GamCare Appoints Chris Thornton as its New Director of Operations

GamCare has announced the appointment of Chris Thornton as its new Director of Operations, with overall responsibility for the delivery and performance of GamCare’s national and regional services, including the National Gambling Helpline. Chris joins the Executive Leadership Team at a pivotal time for the gambling support sector.

Chris brings extensive senior leadership experience spanning the NHS, voluntary sector and health commissioning. He joins GamCare from the British Red Cross, where as Director for the North of England and Isle of Man he led multi-disciplinary health and care operations, managing around 100 staff and £3m in annual income from NHS and local authority commissioned services, delivering measurable reductions in emergency department attendance, hospital readmissions and reliance on formal social care.

Chris has built and led services at scale throughout his career. At Primary Care Sheffield he led city-wide clinical services and co-led successful bids worth £22m. At St John Ambulance he created the East Midlands region and grew its charitable output by 365% while reducing costs by 61%. He is a Chartered Companion of the Chartered Management Institute and served for eight years on the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s Fitness to Practise Committee.

Chris Thornton, incoming Director of Operations at GamCare, said: “I’m thrilled to join GamCare at such an important moment for the organisation and for everyone working to reduce gambling harms across the UK. GamCare operates at national scale, running the UK’s only round-the-clock specialist support service for gambling harms, combining the National Gambling Helpline, live chat, online communities and self-guided tools with thousands of structured treatment sessions and prevention and education programmes reaching tens of thousands of people each year.

“That combination of specialist expertise, integrated delivery and frontline impact is rare in any sector, and is shaping how effective support for gambling harms is understood and delivered. I’m looking forward to building on those foundations and to playing my part in ensuring GamCare’s services continue to meet growing demand as the sector evolves.”

Victoria Corbishley, CEO of GamCare, said: “I’m delighted to welcome Chris to GamCare and to the Executive Leadership Team. He brings exactly the combination of strategic and operational leadership that reflects how we work, significant experience of leading complex health and community services at scale, a strong track record of evidencing impact, and a deep commitment to reaching people who are often underserved. I look forward to working closely with him as we continue to deliver and develop our national services.”

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