Our governors

You can stand for election to our new Council of Governors if:

• You are a member of the NHS Foundation Trust, (if you are not a member but wish to join our Trust please fill in our online form) link to form
• You are 16 years or over,
• You are a member of the constituency you wish to represent
• You can be appointed to the Council of Governors if you are asked by your organisation to do so, following a formal approach from the Trust.

Governors represent the views of and provide a link to our public, staff and partner organisations.

Governors of South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust will have the opportunity to:

• Ensure we are accountable to our members and the communities that we serve
• Represent the interests of our partner organisations
• Communicate effectively with our members and help us to develop networks for engaging with the wider community
• Help us plan for the future by canvassing the views and opinions of members and local communities
• Influence change, development and improvements to the way we deliver care to our patients and service users

Collectively, governors have an advisory, guardianship and strategic role within the governance of the Trust, which is crucial to our success.

Our Council of Governors consists of 26 governors covering the following constituencies:

Chair (also Chair of the Board of Directors)

15 Public Governors

• Durham - Christine Bullmore
• Gateshead - VACANCY
• South Tyneside - Gerry Fionda, James Jordan, Paul Dearnaley, Dileep Deshpande, Allyson Stewart  (Lead Governor), VACANCY
• Sunderland - Simon Ayre, Tara Burrell, Anita Hagan, Dave McNicholas, Ian Thurlbeck, Pauline Palmer
• Rest of North East of England - VACANCY

6 Staff Governors

• Clinical Acute Staff - Mayflor Bernal, Lindsey Downey
• Clinical Community Staff - Mark Tull
• Medical and Dental - Shahid Junejo
• Non Clinical Staff - Chris Anderson, Kimberley Wilson

Appointed Governors

• Local Authority, South Tyneside - Councillor Paul Peal
• Local Authority, Sunderland - Councillor Dianne Snowdon
• Higher Education Medical Schools - Scott Wilkes

Paul Dearnaley

Paul has lived in Westoe for the majority of his life and with a growing family reliant on the Trust he is looking forward to the opportunity to contribute to the activities of a governor and to promote the views of the residents of South Tyneside.

With over 50 years in full time employment, and more than 40 in the private sector, he will bring an unbiased view to the operation of the Trust.

Dilieep Deshpande

Dileep's employment with the NHS started in January 1980 in Hospital & Community Paediatrics.  He was a representative of Community Paediatrics on the District Medical Committee and later on regular meetings with the Trust for few years.  He is an active Member of the British Medical Association and has a keen interest in local Health Care provided by Hospitals and GPs.

Dileep is a resident of South Tyneside and hopes to raise issues relating to healthcare try to improve the quality of care.

Allyson Stewart (lead governor)

Allyson has spent the majority of her career in the Voluntary Sector providing her with vast experience as a Director and also as a carer.  She has previously taken an active role in the local hospital as a former Governor and Lead Governor.  Allyson has a particular interest in departments which carry out a great deal of valuable work behind the scenes, such as security, waste management and the mortuary. 

James Jameson Jordan

James is a passionate supporter of the NHS and has lived in South Shields all of his life. He is now retired after serving in the army for 10 years and in the police service for 30 years. He has experience of the fantastic work of the staff in the NHS.

Gerry Fionda

Gerry is a resident of South Shields who is retired and applied to be a governor to help the NHS by giving something back. He is a member of South Tyneside CCG Patient Group, part of his GP’s Patient Group and Chair of his Residents’ Association. He believes the world we live in works better when it works for all and will work to ensure that excellent patient care continues to be the primary objective.

VACANCY

To be filled in the elections beginning April 2025

Simon Ayre

Simon is a retired NHS Registered Nurse.  During his career he helped to care for the people of Sunderland, South Tyneside and beyond.  He is now an elected Councillor for St Chad’s Ward and the City of Sunderland.  

As a governor he will work to ensure that the people of Sunderland are at the very heart his governor duties, and he will be visible, engaging, proactive, committed, and passionate to the role.

Tara Burrell

Tara is a leader of a local Primary Care organisation with over 40 years' experience working across health, social care and emergency services.  She has developed a holistic view of the pressures and challenges faced by public services, the reliance they have on one another and the power of collaboration and partnerships.

As a patient, carer and healthcare leader, she has substantial and varied experience of receiving care from, as well as working alongside, frontline STSFT teams.  

She was raised in South Tyneside, she has lived in the Sunderland area for 30 years, actively pursuing her passion for improving the care of our local population through her work.  
 

Anita Hagon

Anita has been a Public Governor since 2019 actively volunteering to be the governor ‘voice’ in a number of Trust groups helping support standards, ensuring good health and wellbeing of the patients and our dedicated NHS staff.

She relishes the opportunity to review, challenge and assure excellent standards of care, financial systems and governance issues as a Governor.

Anita has actively volunteered during the pandemic for the NHS, local council and St Johns ambulance service supporting our most vulnerable individuals in our local community.

Dave McNicholas

Dave retired from the NHS in 2020 where he worked on Coronary Care, Medical, Surgical and ENT/Facio-maxillary wards before specialising in Critical Care.

He would to like to use his knowledge and experience as a Nurse, Trade Union Representative and Manager, in helping to ensure that the health provision for the population of Sunderland and South Tyneside is delivered to the highest possible standard.
 

Pauline Palmer

Pauline is a passionate supporter of the NHS and trained as a nurse and served as a matron in Sunderland hospital.  She ensured that the patients and their families received the highest quality of care, were treated with respect and that patients were fully involved in their care.  Pauline volunteered at Washington Village U3A and at a dogs charity. She is also a member of a GP patient participation panel. 

Ian Thurlbeck

Ian is passionate about the NHS and the important role it plays in many people’s lives. The role of governor gives him the opportunity to give something back to this key service in our local area.

He is an NHS service user born and bred in Sunderland, and with strong family connections working within the NHS over several decades. 

Ian has recently retired, and now feels he has the time, knowledge, experience and desire to make a difference to the services local people receive; services which are perhaps even more important now in view of the ongoing challenges many people face achieving good physical and mental health.

VACANCY

To be filled in the elections beginning April 2025

Christine Bullmore

Christine retired from the Trust in December 2023 after 47 years.  Her background is in science, technology and planning and she as a Biomedical Scientist for over 30 years before being appointed as the Trust Emergency Preparedness Resilience and Response (EPRR) and Business Continuity Manager.

She believes that everyone deserves easy access to flexible and responsive health and social care and would like to help with this in her governor role. 

In her retirement she enjoys the outdoors, teaching swimming, volunteering for the RSPB and gardening with her dog.

VACANCY

To be filled in the elections beginning April 2025

Lindsey Downey

Lindsey is a Patient Flow Manager and Night Matron. She believes that to deliver exceptional care, staff need to be treated exceptionally well and listened to. She appreciates the challenges facing staff who work hard to deliver excellent care to our patients and their families. Lindsey has been a Registered Nurse for 18 years with a background in acute medicine, education and training, and practice development.

Mayflor Bernal

Mayflor has worked for the Trust since 2001, starting as an Adaptation Nurse and now currently on a seconded role as Lead Nurse for International Nurses. 

She is passionate about nursing, having worked in various clinical areas in the Trust.  She is very active in supporting the international community in and outside the Trust, and is one of the nursing representatives of the Black Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) group.

Chris Anderson

Chris has 30 years’ service in the NHS and is very passionate about the NHS, the Trust and the roles we all have in providing an excellent service for our community.

He has worked in the IT department for over 20 years, and is married with two children.

He is looking forward to helping to keep the patients at the heart of what we all do and strive to help the good reputation the Trust has with the community and beyond.

Kimberley Wilson

Kimberley has worked in the NHS for over 8 years predominantly as a Ward Clerk and as Ward Clerk Ambassador at South Tyneside and Sunderland Royal NHS Foundation Trust.  Her role is now part of Clinical Support as a Directorate Manager Support.

She has a strong sense of enthusiasm and determination, and genuinely cares about making sure that the roles, responsibilities, and accountability of the governor position adequately represents the ideas and perspectives of the workforce.   
 

Mark Tull

Mark began work in the NHS 31 years ago as a Student Nurse and currently has a dual role as a Clinician and a Mental Health Team Manager.  He believes that any successful health organisation must ensure that it has the welfare of not only the community it serves but also the staff it employs.  His is passionate that staff wellbeing and in particular mental wellbeing are high on the agenda of the organisation.

Shahid Junejo

As a Clinician, Shahid is aware of the challenges that face Medical staff across the organisation at this time of significant change.  As a former Medical & Dental staff Governor he has contributed positively to the role of the Council of Governors and holding the Board of Directors and senior Trust management accountable.

Prof Scott Wilkes, Education - University of Sunderland Medical School

Scott is Head of the School of Medicine, Professor of General Practice and Primary Care at University of Sunderland and part-time GP in North Tyneside.  He has extensive experience on a number of Research and Educational Boards and also served as a non-Exec Director for a number of organisations.  Scott is a member of the Society for Academic Primary Care and has delivered a number of BMJ masterclass lectures throughout the UK.  His research interests centre on the management of infertility and hypothyroidism in general practice and embedding new technologies in the clinical consultation.

Cllr Dianne Snowdon

Dianne is the appointed governor representative from Sunderland City Council.  She has represented the Washington Central Ward since 2008 as a Labour and Co-Operative Councillor, and has lived in Washington for most of her life.

She has many years’ experiences as a school governor my community interests including been Chair of the Columbia Community Association and Vice Chair of the Regional Scrutiny Network.

Cllr Paul Dean

Paul is the appointed governor representative from South Tyneside Council.  

Election Results 2024

Summer 2024

Spring 2024