A unique opportunity to influence the future of healthcare in the county is now available, as we are looking for 21 new governors.
NCIC manages both acute and community services, including maternity, stroke and A&E. This means there are lots of opportunities to get involved and help shape the future direction of the Trust and the services it runs.
The Trust is looking for individuals to become involved and nominate themselves to become part of the NCIC Governors’ Council. This is a great opportunity to have a say in what is happening in your local community and to feedback your views directly to the Board of Directors.
There are 16 public vacancies and five staff vacancies. Postcards advertising the roles are being sent to households in Cumbria.
Jacqueline Nicol, lead governor at NCIC, said: “The role of a governor is very interesting and also challenging.
“It is a great opportunity to help improve our local NHS.”
Steven Morgan, Chair of NCIC, said: “Governors have an important role to play in helping to shape and monitor the Trust’s services.
“They are information conduits informing their constituents about what is happening in the Trust and informing Trust management about what the public thinks about our service and our plans and initiatives. They are appointed to represent the interests and views of our members and of the public.
“Governors bring valuable insights and experiences to our services and ensure that the NHS is accountable to its local population.
“As a governor you take part in a number of meetings and will be invited to take part in visits to our services alongside Non-Executive Directors. Governors appoint the Chair and Non-Executive Directors and hold them to account for the performance of the Board of Directors.”
Mike Taylor is a public governor for Eden. He said: “A governor plays an interesting and unusual role in that service delivery - we are not clinicians and we don’t have operational roles but we do seek to act as representatives of the public to monitor and scrutinise the delivery of the services in an effort to help improve them. In doing that we bring into play other aspects of our lives and experience - in my case being the Chair of Cumbria CVS and Chair of Action for Health Cumbria.
“Two aspects of our role which I feel are of value and satisfying are the opportunity at Governors’ Council meetings to hold the Board to account for its management of the Trust in delivering it’s services and being responsible for the recruitment and appointment of the Chair and Non-executive Directors (NEDs). Helping us fulfil our role is the hugely valuable opportunity to make visits with a NED to Trust operations and spend time talking with staff about their roles and challenges.”
The role description includes:
- Represent the interests of the members of the Trust as a whole and the interests of the public
- Hold the Non-Executive Directors to account for the performance of the Board of Directors
- Appoint, remove and decide the terms of office, including remuneration, of the Chair and other Non-Executive Directors
- Appoint or remove the Trust’s External Auditors
- Review the annual accounts, auditor’s report and annual report
- Express a view on the Board of Directors’ forward plans
The vacancies include:
- 3 x Public Allerdale
- 2 x Public Carlisle
- 4 x Public Copeland
- 3 x Eden
- 2 x Public Furness and South Lakeland
- 1 x Public Lancashire
- 1 x North East England and Yorkshire
- 2 x Staff Allerdale & Copeland
- 2 x Staff Carlisle & Eden
- 1 x Staff Furness & South Lakeland
For information about vacancies in your area, what is involved in being a governor, the role of the Governors Council and how to submit your nomination go to www.cesvotes.com/NCIC2023 where you will also find details of how to join an online information session being held on Friday, 21st July 2023 from 10.30am to 11.30am.
Deadline for submission of completed nomination forms is 5pm on Friday, 4th August 2023. Assistance to complete your nomination form is available from the Returning Officer by Email at ftnominationenquiries@cesvotes.com, or call 020 8889 9203.
All governors are volunteers; however travel expenses will be reimbursed.
To stand for election you must be a member of North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust within the Public Constituency or Class of the Staff Constituency for which you wish to stand as a candidate.