VOTING is starting for the first-ever hospital public governors at Warrington and neighbouring Halton.
Members of the public have put themselves forward as candidates in 14 out of 16 “constituencies” across the two boroughs – and people from the other two are being given a second chance to stand.
The elections are part of North Cheshire Hospitals bid to make themselves more accountable to the local communkty as an NHS Foundation Trust.
Foundation Trusts are a new type of
NHS organisation that have more freedom from central government to decide how local hospital services should be provided. They better involve local people as members – with governors representing them in decisions and helping drive forward improvements at the hospitals.
Sixteen public governors will represent, and be elected by, 6,500 local people who have joined North Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust’s free Foundation Trust membership scheme over the last eight months.
Nine governors represent areas of Warrington, five areas of Halton and two surrounding areas served by Warrington and Halton hospitals such as Newton-le- Willows and Frodsham.
Elections by postal ballot will be taking place in nine of the 16 constituencies over the next three weeks. Five of the public area constituencies are uncontested because only one candidate is standing and will be elected unopposed.
In the two others no-one has put themselves forward – Penketh, Cuerdley and Great Sankey in Warrington and Daresbury, Windmill Hill, Norton North and Castlefields in Halton. The Trust is urging people in these areas to stand for election by September 15.
Kath Holbourn, the Trust’s director of nursing and governance, said: “We’re delighted that we have had members of the public standing in 14 of the 16 public constituencies across the areas we serve.
“This is the first time we’ve held elections for governors and the response has been excellent. In the areas where a ballot is taking place we really need our members to take a few minutes to fill in the forms and elect the best possible governors to represent them.
“We also really want to encourage our members in the two areas without anyone standing to think about putting themselves forward for election themselves. This is all about ensuring that everyone has a say about their local hospitals in the future. We’re committed to working with you, and we need people to work with us as well and help us make further improvements to the hospitals. We’ve come a long way in the last few years but we know we can be even better by working more closely with the community.”
The postal ballot will close on September 22.
More information is available on the elections by calling 01925 275249 or from the website www.northcheshirehospitals.nhs.uk
Five staff governors are also being elected by hospital staff at the same time as the public governor elections take place.
