Trustees
Amanprit Arnold
Chair
Co-Chair of the People and Pay Committee
Amanprit is an experienced city strategist with a focus on inclusive design, disability inclusion and social impact. She delivered independent strategic advice to governments, institutions, and companies on a range of urban development and land-use challenges. Born deaf and discovered her strong deaf identity in her teens. She chairs the Growth Committee.
Diane Jones
Vice Chair of the board and Chair of the Quality and Performance Committee
With just over 30 years of experience in the NHS, Diane is currently the Chief Nursing Officer for NHS North East London and senior responsible officer for a number of programmes across the North East London health and care system. Whilst Diane’s expertise lies within midwifery, she is also passionate about quality improvement, workforce race equality and equity of health and care provision. She was also a Care Quality Commission (CQC) specialist advisor for Governance, Maternity and Safeguarding. Diane is also a Trustee of a national charity, Group B Strep Support (GBSS) and a member of the London Clinical Senate.
Alexandra Elvin
Co-Chair of the People and Pay Committee
Alex is an experienced HR Director with over 20 years in senior strategic roles across sectors including the NHS and charities. She now runs her own business and champions accessibility and inclusion for people with hearing loss in the workplace. Hard of hearing since birth, she actively supports her local deaf community and is an enthusiastic British Sign Language student.
Dr Sara Rhys-Jones
Dr Sara Rhys Jones, Principal Clinical Psychologist.
Sara Rhys Jones is the UK’s first Deaf Clinical Psychologist and a committed advocate for equitable, accessible and inclusive mental health care for deaf people. She has over 25 years of NHS clinical work across Learning Disabilities and Deaf mental health services. Sara is the Psychology Lead for Bridgend Community Learning Disabilities Team and her work includes supporting deaf adults and young people with learning disabilities, neurodiversity and mental health.
She co-created the ACTivate Your Life: Deaf Wellbeing BSL course launched in 2022. Sara’s work is driven by a clear mission: to work with Deaf communities to improve their mental health support and wellbeing.
Simon Knapp
Treasurer and Chair of the Finance and Audit Committee
An experienced finance professional who has worked in the not-for-profit sector for over 20 years. Simon has had senior finance roles at social care, disability and cultural sector charities. Simon is committed to the role finance plays in supporting charities to deliver the most impact for their beneficiaries.
Hannah Butcher
Hannah is a former qualified Staff Nurse and phlebotomist with over 20 years of experience across both the NHS and private healthcare sectors. She currently works on a Deaf Cancer project, overseeing support groups for deaf people affected by cancer.
Hannah has also worked in policy and campaigning, including with the National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS), where she successfully led a campaign that contributed to BSL being included in the Education (Scotland) Bill becoming law.
As an experienced trustee, Hannah brings valuable board-level expertise in governance, compliance, safeguarding, and conflict resolution. Deaf since birth, she is a passionate advocate for improving accessibility and inclusion. She actively works with her local GP practices and Integrated Care Board (ICB) to improve access to healthcare services for deaf patients across Suffolk.
Her professional expertise, lived experience, and commitment to equality enable her to make a significant contribution to organisations serving deaf communities and the wider public.
Janet Ayoola
Janet Ayoola is a qualified social worker with over 15 years’ experience in safeguarding, and also works as a trainer and consultant with charities and faith organisations. Janet is actively involved in the Deaf community through her local church and has achieved BSL Level 3, which underpins her commitment to accessible and inclusive practice. She is also Chair of the Diocesan Safeguarding Advisory Panel with the Diocese of Southwark and serves as Independent Member for Safeguarding on the Audit and Risk Committee at Guide Dogs UK. An experienced trustee and committee member, Janet brings board-level expertise in safeguarding, governance, and the voluntary sector to her role at SignHealth.
Aiming for excellence
SignHealth’s trustees make sure we are achieving our goals, planning ahead and financially sound.
Our board of trustees were chosen for their expertise and experience. They work with the executive leadership team to help SignHealth build a future where there are no barriers to health and wellbeing for all deaf people.
SignHealth Alumni
Former SignHealth trustees engaging with and supporting the work of the charity into the future.
