Meet the Team

Ross Bryson

Dr Ross Bryson has worked as a GP in a multicultural urban context for over 35 years. He has seen both the range of human need and the potential to meet that need through a compassionate and integrated primary healthcare team. He was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal College of General Practice on account of his work in developing whole-person healthcare. Understanding how the universal needs of the human spirit can be recognised and cared for in General Practice led Ross to establish an NHS GP Chaplaincy service in 1997. He has been involved in the research and development of this since then. He helped to set up an independent professional organisation, the Association of Chaplaincy in General Practice. He is a director of Karis Neighbour Scheme which has been commissioned by the NHS to provide Chaplaincy to General Practice since 2014. He a founding trustee of WholeCare and its CEO. He recently published about the basis for whole person health care, how it can be taught and the role of primary care chaplaincy.

Angela Painter

Angela has been passionate about supporting the transformation of lives through whole person care since her teenage years when volunteering in India.  Having trained at Great Ormond Street Hospitals and worked as a Registered Children’s Nurse she went on to become a Health Visitor working holistically in South London and Kent. Her leadership experience was gained through a variety of senior roles within NHS primary care and as a Trustee of many organisations and charities.

Angela spent 2 years exploring a calling to ordained ministry. She then moved into the charity sector as Chief Executive of a faith based Charity providing recovery and rehabilitation in the areas of addiction, homelessness and offending. Until May 2019 she was employed as Chief Executive at a Charity whose core mission was the integration of spiritual care with physical and emotional care and included both employed and volunteer Chaplains. In 2022 Angela was awarded a lifetime achievement award for making a difference to local communities and in 2023 she received the British Empire Medal in the Kings New Years Honours for services to the Voluntary Sector in Kent.

Jackie Gayle

Jackie is a senior chaplain and an ordained minister. She holds a Masters Degree in Chaplaincy, a 1st Class BA (Hons) Degree in Professional Mentoring and over 12 years in the healthcare sector. Jackie is a compassionate and caring professional who sincerely loves to support people and enhance everyone’s holistic well-being and mental health. Working in diverse contexts has enriched her knowledge and understanding of the importance of diversity and inclusion, whilst maintaining a respectful presence for all.

A keen advocate for Chaplaincy awareness within the community, Jackie often delivers hybrid chaplaincy awareness training sessions at conferences in the UK and internationally. Jackie is a Chaplain for an international NGO and an ‘Ambassador at Large’ and Chaplain for the United Nations, available to provide pastoral care and comfort to emergency services and victims affected by trauma due to an international emergency or disaster. She is registered with the UK Board of Healthcare Chaplains and is a member of the College of Healthcare Chaplains.

Stuart Hutchison

Dr Stuart Hutchison was a GP in Tewkesbury for over 30 years after completing various junior hospital posts, including 18 months psychiatry, before retiring in 2022. He also worked in Occupational Health for local companies. During that time, he was always interested in mental health and pastoral care. GP Chaplaincy provides a timely listening and guidance service that patients need and he is keen to encourage other GP surgeries to adopt chaplaincy wherever possible.

James Reed

Dr James Reed is Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist in the NHS. He has worked across a range of settings including prisons, secure hospitals and the community, and the work involves some of the most marginalised patient groups with the most significant needs.

He also has significant experience in NHS leadership and has experience at regional and national level of governance and leadership through work in digital health.

He has worked as part of the Diocese of Birmingham Deliverance ministry team, and has a general interest in promoting good understanding of mental health and illness within faith communities.

Sarah Gough

WholeCare Manager

Sarah has worked with WholeCare since its launch in 2021, playing an active role in all its operational activity. She works closely with Ross, WholeCare’s CEO, to develop the Primary Healthcare Chaplaincy services offered and provides support to WholeCare Chaplains.

Tim Herbert

Company Secretary

Tim spent 10 years working for a merchant bank where he qualified as a Company Secretary.  He then spent 5 years as a mission worker in Africa followed by 20 years providing member care for other mission workers, acquiring skills such as chaplaincy, counselling and mentoring.

Becky Lee

WholeCare Administrator and Database Controller

Becky graduated from Durham University with a Masters of Biology, where she acquired data handling and analysis skills. She worked as an Administrative Assistant at a GP surgery from 2021-2022, helping work through the back-log caused by Covid. She started working for WholeCare in January 2023, and now manages the patient database and other IT platforms.

Richard George

WholeCare Administrative Assistant

Richard supports the operational life of WholeCare, helping to ensure the organisation runs smoothly and sustainably. Alongside his administrative work, he has many years’ experience training yoga teachers and is interested in holistic health models, including transpersonal psychology and permaculture. He values the role spirituality can play in healing and is committed to community-centred, whole-person approaches to wellbeing.

Emily Giffen

WholeCare Administrative Assistant

Emily is currently a senior medical student at the University of Aberdeen. She joined the WholeCare team in 2025, bringing experience from clinical placements as well as experience working with large datasets from her time doing clinical research.