The team
Professor Tim Briggs CBE
Professor Briggs qualified from The Royal London Hospital in 1982 with honors in surgery and a number of prizes. After his senior registrar training he was appointed to the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital as Consultant in 1992. His specialist interests are in orthopaedic oncology as well as surgery to the hip and knee. He was Medical Director at the RNOH for 15 years, ensuring a re-build and was President of the British Orthopaedic Association in 2014.
He was appointed as National Director for Clinical Quality and Efficiency for the NHS in September 2015 and has been asked to lead and roll out his GIRFT methodology, developed in orthopaedics, across all surgical and medical specialties within the provider network.
Professor Briggs was made a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2018 New Year’s Honours List for services to the surgical profession.
In January 2019 he was appointed as National Director for Clinical Improvement and Recovery for NHS England. In addition, he is the National Chair and Lead for the Veterans Covenant Healthcare Alliance (VCHA) and is Honorary Colonel of 202 Midlands Field Hospital.
Lt Col (Retd)
Guy Benson
Guy Benson is a retired Army Officer (Royal Signals). His military career spans 40 years. As a soldier and officer he has extensively travelled the world. He has deployed operationally to Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan. He ended his regular service career as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Ministry of Defence, London.
He transitioned from the regular army in 2011 to a full time army reserve role and was employed as the Army Head of Engagement in the North East, London and finally the South West.
In 2018 he left military service and was employed by Wiltshire Council as the Military Civil Integration lead working directly to the Leader and Chief Executive on all military related matters. He joined the NHS in January 2021 and is the VCHA Team Leader.
Bernadette Knight
Bernadette Knight is an experienced senior NHS manager who has been a registered nurse for 40 years. Joining the NHS and training at the University of Wales, she specialised in intensive care nursing (ICU) and worked in Cardiff, London (where she gained a post graduate ICU diploma) and Bristol before moving into clinical research. There followed a period outside the NHS in national/regional roles as Deputy Head of Nursing and Head of Care for private and third sector providers where she also gained qualification and membership of the Institute for Learning and Management. She returned to NHS management in acute, community, ambulance, mental health and primary care for both commissioners and providers focussing on quality and patient safety and service improvement.
Bernadette is formally trained in quality improvement methodology, project management and information management.
Most recently she has been working for GIRFT across multiple specialities including the VCHA programme, in implementation and project management for the last 3 years.
Maj (Retd)
David B Wood
David served 34 years as both a soldier and army officer, initially as a clerk in the Royal Pioneers before compulsory transfer to the Adjutant Generals Corps (Staff and Personnel Support) Branch in 1992. David has served at Regimental Duty and at Staff, with tours in Northern Ireland, Germany, Canada and Hong Kong and deployed operationally to Rwanda and Iraq.
After service he was appointed as the Armed Forces Lead on the south west local authority Armed Forces Covenant Project, which saw the formation of a regional mobile veterans outreach service and a Strategic Level Partnership Board.
Joining the VCHA in 2021, David brings a wealth of both military and public service to his role, where he is Regional Lead for the North of England and in August 2026 David was appointed as VCHA Interim Team Lead.
Anna-Marie Tipping
Anna-Marie Tipping is a Royal Navy veteran, with an Undergraduate and Postgraduate degree in Forensic Psychology. Anna-Marie’s compassionate, yet driven approach to veteran healthcare, helped to improve veteran data capture within Primary and Secondary mental health services within the NHS. She understands the challenges of veterans being identified in healthcare, having met these challenges herself.
Anna-Marie has a keen interest in data driven methodologies being used to drive project creation and implementation, using best practice and enthusiastic data sharing to learn from others. Having worked on the ground with the Armed Forces community and in clinical settings, these transferable skills mean that across sectors, services and organisations; information can be shared in easily accessible formats that are relevant and useable for the intended audience.
Anna-Marie lives in Fleet with her boyfriend, dog, cat and rabbit. She enjoys festivals, gaming, and is a self-confessed plant hoarder.
Mandy Stokes
Mandy Stokes has 26 years’ experience working in the NHS, with a Business Management position in Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire Strategic Health Authority and Incident Support Officer in Great Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust. Her most recent position was that of Senior Support Manager in the Armed Forces Health Commissioning Team within NHS England, commissioning secondary health care for serving members of the armed forces and specifically commissioned veterans’ mental health services. Having two siblings that have served in both the British Army and The Royal Navy, the importance of ensuring that those serving, have served and their families/carers face no disadvantage and are paid due regard in the commissioning and provision of NHS services is very close to home.
Mandy has previously worked with South Gloucestershire Council in providing voluntary mentorship to young offenders, whose relationship with their own family has broken down. Mandy lives in South Gloucestershire, has two sons and endeavours to reach 10,000 steps a day in the rural countryside around her.
Laura McKain
Linus Cosgrove
Linus has over a decade of clinical experience in the NHS, with a background as a physiotherapist across diverse settings—including primary care, orthopaedics, and community rehabilitation— he brings a comprehensive, patient-centred perspective to service design.
Linus is a strong advocate for digital transformation and data-driven governance. He has successfully led projects to automate key performance metrics and standardise outcome measure collection, ensuring that health informatics serve as a catalyst for continuous improvement rather than a manual burden for staff.
A natural collaborator, Linus has built and manages a network of 90 ‘Veteran Aware Therapies Champions’ and regularly liaises with senior NHS stakeholders and public voice groups to ensure co-production is at the heart of every project. He is currently further enhancing his strategic toolkit by completing an MSc in Systems Thinking in the Public Sector, applying advanced modelling to resolve inefficiencies in modern healthcare systems.
Marvin Nolasco
Marvin holds a degree in Mass Communication graduating with honours and a degree in Nursing. He has a diverse professional background, working in both nursing and entertainment journalism, where he interviews stars on the red carpet and reviews films.
His first job was as a writer for the News and Current Affairs division at ABS-CBN, the largest TV station in the Philippines.
In 2018, he won the Grand Prize award for Best Report Presentation across East Asia at an event held in Incheon, South Korea. His presentation focused on history, peace, and health.
In February 2025, he joined VCHA as the Communications and Engagement Lead. Passionate about the power of communication to create positive change, Marvin is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Digital Communication – because the way of the future is digital.
In his spare time, he enjoys reading non-fiction books and magazines on fashion, interior design, and architecture.