Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity’s Louise Parkes joins MediCinema Board
Louise Parkes, Chief Executive of Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity has joined the MediCinema charity’s Board of Trustees.
Louise joins MediCinema at a time of strategic growth for the charity as it also marks 25 years of running its therapeutic cinema services within NHS hospitals. It has just opened its newest in-hospital cinema at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool with other major hospital Trusts in the pipeline.
Louise joined GOSH Charity as the Chief Executive in May 2019. Prior to her current role, Louise was at the helm of Barnardo’s Income and Innovation division, where she led a directorate of over 2,000 people. This included fundraising, brand, marketing, digital, retail and business development. She also had responsibility for the delivery of fostering and adoption services and safeguarding consultancy services. Louise is a Non-Executive Director of Wenta, an enterprise agency based in Hertfordshire. Louise has worked in the sector for more than 30 years and has successfully led fundraising directorates for a number of high-profile, UK-wide organisations including British Heart Foundation and Shelter UK.
“We are thrilled to welcome Louise Parkes to our board as a Trustee. Louise’s wealth of experience and leadership in the charitable sector, in particular her incredible work at Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity, will bring invaluable insight to MediCinema. We look forward to her contributions as we strengthen our mission to support patients and families through the power of cinema.”
Kezia Williams, Chair of the MediCinema Board
“I have seen first hand the powerful impact of film and cinema as an escape from realities of hospital care and treatment. This difference is particularly important when it comes to the lives of seriously ill children, who need normality and relief from the challenges of being on a hospital ward. The innovative approach MediCinema take to working with hospitals to bring this vital benefit to patients is hugely impressive. I am very excited to be working with the MediCinema board of trustees to build on their current success and help bring the power of the shared cinema experience to even more NHS patients across the UK.”
Louise Parkes, Chief Executive of Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity and MediCinema Trustee
MediCinema currently operates successfully in six NHS Trusts and Health Boards across the UK, working in partnership with clinical and ward-based teams to bring the wellbeing benefits of cinema to hospital communities. The cinema-based programmes improve the emotional, psychological, and physical health of patients. This includes reducing feelings of isolation, stress, and anxiety while enhancing patient resilience and supporting recovery. The MediCinemas are free to attend, show the latest films and there is no cost to the NHS or to patients.
