An introduction to Tim Durkin, Governor for Wider Yorkshire & The Humber

I have been a Governor of the Trust since February 2020.  Public Governors are elected for specific areas, known as Constituencies, and the area which I represent is called "Wider Yorkshire and the Humber". This area excludes Hull, East Yorkshire and Whitby. In practice the Trust only provides some non-mental health services in Scarborough and the Ryedale District and just south of the Humber. Although the Trust does not provide services in most of the rest of Yorkshire, it still has members in that wider area.  Although a Governor represents the area for which they have been elected, the Governors, as a body, try and represent the whole of the membership and have a number of roles, including feeding in the views of trust members to directors when setting strategy for the trust and holding the non-executive directors to account for the performance of the board of directors.

My original interest in becoming a Governor was my interest in mental health services, which I have had since the mid-1960's, when I was a student in Hull. I later became the founder Chair of Hull & East Yorkshire Mind and in the late 1980's was for some 6 years the National Chair of Mind.  For over 30 years I also represented patients, both in the Trust area and regionally, who were detained under the Mental Health Act.

What I find interesting as a Governor is also the provision by the Trust of a number of other services, mainly community based, including some G.P. services, all of which need to be considered by the Governors.

The main challenge that I have had in carrying out my role is that the pandemic and lockdown started shortly after I commenced. This has meant that it has not been possible to visit any of the facilities provided by the Trust, or meet in person with other Governors and all of our meetings have had to be on screen.   Inevitably therefore it has made the already difficult task of representing members, even more difficult There is a sub-Committee of the Governors called " Engaging with Members" of which I am part, as the Governors are keen to develop ways of involving members and obtaining your views about the services that the Trust provides. I would welcome you contacting me to express your views. To do so, please contact the Membership Office on 01482 389132 or katie.colrein@nhs.net