Barchester’s Charitable Foundation has appointed Sally Hale as a trustee.

Established in 2000, the Foundation aims to help older people and adults living with a disability or mental health problems in local communities across the country. The charity provides grants to improve mobility and quality of life, and each year distributes thousands of pounds to individuals, small community groups and charities across Great Britain.

Hale has experience of healthcare as an occupational therapist working with people with physical disabilities in the UK and overseas. For more than 15 years she managed adult community therapies at a large NHS foundation trust with responsibility for inpatient and community rehabilitation teams and over 100 staff from all the therapy professions. During this time, she was involved with the planning and implementation of therapy services within a new community hospital and therapy unit. These were the bases for inpatient and community services provided to people with a variety of long-term conditions, as well as older people, people with learning disabilities and outpatient therapy services. In 2018 Hale retired from the NHS.

She volunteers with Thrive, a social and therapeutic horticultural charity that uses horticulture as an activity to support people with long-term health needs. 

During the pandemic Hale returned to work in the NHS, this time as a registered vaccinator.

In March last year, Hale began volunteering with a charity issuing reconditioned ex-NHS wheelchairs and mobility aids to people with disabilities in Kerala, Southern India.

Simon McCall, chairperson of Barchester’s Charitable Foundation and Barchester’s commercial director said: “We are excited to have [Hale] on board and we are certain that her experience and expertise working in the field of social care will be hugely beneficial in helping us shape the Foundation’s future.”