The search is under way for people to help shape future mental health services in Norfolk.
The Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) is looking for people it looks after, service users, carers and members of the public to join its Council of Governors.
Trust Chair Zoë Billingham and Governors explain in a new video why people should consider standing for election to the Council and help shape local services.
“Our Governors play a really key role in improving the services we provide,” said Zoë. “They engage with our local communities, with carers and service users, the people who use our services, and gather information about how well the Trust is doing and where we need to improve.
“They hold the Non-Executive Directors to account for the performance of the Board, and ultimately the performance of our organisation.
“So, we’re looking for a range of people who are really passionate about mental health; maybe you have your own lived experience, you may be a carer, you may be a member of a community with a special interest in mental health and want to put yourself forward to join us in our improvement journey.
“Being a Governor provides you with a unique opportunity to make a difference to people’s lives and the services that support them.”
Get involved
The Trust, which provides specialist mental health and learning disability services across Norfolk and Suffolk, has 11 vacancies this year for members of the public to join the Council, and nominations are now open to stand for election.
To help you decide, you can watch the video and find out more at: www.nsft.nhs.uk/elections
If you would like to speak to someone about being a Governor, please email: [email protected]
To stand for election, you must be a member of the Trust. Join for free at: www.nsft.nhs.uk/membership
Paul Harrison’s story
For Deputy Lead Governor Paul Harrison, becoming a governor gave him a new purpose and a chance to use his wide and varied NHS skills to improve mental health services when he retired.
“I worked in NHS for more than 35 years in hospitals and community services, at regional and national level, mostly in the North of England and loved it,” he said. “When I finished, I realised I wanted to stay involved in some way and use what I’d learned to help.”
Living locally in Hoveton, Norfolk, it made sense to him to use his experience to support NSFT’s improvement journey to provide safer, kinder, better care.
Paul worked in mental health and learning disability services and found it to be challenging and rewarding. He said: “I worked with dedicated, committed staff and with partners from a lot of different agencies tackling what were often complex and difficult problems.
“Getting it right made such a difference not only to the wellbeing of service users, but to their carers, families, friends and local communities.”
Being able to contribute to the development of the trust’s strategy and improvement plans and ask questions of those running the trust about how they were making a real difference to the experience and outcomes for service users and staff, was also key.
So far this year, he has particularly enjoyed meeting members of the public at festivals and events, hearing their stories and understanding their experiences of mental health services and what matters to them and being able to feed this back into the work of the trust.
“I have also been pleased to have been involved in recruitment panels appointing both Non-Executive and Executive Directors to the Board, providing Governor input to help the Chair put together a strong and stable leadership team with the right values and behaviours and the capability to take NSFT from requires improvement to good and outstanding.”
And he would encourage anyone passionate about mental health who wants to help improve services in their community, to consider becoming a Governor.
Paul said: “We need people from a variety of backgrounds with diverse experience who can help the Trust to make services better for the people of Norfolk and Suffolk. There is a lot of work going on to improve how services are delivered and the way in which the organisation works, so there is a real opportunity to influence this work, and to be involved in helping to transform mental health services.
“It has enabled me to use my experience, skills and knowledge, it’s given me a dedicated group of people to work with, a team of Governors determined to make a difference to mental health services, and it’s providing opportunities for me to carry on learning and contributing to the NHS.”
