Governors

Rukmal Abeysekera

City of York, Lead Governor

Rukmal is passionate about equality, diversity and equal healthcare for all.

Working with colleagues her aim would be to help improve confidence in NHS provision across society as well as in specific communities.

Alongside partners, she would seek to help enhance and extend communications so that all communities served by the Trust feel confident in the care provided.

Mary Clark

City of York

Mary has worked in the NHS in York, at the County and City Hospitals, and then in the York Hospital for 44 years, attaining the role of Sister 12 years before retiring in 2014. She has always had a keen interest in the running of the hospital and volunteered in the Covid Hub during the vaccination program and still volunteer today in the distribution of the PPE to the wards.

She would like to be a part, and have some say in how the hospital is run today, and perhaps to help forward ideas to improve the patients journey and treatment . How money could be spent wisely and how waste can be managed to prevent overspending in certain areas, and see that staff are well supported and deployed correctly in consideration of their skills.

Beth Dale

City of York

Beth is a retired nurse with over 44 years experience of hands-on caring from working in York Hospital the week it opened to looking after her husband until his death in 2017.  Her father was a hospital administrator in York for many years and she has first-hand insight as to how the various roles of hospital staff all ultimately work to the same conclusion.

She was born and bred in York, attending Queen Ann Grammar School until 1973.  Then continuing to Claypenny hospital to train as a nurse specialising in genetics and special needs.  She is an active volunteer member of various health charities.

Over the years she has served as a Parish Councillor and School Governor locally before enjoying her years as a volunteer advocate.  She is registered disabled with mobility issues, hearing and sight loss.  She has a special interest in medicine and care relating to all disabilities plus all services relating to the elderly.  She believes passionately that the NHS has the best care in the world and considers it an honour to be part of that process.

Michael Reakes

City of York

Michael brings a unique global experience of healthcare services, having lived, worked and received medical treatment in the UK, USA, and Middle East.  His career has focused on the development of e-learning and training technology to improve job performance and safety, including projects in the medical field.  He has managed large projects, budgets, and supervised multidisciplinary professionals from a variety of nationalities.

Michael has good leadership, listening and communication skills, and a record of creative, cost-effective solutions. He can see the big picture and both sides of an issue. Michael states he is detail-oriented, organised and motivated and has led community organisations, and has experience of focus groups and feedback surveys.

Through his expereince, Michael is confident that he can effectively represent members of York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, hold the non-executive directors to account, and help guide the development and delivery of safe, cost-effective, and sustainable healthcare in York.

Ros Shaw

City of York

Ros cares deeply for the future of our local hospital, its present and the challenging decisions required to steer a decisive path between the two. In these unprecedented times, of near systemic collapse, she believes more than ever before that she wishes to be of active help. She has held a senior management role with global remit for much of the last decade. This role and previous have equipped her with extensive change management skills, broad people and cultural management and sophisticated communication techniques. As a charity volunteer within our City, she appreciates the wider society demands placed upon our services and the complexity of these inter-dependant relationships and their stakeholders. As a public governor, she can be relied upon to challenge, support, and work hard. 

Linda Wild

East Coast of Yorkshire

The NHS is facing some of the hardest times in its history. The affect of this challenge is impacting on all of our hospital services. Linda  would like the opportunity to work with the York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust as a voice of service users and the wider community for the East Coast of Yorkshire, to be a voice to the service providers so that change and review of services can happen if it is necessary. Particularly, the key issues now facing this Trust. She believes it is very important that the Trust management listen and respond to the input from patients and the wider community.

As a patient herself of the Trust she has experienced very good care and sometimes not so good. She is keen to influence and contribute to our local health services to make a difference. She thinks it is very important to have non executive directors with the right skills for the board, She would welcome being involved in the recruitment and accountability of these directors. She has experience in the past of working closely with another Hospital Trust for several years and also has experience of working in a hospital. She is keen to see change happen for us all. She works in the community with different groups and has currently been elected to the position of Town Mayor. 

James Hayward

East Coast of Yorkshire

James has lived in the area since 2009. In that time he has been a School governor, a trustee for the First Light Trust and was appointed as Chairman of Beyond Housing. He will stand down from the latter role in September but feels he still has the energy, commitment and desire to continue to support our community in some small way. His professional career of over 40 years was spent mainly as an executive director in large acute NHS Trusts around the country working in the Estates and Facilities field.  He has also served in the Royal Navy as a maritime reservist for 22 years rising to a senior rank.

He has always been passionate about providing the best possible environment for staff to give healthcare to patients. The NHS is facing challenging times and the York and Scarborough NHS FT is no different. As a public East Coast governor he would use his knowledge, experience and skills to support the Trust, listen to patients, visitors, staff and stakeholders to try and represent their views at the Council of Governors to the fullest extent.

Paul Gibson

East Coast of Yorkshire

Paul is a Bridlington born gentleman who has a passion for the health service in his local area.  He is employed as a Team Leader in the Health and Social Care sector and, for the last 9 years, has cared for people with dementia which he finds a very rewarding job.

He has a passion to help people and advocate for them and also takes a great interest in the mental health services in this area.

He is the local Patient Participation Group (PPG) Chair for Humber Primary Care and also sits on the Bridlington Health Forum.

As a public East Coast Governor he will do his upmost to represent the views of local residents at the Council of Governors.

Catherine Thompson

Hambleton District

Catherine lives in Sutton on the Forest in the South of Hambleton District with her husband and young son, and has lived there since 2009 when she moved from York. Catherine worked as a physiotherapist at York Hospital for over 10 years, before leaving in 2008 to teach physiotherapy and other health related subjects at York St John University. She now works in healthcare management at NHS England, based in Leeds, and her role is to improve patient and carer experience of health services across England.

Catherine takes a keen interest in the health services that are provided locally, and would like to be a Governor for York Hospital so that she can influence and support the services to be the best that they can be for the people in this area. In her work she has the privilege of visiting hospitals and healthcare staff across England. She gets to see many different ways of delivering care and supporting patients, and sees what is possible and what can be achieved. She is used to working alongside hospital managers, patients,

carers, and patient organisations and so she feels comfortable challenging and asking questions of others to ensure that decisions are made in the interests of patients.

Wendy Loveday

Selby

Wendy wanted to become a Governor to be a voice for patients and carers to ensure that the Trust is constantly striving to fulfil the needs of the people in Selby. She has lived and experienced York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals’ services for almost 40 years. She has had both positive and negative experiences within our NHS which have all helped shape the desire she has to put a little back into a service that she, her family and friends have relied upon their whole lives.

As a Fleetways driver, she works every day closely with the hospitals on the YAS and multiple other hospital contracts transporting patients, staff, samples, bloods, notes, etc. This has given her years of insight into the workings of many different wards, departments and elements of most of the hospitals from a different vantage point. To make room, she stepped down from her seven year role as Chair of the York Private Hire Association where she successfully and voluntarily represented 800 drivers. She believes that demonstrates the skills she has to ensure that voices are heard. She believes in positive changes, to hold Directors to account, and that a fair balance and a bridge between Directors and service users is essential. She believes in working together and believes in the NHS.

Gerry Richardson

University of York

Dr Gerry Richardson is a Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Health Economics (CHE) at the University of York in the UK. CHE has a leading international reputation, and is one of the world’s largest health economics research centres. 

Gerry has over 20 years’ experience as a health economist concentrating on applied and methodological issues in cost-effectiveness analysis. 

Topics of interest  include optimal skill mix for health professionals, the cost-effectiveness of self-management interventions, and the cost-effectiveness of childhood and parenting interventions. 

Recently he has led public health evaluations that involve decision making across sectors (primarily health and education) and over time. 

Elizabeth McPherson

Community & Social Care

Elizabeth is the CEO of Scarborough and Ryedale Carers Resource since 2009, after starting as a Support and Information Officer in 2002. She feels privileged to be part of this wonderful charity for so long and to have helped design and develop services for the benefit of the people they support. In June 2021 the charity expanded its area of delivery to provide services supporting unpaid carers across Hambleton and Richmondshire and parts of East Riding of Yorkshire, as a consequence it changed its name to Carers Plus Yorkshire (CPY), with its head office in the village of Snainton (Scarborough).

She is very passionate about supporting unpaid family carers, (8-108) they are a hidden army of providers of unpaid care, saving Health and Social Care billions of pounds each year.

Carers deserve to have a life of their own and the charity provides a number of services including: connecting carers together, reducing social isolation and loneliness, offer emotional support, to give carers time to talk, off load, and not feel judged and be listened to, provide more groups/training, activities, as well as carer assessments, provide a conduit for voice and representation work and help navigate the red tape and frustrations they come across when looking for support, and much more.

CPY also provide services in their new outreach hubs (new services over the last 12 months) in Whitby, Scarborough and Eastfield. 

Her wealth of experience and understanding of both the voluntary sector and social care needs of carers will be an asset to the Council of Governors, She is a Trustee on various charities and part of a team of voluntary sector leaders sitting on the North Yorkshire Assembly group feeding into the ICB. 

Jill Quinn MBE

Dementia Forward

Jill's first career was in retail management, where she gained the valuable knowledge of HR, H&S, finance etc.  While raising her 3 children she started a charity for pre school children and discovered the important role that the voluntary sector can play in communities. She went on to work for Barnardos and then for the Alzheimer's Society.

In 2012 she left the national charity to start a local dementia charity, Dementia Forward.  She had not intended for it to grow beyond the Harrogate District but had struck on a very successful model and expanded across all of North Yorkshire with a staff of 65 and over 250 volunteers, delivering a wrap around service to over 5000 people living with dementia and their families.  Dementia Forward is 50% commissioned and 50% funded through voluntary income.

She is a member of the Kings Fund leadership network and also a representative for the voluntary sector on the North Yorkshire health and wellbeing board and the Scrutiny and Overview committee, as well as sitting on many stakeholder and strategy groups.

Her passion is first and foremost about dementia and older people but hope Io see beyond these groups and has an interest in leadership and systems.

Cllr Liz Colling

North Yorkshire County Council

Liz was born and bred in Scarborough, and after a career in pharmacy and business she moved back to the area in 2010 to enjoy her semi-retirement and be close to family.

She has been a Borough Councillor since 2015, and North Yorkshire County Councillor since 2017, being elected to represent Falsgrave and Stepney in Scarborough.

Liz is passionate about improving social mobility and addressing health inequalities on the coast and currently serves on the Borough's cabinet where she has responsibility for Regeneration and is Vice Chair of Scrutiny of Health at North Yorkshire County Council

When not engaged in council duties, Liz enjoys growing her own vegetables, keeping generally active and busy, as well as travel, especially visiting her son who lives abroad.

Cllr Jonathan Bibb

East Riding of Yorkshire Council

Cllr Jonathan Bibb, East Riding of Yorkshire Council, has lived locally for over 15 years and feels privileged to live in such a beautiful area and be part of such a warm and welcoming local community. He is a self employed sole trader in antiques and collectables and a personal trainer at a local gym where he takes great pleasure in helping people to improve their lives and achieve their goals . As a councillor, he endeavours to help the community as a whole, in East Wolds and Coastal and the wider East Riding, and would play an active role in encouraging and unlocking the great potential of the area and it’s residents. He recognises and understands the problems rural and coastal communities face and need to tackle.

He is Deputy Chairman of the East Riding Conservative Association, a parent governor at his daughter's school, and is also a  trustee of The Parker Home Trust which supports talented young people in Bridlington and the surrounding area.

Outside of politics, he has an active interest in health and fitness and enjoys most sports. Fell walking and the countryside are other passions and he frequently walk the trails on the stunning heritage coastline.

Cllr Jason Rose

City of York Council

Newly elected as councillor for Acomb in 2023, and as a member of the City of York Council Health, Housing and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Committee, Jason has a keen passion for tackling challenges in health inequality and universal healthcare access for all. 

Moving to York as a teenager and living here for half of his life, he has continually seen the amazing hard work of the Trust and is keen to support it as much as possible. Since moving to York, Jason has worked for NHS digital service providers, volunteered for local health services during the COVID-19 pandemic, and founded the first coronavirus charity in the UK. Throughout these experiences, as well as personal and family health circumstances, he has been repeatedly grateful for the amazing and caring staff of the Foundation Trust (and countless other organisations and workers). 

Jason is keen to make sure that residents and staff are always heard and represented, across physical and mental health services. Everyone goes through personal experiences that depend on the Trust, so accessibility and inclusivity are critical to every aspect of the organisation. As a digital services manager, Jason sees the value in innovative, cost effective, high-quality services, but believes that the most important way to achieve success is by listening to service users and workers alike.

Rebecca Bradley

Community

Rebecca has worked for York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust for the last three years. Since becoming a Registered Nurse in 2009, she has predominantly worked in Community Nursing in Leeds, Harrogate and York. In 2013, she completed her Specialist Practitioner District Nurse qualification.  

As a Matron, she clinically leads and operationally manages teams in the delivery of quality and evidence-based nursing care, and has a passion for patient safety, quality improvements and District Nursing. She also has a keen interest in supporting health and well-being and has recently become a Professional Nurse Advocate.  

She joined the NHS to make a difference and appreciates the impact that her community colleagues have on patients’ lives. We are facing challenging but also exciting times within the community setting and together, we can discover what matters to individuals in our communities so that we can continue to make a difference to patients’ lives when it’s most needed.  

She embraces the Trust’s values and takes great pride and dedication in her work and the support she provides to her colleagues. She believes that the knowledge, experience and skills gained in her role will be useful as a staff governor and to represent the interests of our community colleagues and patients.

Abbi Denyer

York

I welcome the opportunity to represent the views of my fellow colleagues because I believe that we can forge more meaningful links through the sharing of staff views and experiences, which is one of the key ways of improving and implementing current and future strategies.

I’m extremely passionate about providing the best care for our patients and creating the best working environment for our NHS family. I am confident that by improving the co-operation between key stakeholders this can be achieved. These are challenging times for our NHS but we all have an exciting future ahead as we transition from the peak of the pandemic to recovery and renewal.

My current role within the Patient Safety and Governance Team gives me a deeper understanding of the spectrum of care the trust provides and the current challenges it faces. I have been a member of the NHS family for over 8 years and during this time I have gained better communication skills and am often described by colleagues as approachable and an effective listener. I am a confident speaker who likes to understand the rationale behind decisions which together with my passion for patient safety and staff wellbeing would contribute positively to the role of staff governor.

Julie Southwell

York

Julie has worked for the Trust for over 20 years in a variety of roles, currently as Recruitment Manager. She believes passionately in preserving the NHS, and especially York & Scarborough NHSFT, as a force for improving the life and well-being of our community.  She is particularly keen to help ensure that the Trust continues to focus on balancing the competing priorities and challenges it faces today, and in the future, whilst safeguarding its principal purpose of providing high quality health care to our community.

Over the years her and her family  have had cause to use the services of the Trust on a number of occasions, and she has seen first-hand how the high quality of care given by our staff makes such a difference to both patients and their families.

She wants to ensure the Trust continues to provide the best quality care for our patients and the best environment for our staff. In her role as Recruitment Manager she understands the challenges faced by the Trust in staffing our hospitals safely and appropriately and want to work with you and the Board to overcome these challenges. I want to be a governor because I strongly believe that it is important that the expertise of the Board of Directors is balanced with the opinions of the main users of the services; you, her, the local community and surrounding neighbourhoods who depend upon it, and as a staff governor she wants the views of you, the staff, to be heard.

Dr Gary Kitching

York

Gary has lived locally since 1997 and been a Consultant in Emergency Medicine in York since 2001. Over the past 18 months, he has also undertaken the role of Care Group Director for the Medicine Care Group and the lived experiences of these roles have provided many insights into the real world challenges that we are all facing.  He knows first-hand, coupled with recent staff surveys, how dejected and demoralised many of us are currently feeling. This must change so that our working lives are made as rewarding and fulfilling as possible.

To optimise the care being expected of it, the Trust must transform the way this is delivered and for this to be successful it’s staff will need to be engaged in both supporting and helping to develop the strategies needed to do so.  As a staff governor he believes that his broad experiences of the workings of the Trust, together with the views of colleagues and members of the public, will help to inform the Trust’s future strategic direction.

Dr Adnan Faraj

Scarborough & Bridlington

Dr. Adnan A Faraj (FRCS Orth&Tr.) has been a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at the Trust since 2015.  He is also the Lead Clinician for the Orthopaedic department.  His career to date includes:

1. Consultant Orthopaedic surgeon in Airedale Foundation Trust 2000-2010
2. Clinical directors for orthopaedics in Airedale Foundation Trust 2008-2010
3. Voluntary charity work in Iraq to help building up orthopaedics in the state hospital of Kirkuk and set up postgraduate training in orthopaedics (Kurdistan specialization Board) 2011-2013

He is keen on improving the East Coast hospital services for the local people.

Franco Villani

Scarborough & Bridlington

Franco has enjoyed working in the Trust’s estates team at Bridlington Hospital for 24 years.  His experience at Bridlington hospital brings in-depth knowledge of its wards and facilities along with daily contact with the teams who try to make it work well. He strives to always remain approachable and to encourage local Staff ideas and suggestions. He will seek and support every opportunity to find ways of improving services and morale at the hospital through increased investment whilst developing his wider understanding of how the Trust operates overall.  As a Union rep, he was honoured to receive a TUC Health and Safety Wellbeing Representative of the Year Award and received lots of messages of support from work colleagues.

At home he enjoys walking, swimming, cycling and sunny holidays with his wife Diane . He enjoys team working, learning from other people’s ideas, thoughts, and views, and “getting the job done.”   He would be delighted to contribute more and to making a difference.

Graham Healey

Scarborough & Bridlington

Graham has worked in the facilities and estates team at Bridlington hospital for the past 15 months as a Facilities Supervisor.  In this time he has gained extensive knowledge of the site and staff.   He has a can-do attitude and always gives 100% in everything he does, and likes to see people succeeding and always tries to encourage and support colleagues.

As a staff governor, he wants the absolute best for all staff at Scarborough and Bridlington, give support and hear everyone’s views so he can represent them at the Council of Governors.

 Away from work, Graham is very family orientated and enjoys spending as much time with them as possible. He is keen on fitness and enjoys spending time in the gym and leading a healthy lifestyle which also involves growing his own fruit and vegetables with his young daughter.