Middlesbrough constituency

I have been a Middlesbrough resident most of my life, born with a disability, I’m now a wheelchair user. I have extensive experience of using many of South Tees NHS services, including long hospital stays and treatment from multiple professionals and services. I am a lead occupational therapist working for a mental health NHS trust locally and hold other national voluntary roles within the profession of occupational therapy. I also have previous experience as a staff governor in the local NHS trust I work for.

I have experience through working in the care field since 1989 covering all aspects of care, both physical and mental. I am now working at James Cook as a therapeutic care volunteer, visiting patients on various wards. I love this work and find it very satisfying, interesting and rewarding. In this privileged position as a therapeutic care volunteer, I have listened to patients’ comments, most of which are positive and complementary regarding the care they receive from dedicated staff. But there are also some issues highlighted which could be addressed. I hope patients’ thoughts and ideas will be beneficial towards providing an even better service.

I have been a registered nurse for over 30 years, working for much of my career in roles across South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

I recently retired from NHS England, where I was the head of infection prevention and control for the North East and Yorkshire region. This role focused on quality improvement and included supporting trusts across the region to deliver high standards of care, ensuring the safety of patients, carers and staff was paramount and involved working closely with trust executives and frontline staff, local commissioners and others such as the Care Quality Commission. I have led and been involved in peer reviews of clinical services nationally, including identifying and sharing best practice with other trusts. This includes listening to patients and carers to understand the lived experience of those in receipt of care, or to those working in an organisation to appreciate the challenges of delivering safe care.

The trust is the local care provider for my family and our parents. Like most families, we have had to use the services of a number of sites and departments over the years. I have a strong sense of pride when I visit the trust and now I am retired I have a desire to use my knowledge of the complexity of the NHS to support the trust to ensure high quality care of the local population remains the focus.

I have been an NHS governor for three years and as well as attending the quarterly Council of Governors meetings I have offered my services in sub committees relating to the constitution, annual working group foundation, membership and engagement committee, smokefree at South Tees and quality indicators group and just recently attended my first AGM. I was elected and represent Middlesbrough, a town I was born and bred in and feel very passionate about and the people in it, ensuring we all get a great quality of care.

I have seen first hand the hard work from this trust to ensure it sustains and offers the best service it can even in the face of such adversity. As governors we get to see first hand how the trust operates and are able to challenge key staff members on a range of issues. I attend Tai Chi classes at the Trinity Holistic Centre so have been able to experience the fantastic service this centre offers and also contribute towards ensuring this service continues.

As a qualified nurse and lecturer in nursing studies at Teesside University I am a zoned academic for several areas in James Cook visiting the site regularly to meet with student nurses and qualified staff. Originally qualifying in Middlesbrough I have had a wide experience of working within hospital and community settings. Being passionate about the provision of high standard individualised patient care within our NHS trust.