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Melanie is a Commercial barrister with over 18 years' experience working in the private and public sectors.

She specialises in general commercial law, and has experience on advising on corporate acquisitions and private equity.

Melanie advises various NHS organisations, assisting them with CQC inspections and undertaking a ‘360 degree’ review of the back-office functions looking at best practice and providing practical recommendations for operations improvement and efficiencies.

She spends time working with different teams at an organisation to ensure that she has a continuity of view across the entire operation. This enables her to take a fresh and independent view on the organisation and to outline practical steps for improvement and efficiencies.

Experience

Melanie has previously worked for the European Commission, Justice and Home Affairs Unit in Brussels and has also worked in industry at BAE plc.

She has also undertaken secondments both with private companies and within NHS organisations.

Using her in-house commercial experience, Melanie recognises the need to spend time with clients to understand their business objectives and to provide legal support to all levels within the business.

Expertise: Sectors

Healthcare

What people say

  • Melanie has consistently provided assistance and advice on a range of issues in a very efficient and professional manner with a keen awareness of constraints we work under especially time (and budgets). In this respect Melanie has always delivered a first class service on this basis I have recommended my colleagues in commissioning/ SBS to call Melanie as and when any issues requires legal input

    Steve Racz, Trust Purchasing Manager, NHS Shared Business Services
  • "Ward Hadaway have provided us with a clear and objective view about our processes and practices in relation to legal services across the organisation. They engaged with staff in a way that recognised and respected areas of good practice from both the Trust and provider perspective and gave immediate feedback to teams to enable them to implement rapid improvement where that was helpful. We are now much better informed and able to consider a range of options for the short and medium term that will improve efficiency and effectiveness as well as having some food for thought around innovation for the ong term. It has been a really good piece of added value work.

    Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust
  • I contracted Ward Hadaway to undertake an efficiency review of our legal services spend and of our internal legal systems and process. Melanie Gavin undertook this review and embedded herself in the organisation over a number of days in order to get a clear view and understanding of the issues we had. The report was clearly presented and it enabled us to save resources both in a reduction in legal spend but also an increased efficiency of internal systems and processes. I would highly recommend Melanie to other organisations looking to review legal services.

    South West London & St George's Mental Health NHS Trust
  • Melanie Gavin from Ward Hadaway approached the Trust and put forward a proposal to review our legal spend with the various legal providers with a view to provide savings. She identified that savings could be made and also provided more flexible pricing options which we have continued to use and continue to be happy with how the service is delivered. We also received the added value that Melanie said would be provided. The pricing structure enables greater flexibility with regard to pricing and also offers greater transparency in as much that we know what we are paying at any particular time.

    Paul Dowell MCIPS, Deputy Head of Procurement & Supplies, University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust
  • Immensely helpful. Thank you very much for the support, your shared experiences and help compiling feedback.

    NHS Trust associate director of nursing
  • You certainly made us reflect and consider the various elements that could possibly be raised and as a result we were able to think these through and prepare much more thoroughly our answers. It really helped doing this together so there was consistency and also a chance to think things through together. It also helped us to stop and think the whole thing through and the key messages to weave into our responses.

    NHS Trust head of operations
  • I would like to thank you so much for the help that you gave me in preparing for my interview with CQC. It was great to be able to work with someone who had a deep knowledge of the whole process coupled with a can-do approach. It was like an injection of confidence.

    NHS Trust medical director
  • Thank you so much for all the work you have put into supporting the Trust through the CQC inspection. I know from feedback from the senior team in particular that everyone has found the preparation, prompts and face to face support extremely helpful and not only has this enabled us to present as a coherent and informed team but at individual level has given people confidence and helped them think through the particular contribution they make and give examples of good practice. For me personally it was invaluable support and gave me both a structure within which to present my contribution to the Trust to CQC and a great deal of information that enabled me to demonstrate that I was not just knowledgable about our processes and policies but in touch with staff, services and the many great developments within the Trust.

    NHS Trust medical director
  • Melanie [Gavin] has provided me with highly professional, tailored support. She will always go the extra mile and demonstrates all of our values in how she achieves excellence in her outcomes. I cannot recommend her highly enough.

    Heather Tierney-Moore, Chief Executive, Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust