Staff Governors

I continue to do clinical work at Chesterfield Royal Hospital in our amputee rehabilitation service where I enjoy using my skills and knowledge to provide exceptional care for our patients and community.

I became a #TeamCRH staff governor in 2020 - representing Allied Health Professionals, Scientists, and Pharmacists. Prior to this I served two terms as a public governor at Sheffield Children's Hospital.

I am an independent member of the education committee for the Health and Care Professions Council and I recently completed an executive education programme at the University of Sheffield, achieving a Master of Science degree in Strategic Leadership and Management.

I have a particular interest in how Primary Care services benefit patients by evolving and integrating more closely with larger NHS organisations such as NHS Foundation Trusts. 

I have worked as a GP in the Trust’s Primary Care Directorate since January 2018 and prior to this worked in the Trust’s Emergency and Urgent Care Directorate between 2012 and 2016. This has given me some insight to the challenges at this interface between our primary and secondary care services and their evolving integration within the Trust.

Starting my career in Emergency Medicine, I have been able to be involved in a diverse range of projects allowing me to understand the workings of the wider hospital and Trust, and work with sub-specialities for the benefits of patients.

For a part of my career, I was a mental health lead, research lead and Chair of the high-impact user working group. I have also been an active member of the hospital’s transfusion, mental capacity act, safeguarding and resuscitation committees.

I am currently a member of the project team for the Urgent and Emergency Care Development, and I am active in our ‘learning from incidents’ workstream to improve patient safety within our organisation.

The pandemic affected me in a different way to most of my colleagues, so much so I changed speciality completely – to Acute Medicine. I really enjoy challenges and driving change in different parts of the emergency patient’s journey.

My motivation for becoming a staff governor is to support my colleagues and ensure they are well represented at board level.

My specialist areas of interest are patient flow, patient safety and colleague wellbeing.

I am currently the Service Manager for Imaging and Cancer Services at Chesterfield Royal Hospital, having joined the Trust in 2019. I have had various operational and transformational roles since becoming part of the Chesterfield Royal team, all of which have given me greater insight and appreciation of the reliance on and impact that our non-clinical roles can have.

Having had a career of operational project management within the private sector since leaving university, a change in circumstances that required significant input from the services at Chesterfield Royal and its exceptional and life changing care, gave me the drive to pursue a career within our NHS where I could strive to make even the smallest of differences.

Chesterfield Royal is my local hospital and my aims whilst in this role are to not only learn more about the Trust and its governing body, but also act on behalf of and support my colleagues, to ensure they are represented in all forums and push the agenda for the continuation of exceptional care and looking after our staff as well as our patients.

I am very proud to be a nurse and to work for Chesterfield Royal Hospital. 

I qualified in 2004 as a nurse and started my career within cancer care on the haematology ward. I had the most amazing support from senior nursing staff who made the transition from student to staff nurse a positive one and many years on, I still reflect how lucky I was to be with this team; many of them who are still here at Chesterfield. Due to this experience I am particularly interested in the support and leadership our staff receive.

I have had several different roles within cancer at the Trust which have included setting up new roles and services. I have also had experience of working with the education centre supporting mentors and student nurses and was able to gain my teaching qualification, which led to me working with the University of Derby for a short while as a lecturer.

Since 2015 I have been in the role of Macmillan Lead Cancer Nurse. My role purpose is around improving quality of cancer services including patient and staff experience, interpreting the national cancer agenda to develop cancer services and providing strategic leadership to cancer nursing within the organisation.

During the last 19 years at Chesterfield Royal, I have laughed and cried alongside some of the most amazing staff from all different disciplines and everyday consider myself to be so privileged to be doing a job that I love. I am looking forward to the role as a staff Governor and to be able to represent the nursing and midwifery voice.