Sarah is President of the Association of Directors of Social Services (ADASS) and Director of Health and Adult Services in the Royal Borough of Greenwich and Deputy Chief Executive of the Council. She joined Royal Greenwich in 2019 from Camden Council.
After qualifying as a social worker, Sarah became one of the country’s first specialist HIV social workers when the AIDS epidemic hit west London, creating personalised and community-led responses when traditional care models were failing. She has 30 years’ experience in Local Government, working in several London Boroughs, including senior roles in commissioning and operational delivery, covering a wide range of Council services. She was the Director of Adult Social Care in the London Borough of Southwark and Executive Director in Camden.
Sarah led national policy for mental health, dementia and disabilities at the Department of Health until 2016. She was responsible for the introduction of mental health access standards, the Crisis Care Concordat, the Transforming Care programme and implementation of the Prime Minister’s Dementia Challenge. Sarah has held regional ADASS vice-chair and chair roles and was a member of the London Clinical Senate. She is also a co-chair of the Research in Practice Partnership Board.