I am a mother of two and have lived in Oldham for 29 years. I worked as a team leader in various parts of the civil service for 34 years before moving to Oldham CAMHS last October. Throughout my career I have undertaken a variety of voluntary roles, such as a youth worker and mentor at Mahdlo and in schools; practitioner at MIND; school governor and Sunday school teacher.
I enjoy baking and often use this to raise awareness (and funds) to stay connected. I walk a lot and go to the gym when I can. The NHS is an invaluable asset to us all and I would like the chance to help make it even better.
I relish the opportunity to use my energy, experience, and enthusiasm to help make a difference to the Trust and raise the profile of mental health issues. I am passionate about supporting people with mental health issues - which is needed more than ever as we realise the full impact of the pandemic. I would like to gain a wider understanding of the issues that impact on our service offers from this role. In return I’m a ‘critical friend’ - offering support and challenge. I am very hard working, experienced and reliable and I have excellent interpersonal skills.
I hope I can use my skills and experience to help make the Trust a better place for everyone, both now, and in the future.
Facing the unprecedented local and national NHS challenges that we do, I am determined in my role as a governor to ensure that the Trust Executive are fully accountable in effectiveness in doing everything they can to take action for now and the future.
I was an inner-city social worker in different sectors including CAMHS for 20 years, and then qualified as an intercultural psychotherapist, going on to work in trauma intervention in the charity sector. I also managed teams for many years in diverse sectors including child-protection and perinatal care, and I was also a local authority councillor in West Yorkshire for 4 years.
With a background in dance-movement and theatre and I am particularly passionate about the contribution under-used role of arts and culture in health and communication, and I facilitate self-expression through creativity in wellbeing groups. I am an accredited mindfulness teacher and Schwartz-round facilitator, and I integrate all these strands in my approach to health policy in seeking to embed the vital holistic cornerstones of wellbeing through preventative and integrative medicine.
Patient care is most effective when we consistently listen and respond to all our diverse workforce, from clinicians to cleaners to corporate staff. I aim to bring staff voices to the executive table for a joined-up, transparent, and knowledge-based approach. The team I manage is known for nurture, expertise, commitment to staff and to results.
I hope that I bring the same positivity and close eye for detail to the robust defence of compassionate and effective patient care and staff wellbeing as a governor. Given my track-record I hope I have the credibility for staff to feel they can directly approach me, confident in the knowledge that their experiences will be represented.
I have been a qualified learning disability nurse for 25 years, with 13 years at Pennine. I believe that having a learning disability professional on the board would be beneficial. As a care assistant in an elderly care home, I developed a passion for care work and decided to pursue a career in nursing. Adult nursing to begin with, then transferring to learning disabilities. I have a family member with a learning disability, and I realised already that I had real experience of learning disability nursing.
I believe learning disability nursing is truly holistic care. I have already been a school governor at my children's school and understand the responsibility it holds. I love walking, cooking and spending quality time with family and friends. My claim to fame is being on MasterChef!
I have had 25 years nursing experience, a leader for 18 of those. I have worked with both children and adults with learning disabilites in many different settings, including supported living, day centres, in the community and in forensic services. At present I am the registered manager for CQC for a children and adults short break service. Although challenging at times, it has given me an abundance of satisfaction to see a team providing such a valuable and unique service to the learning population of Bury.
In August 2019 I completed my community specialist practitioner degree. This has given me further knowledge and a clearer understanding of the health and social needs of the Bury population, driven by government strategies.