certificate in Education, a Diploma in Business Management and Leadership, a Bachelor Degree in Health Studies and is a Registered Children’s and Adult Nurse.
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Mala Langdon, Chief Operating Officer
Mala qualified as a chartered accountant in practice, specialising in financial services’ audit and project work during training and moving to financial services consultancy afterwards. This led to a global role in a financial special projects team in the investment banking arm of a high street bank, where she worked in all parts of the business in process improvement and ad hoc financial and governance projects.
Mala then had a career break to raise her family and spent some time living in the USA.
On her return to the UK, Mala moved to the charity sector as finance manager and then controller at Dorothy House Hospice Care, her local adults’ hospice.
This was followed by five years at Together for Short Lives as Director of Finance and Resources. This was a time of rapid expansion and activities new to the charity. One of these activities was the Kentown 1 pilot, which she is very proud to have been involved in. She has so enjoyed working with Helena Dunbar on that and other projects that a role at Kentown Support was irresistible.
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Our Trustees
Dr Mike McKean, First Chair
Mike has worked as a paediatrician specialising in respiratory disorders at the Great North Children’s Hospital in Newcastle upon Tyne for 22 years. He specialises in children with asthma, those with congenital airway and lung anomalies and in managing children with complex disorders, often needing respiratory support at home (long term ventilation). He has led the Great North Children’s Hospital as Clinical Director, during which time he established the Great North Children’s Hospital Foundation which he continues to chair, and secured funding to launch the Children’s Holistic Integrated Palliative Care Service for the Northeast and North
Cumbria.
He has established and led the Northeast and North Cumbrian Integrated Care System’s Child Health and Wellbeing Network and is policy advisor for the network. He has worked for NHS England advising on recovery from COVID and tackling waiting lists and in 2022 was honoured to be elected as Vice President for Policy at the RCPCH (Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health), a role which he continues to fulfil in addition to his part-time clinical work.
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Bernie Watson, Treasurer
Bernie (FCA) was a partner in HaysMac, a London practice of Chartered Accountants, for over thirty years. He has specialised in the broad not for profit sector, mainly charities.
After retiring in March 2018 Bernie has held the position of financial trustee for five charities. Until November 2024 he held the position of Honorary Treasurer of Together for Short Lives, the UK charity for children with life-limiting conditions.
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Diane Postle
Diane is a highly skilled healthcare leader with over 40 years of experience in nursing, healthcare management, and strategic governance.
In her recent role as Deputy Director of Nursing and Quality at Kettering General Hospital NHS Trust, Diane led key initiatives, including the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the improvement of the Trust’s CQC rating, and the development of the hospital-wide Ward Accreditation process. She also led international nurse recruitment and contributed to the development of the Northampton Group Model Nursing, Midwifery, and AHP Strategy.
Previously, as Strategic Trust Lead for Professional Standards at Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust, Diane successfully drove clinical quality improvements and led the implementation of Nurse Revalidation across the Trust.
Diane’s charity governance experience includes serving as Chair of Rainbow’s Children’s Hospice from 2015-2018, where she played a key role in securing funding and achieving an Outstanding CQC rating for the hospice.
Diane holds a Masters in Leadership in Health and Social Care and a Bachelor degree in Community Health Practice Nursing. She is a Registered General Nurse, State Certified Midwife, and Health Visitor.​
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Paul Brown
Paul is a communications and engagement specialist with 20 years’ experience in high profile organisations. He has led the marketing and communications function at two of the UK’s biggest charity brands - The Prince’s Trust (now The King’s Trust) and Teenage Cancer Trust.
Since 2022 he has been running his own communications and engagement consultancy - Paul Brown Communications - helping organisations tell their story well, both externally and internally.
Paul has worked recently with a range of organisations including Anthony Nolan, Pancreatic Cancer UK, the Coronation Food Project and Centrica. He has also supported a number of initiatives with Together for Short Lives, including a substantial sector engagement project to identify and prioritise which children and families would benefit from palliative care.
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Sabiha Iqbal
Sabiha is a community educator based in Rochdale. Previously she worked in the voluntary sector with vulnerable young people before becoming a primary school teacher.
Sabiha’s youngest son Abdullah was an amazing child with complex needs who taught the family a great deal. When he died in 2022 Sabiha and her family were so grateful for the incredible support and peaceful final days they had together. This is the reason why Sabiha wants to do everything she can to support other families in accessing better support and opportunities for their children.
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John Whittle
John recently retired after 30 years working in the legal profession. After completing his training John joined a small law firm in Bolton which grew to be in the top 50 national law firms in England and Wales with a turnover of more than £100 million.
John started as a newly qualified solicitor and by the time he retired John had been Chief Executive Officer for 15 years. John brings experience in strategy and vision, operational and quality management, teamwork, promotion of supportive values and culture in an organisation and contract negotiation.
John brings a blend of legal ability and senior management experience from his professional background which he hopes can help the charity. He is delighted to support such an excellent and worthwhile charity as Kentown support.
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Emma Aspinall
Emma currently works for the NHS as a strategic commissioning manager for Black Country Integrated Care Board (ICB). As a registered Social Worker she has been committed and motivated to ensure safe and quality services are accessible for all those requiring care and support throughout her professional career.
Underpinning her work has been a focus to develop partnerships and links across organisations, ensuring supportive services are offered to children, young people and vulnerable adults. Emma has over 30 years’ experience working in health and social care, with the majority of that in the charity sector with Barnardo’s and Acorns Children’s Hospice, with 13 years at an Executive Director level.
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