Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust’s new governors will begin their terms of office on Tuesday 1 May.

The role of the Council of Governors is to represent the views of local communities to the Trust Board, and to appoint the chair and non-executive directors. The Council also approves the appointment of the chief executive before any appointment is made.

The governors were elected following the Trust’s governor elections in March where people from constituencies across Bradford, Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven nominated themselves, and in cases where seats were contested, Care Trust members voted for their preferred candidates.

The newly elected governors are Zahra Niavi and Rupy Hayre for Bradford East; Ruth Omenyo for Bradford West; Loretta Gooch for Craven; Sidney Brown for Shipley; and Jason Smith and Francesca Stefanyszyn for Bradford South. Existing governors Kevin Russell, Colin Perry, Mahfooz Khan, Nicholas Smith, Sarah Jones and George Deane have all been re-elected for a second term. They will join governor for Keighley, Nicky Green, who is still serving her first term of office. The ‘Rest of England’ seat was not filled and a decision regarding any re-election for this seat will be made later in the year.

During the election, Care Trust staff also voted for their staff governor representatives. The new staff governors are Craig Berry from administration services, Pamela Shaw, practice educator and health visitor, Mehreen Akhtar from palliative care services, and Jane Haigh, a specialist community public health nurse. They will join existing staff governor Jenny Moran-Whitehead from administration services, alongside the public governors, and appointed governors from local organisations, on the Council of Governors.

The new governors have attended an induction to welcome them to the Trust, and will now take up their roles within the Trust and their local communities. Members of the public who wish to contact their local governor can email the organisation’s Foundation Trust membership office at ft@bdct.nhs.uk.

The Trust’s Director of Corporate Affairs, Paul Hogg, said: “As a Foundation Trust we invite our members to tell us how we can develop and improve services to ensure they continue to meet the needs of local communities. Our Council of Governors is crucial in this role as they represent the views of local people and give them a voice We will be planning a number of member-related activities during the year that will be promoted locally and I know many of our governors will want to be actively involved in these.”