Our Council of Governors

Anne was born in barrow-in-Furness, and has lived in the area since. She was first selected to serve on Cumbria County Council in 1985 and is a cabinet member for Children's Services. 

Anne was appointed by the County Council to be a Governor of UHMBT a number of years ago and feels "it is essential to keep the partnership between the Council and the Trust strong. The links are important in making sure we are working together to serve our community as a top priority."

Alison is an appointed governor working for CancerCare as the Head of Client Services and Development.

CancerCare is a local charity that gives support to adults and children affected by cancer so that they can live the best possible life.

Alison's career has spanned the NHS, Education and the Voluntary Sector, where she has run the Motor Neurone Disease Association Helpline, provided training in supporting victims of serious crime at Victim Support and led the British Red Cross services across Lancashire, Merseyside and Manchester.

Most of all, Alison is passionate about people receiving quality care at the right time and in the right place.

Cllr Shaun Turner is a Lancashire County Councillor and Cabinet Member for Health & Wellbeing. He is also the Chair of the Lancashire Health & Wellbeing Board, and a member of the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care System Board as well as a district Councillor for Wyre Council.

Sarah Wroe is the appointed governor for Lancaster University, where she is responsible for developing relationships with a range of external organisations. Sarah also leads the delivery of the community engagement programme, which brings to life the research and teaching which takes place at the University. As a Governor, Sarah is keen to help to build links between the Trust and the University, for the benefit of both organisations and their communities.

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Head Governor

Colin has been a Public Governor for over three years, about one year as Deputy Head Governor and two years as Head Governor.

Colin said: "I was a registered Pharmacist for 40 years and worked in both Hospital and Community Pharmacies, and within Academia and the Pharmaceutical Industry.

"Presently I am Chairman of South Lakeland Hydrotherapy Trust and a Trustee and Director of Cumbria County Volunteering Services. Both these organisations are involved in delivering health and well-being services as part of the local NHS network and Cumbria County Council.

"I am also Chairman of University of Sunderland Students’ Union."

The Reverend Annette Miller is a Church of England Priest in the Carlisle Diocese who is licensed as a self-supporting minister to the parish of Arnside and supports adjacent parishes.

She has been a Public Governor for the Trust for the past three years and has recently been elected for a further three year term of office.

Annette is a volunteer with the hospital Chaplaincy service, and therefore a regular visitor to the hospitals.

Annette Said: "I have become aware of the wide variety of circumstances and needs of patients and their families, and I am committed to help with the welfare of all."

I aim to ensure that the trust is accountable to its membership, and will endeavour to represent members’ interests, and the welfare of the whole community, both in South Cumbria and elsewhere. I believe that the continued lack of funding and resources have led to the trust's difficult financial state, to critical problems in the delivery of some services (including unacceptably long waiting times), and to the problems in recruiting qualified staff. I will support the board in its attempts to secure adequate funding, to deliver excellence in all its services and to recruit suitably qualified staff. I am a passionate believer in the founding principles of the NHS, that it should remain free at the point of delivery and be open to all on the basis of need alone. I will therefore campaign rigorously against any attempts to privatise or outsource any services. I will also give my support to any campaign by staff to protect their working conditions or to demand adequate recompense. Finally, I am concerned about the vulnerability of "whistle-blowers" and will do whatever may be necessary to help them to expose any malpractice and to protect them from disciplinary measures.

I have been a governor of the Cumbria Partnership Foundation Trust for some years and am familiar with the workings of NHS trusts in general.

I have an understanding and knowledge from my previous experience as a Governor, that as part of the Council of Governors, I could contribute to help fine tuning local Health Care Systems at this very important time of change. I support the core values of the NHS and do not wish to see it undermined by private health care either intentionally or as an unintended consequence. I am both supportive and critical of the Better Care initiative and the plans for a patient/member/public Assembly. I fear NHS engagement looks for yes/no answers where an answer of “it all depends” would be more revealing. As Governor I would be reluctant to narrow the scope of the UHMB Trust simply to produce a better fit with strategies whose implementation is not complete.

I am a previous Governor (and Deputy Lead Governor) of UHMBT. I have also held non-executive Director's posts in voluntary/community organisations. This has taught me the importance of good communication between the Trust membership, Governors, the Trust Board and the Trust Chair in his (or why not her?) crucial role as Chair of both the Council of Governors and the Trust Board. I can also offer my experience as a patient in a number of Departments of UHMB Trust and of the Cumbria Partnership Trust. I have Parkinson's disease and would like to make a positive contribution whilst still I can!

Born in Bowness-on-Windermere, Pete has lived all his life in the Furness area. His career started as a chemist in the analytical laboratories at Glaxo, then onto Vickers in an emerging I.T. commercial environment.  

Pete has spent the last 15 years as part of the Furness hospital I.T. team, helping develop it from being one of three separate hospital sites into one conglomerate as University of Morecambe Bay Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was formed.

Once retired, Pete became a Public Governor in March 2016 so that he could be involved in the future strategic direction of the Trust.

• Experience of working our local NHS as a nurse and midwife, realistic and practical

• Experience and skills gained through working with teenagers through St Bernard’s school as a S.E.R.I.S worker and with young mum’s-to-be which I set up initially in Barrow and delivered. Networking with other agencies

• Finance and record keeping through my business experience of seven years as Finance Manager of a local company. Aware of financial limitations, prioritising and importance of maintaining records for audit.

• Experiences of a patient at FGH and Preston with a life threatening condition and the challenges of aggressive treatment. Life is different from a patient perspective.

• Awareness of charities and support groups in my local area, rural difficulties of our location, etc.

As a retired teacher I have had the opportunity to work alongside health professionals and other clinicians in my role as Child Protection officer and Head of Special Needs. I feel this experience would be a basis of help for the role of governor.

I have a lifetime of being active in the community and passionately believe in striving to improve my town and area . I am active with charity work and listen to people’s opinions and grievances. I have a strong sense of community across age groups. My year as Mayor gave me a detailed insight into many organisations and companies who also work tirelessly for the community at large. The role of public governor would allow me to learn more and be proactive within the NHS.

Lynn was born and brought up Barrow-in-Furness. After leaving school, she worked in the Home Office in London before returning to work in the Department of Social Security, before becoming manager of the offices in Barrow, Kendal and Lancaster.

Lynn was also a magistrate for 25 years and served on adult, youth and family panels  as well as being a  magistrate member and vice chair of Cumbria Police Authority.

After retiring, Lynn became a lay member of the Barrow Primary Care group and worked alongside doctors and nurses – something which she credits as an invaluable experience which will help her to fulfil her role as a Governor. 

Deborah credits her life experiences and vocational skills to leading her into becoming an advocate for vulnerable people and for change.

Having two sons who have Autism, Deborah knows first-hand the challenges that people with disabilities face and how hard life can be for them and their families. She is passionate about improving services, the patient experience and outcomes for people with disabilities, as well as supporting diversity and inclusion in the workforce. 

Deborah is also a Solicitor, Author, Diversity & Inclusion Consultant, Campaigner, Autism Consultant, Online Autism Carers Support Group Founder, Parent Representative on The All Party Parliamentary Group for Autism (APPGA) & Creative Director at The Autism Plan.

In January 2018, she received an MBE for outstanding contribution to global Autism Awareness.

I attended St Peters school and then the Junior Technical College in the Storey Institute. On leaving school I commenced my career in nursing as a Hospital Cadet (later to become Nursing Cadet) at Lancaster Moor Hospital and finally qualifying as a Registered mental Nurse (RMN) in 1965. I went on to further training as a post graduate student at Royal Lancaster Infirmary (RLI) qualifying as a State Registered Nurse (SRN).

In 1972 I enlisted in the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a General Nurse in the first instant but returning to Mental Health Nursing in 1980. Following further training as a Community Psychiatric Nurse (CPN) I was tasked with establishing a Community Psychiatric Nursing service for military personnel in East Anglia followed by a similar role for all personnel in Cyprus. The role in Cyprus was a little different from previous formats in that I was not hospital based and we had no permeant Psychiatrist on site. This model is now the norm throughout the British military and has been adopted by NATO as a model for providing support for personnel with mental health issues or other allied welfare needs. I was awarded the Associate of The Royal Red Cross (ARRC) in the 1993 New Year Honours list for this work.

On discharge from the RAF I became the proprietor of 2 care homes and one nursing home (not all at the same time) and was Chairman of the local care homes association as well as a director of the Lancashire Care Association. On ‘retirement’ from nursing home ownership and management, I undertook freelance inspections of care home and management support until I finally retired in 2014. I remain committed to the care of the elderly and will champion their needs wherever the opportunity arises.

I am a keen Rotarian and was elected to the role of District Governor for the Rotary Year 2015/16 and I am a trustee of the Vera Wolstencroft Trust which supports children and animals charity in the Fylde coast and Morecambe Bay area.

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Lorraine Crossley-Close has had a passion for the NHS since she received a Nurses Uniform as a Christmas present when she was 4 years old. 

She started her career in healthcare as a Nursing cadet and rose through the ranks before she retired as Clinical Nurse Specialist. 

She has worked in A&E, Senior and General Medicine, Endocrinology and Respiratory Medicine as well as being involved with infertility hormonal therapy.

We need kind and skilled health and social care at all ages - but increasingly more so as we age. I want to be a governor once again to bring the views of my constituents and users to the management of this FT so that such services can be developed to meet need and I, on behalf of users, can hold the Board to account for doing that. Since UHMB is an FT which is championing joined up hospital and community services, I would like to be part of that environment. The general public need to understand this NHS development better - I would be an ambassador in my role as a governor to do that.

Beginning my career path in nursing, that career has now moved on to give me both hands on experience and senior general management experience in both public sector and independent/commercial organisations in the UK and overseas. The fact that I understand, from a clinical point of view and a management perspective, the world of health care and the NHS - as far as it can be understood - as well as drawing on experience and skills developed in non NHS organisations, means that I can represent you, the users, objectively. I am not afraid to challenge and to encourage alternative rather than easy solutions to problems. Please support me to do that for you.

I want to bring in my experiences from corporate world to give an outside perspective to UHMB. I am proud of what the team at UHMB have achieved in recent years and want to push us to go further and become a centre of excellence and an example for the country. I am passionate about improving the customer journey end-to-end for all of our customers, be that nurses, doctors, support staff or patients. As a strong believer in empowering people, I want to have a change framework that allows staff and colleagues to be trusted and guided to make the changes they know will improve services for everyone who touches the services we offer.

I am a technologist and digital change expert with experiences of improving end-to-end customer journeys in the highly regulated banking sector. I have been a part of the team that built the largest digital bank in the country. I have used silicone valley techniques in a highly regulated environment to deliver changes that improved user experiences while simultaneously reducing costs in a FTSE 100 organisation. As a technologist I have experience of working closely with a Cheif Information Officer within a large international bank to review our cyber and IT resilience to secure services and data. I have experience of delivering change in times of constraint and hope to transfer my experiences to UHMB.

I have 37 years experience in the NHS as a Nurse/Midwife. I am committed to providing excellent patient care. My present role is in engagement and development of staff and service users. I understand how the organisation works from above and most importantly from below, as I have been there. I can represent all employees and be caring, fair and articulate. I am very approachable and have a well-balanced personality. I am extremely fair. I am very visible and well known across all sites in the organisation as I work in a x-bay role. My role means I am ideally placed to receive suggestions and feedback from the many members of staff I meet in my working week. I am not afraid to challenge appropriately and am accountable and hold people to account.

I have worked within the trust now for 17 years, I have worked on most wards as a CSW and I now work in facilities and estates. I have a broad knowledge of each of the departments, specialities and services so I feel that this knowledge could help with any future tasks that involve improving and shaping services.

I’m Ben Hignett, I’ve worked for University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust for the last 14 years within the IT department.

I decided to volunteer as Staff Governor back in 2015, and was re-elected again in 2018 for a further 3 years. My day job includes meeting members of the NHS all around South Lakes as well as Westmorland General Hospital, so I can bring a wide range of views to the Council of Governors.

Being Staff Governor means I am kept informed of the bigger picture, and can pass this information on to colleagues and gain their insight to input into discussions.

I'm passionate about fostering a good working environment and the positive impact that it has on staff wellbeing and patient care. As a recent 'Respect Champion' recruit, I'm able to have a proactive role in making this happen. The staff governor role fits together nicely with this and I would welcome the opportunity to represent staff views to the other governors, as well as identify opportunities to promote the Respect agenda, for the benefit of all.

In addition to my skills, knowledge and experience gained in being a Respect Champion around values and behaviours, as a radiographer, I can bring my clinical work experiences to enhance the Board's knowledge and experience in this area. As a student radiographer, I was an academic representative for my course, feeding back views from the students to the tutors. I have experience of working in other sectors including higher education and SME businesses, giving me a wide range of experience in a variety of areas including manual, technical and professional roles. These roles have enabled me to develop my interpersonal skills and brought me into contact me with a broad range of staff. Other life skills, such as active listening and empathy, have arisen through a period as a full time parent and as a carer for a partner with significant mental health difficulties.

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