Meet Your Governors

Frank has been a resident of Darlington and District for the last 45 years and retired in 2014 after working for 48 years in the voluntary (NSPCC) and Local Government (Social Care and Managerial positions) sectors. During his career Frank was involved with child protection services, children with disabilities and those with life threatening illnesses as well as mental health in both adults and paediatrics in the community and acute environments. Frank worked with a range of multi-disciplinary teams through this time including social workers, doctors, psychiatrists, ward staff, the police and legal professionals. In addition Frank undertook other duties which included the chairing of conferences, managing performance, the preparation and liaison of children services inspections and undertaking audits and complaints handling.

After retirement, Frank continued to support the services in which he had worked by taking part in regulatory inspections of children's homes. He also became a Trustee and Director of Healthwatch Darlington for a time, with a remit which included policies, budgeting and staffing issues. This role also included attendance at multi-agency meetings and liaison meetings with the North East Ambulance Service.

Before becoming a governor with the Trust, Frank joined the membership and also volunteered, even taking part in PLACE based inspections of our hospitals.

Borsha was most recently appointed as Consultant Sonographer - Service Transformation Lead in September 2024 at the new Sunderland Women’s Hub, carrying out advanced pelvic ultrasound, including scans for adenomyosis and deep endometriosis. 

She has over 30 years pf experience in a wide variety of medical ultrasound and ultrasound research, more recently specialising in musculoskeletal and vascular applications in Rheumatology, especially giant cell arteritis at the NIHR Leeds Biomedical Research Centre. She was previously Trust-wide Ultrasound Lead Sonographer and Vascular Speciality Lead at QE Gateshead for 20 years.

Borsha has had a special interest in training a range of medical specialists in Point of Care ultrasound since 2003 and inspiring children in STEM subjects and NHS careers where she is NHS75 Workforce Ambassador for schools. 

She is currently teaching point of care ultrasound at Teesside University and undergraduate medical students at Sunderland Medical School, also working at Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust Staff Bank, Circle Healthcare Woodlands Hospital Darlington and Tyneside Surgical Services (TSS).

Borsha was a Unison Trade Union Rep and has a keen interest in Employment Law, fairness and natural justice and took her own case to the EAT London, where it was reported in the top ten most important legal decisions of the year (The Times 1997).

She was previously a staff governor at Gateshead Health and elected public governor for Darlington from 2017-2020 and rejoins us for her second elected term. Borsha worked in Radiology at Darlington Memorial Hospital from 1995-1997.

Charles has lived and worked in County Durham for over fifty years. He graduated from the University of Durham where he gained his qualified teacher status and an honours degree in History and Education. During his career, Charles taught in schools and colleges throughout the Durham area in addition being a head of department faculty lead and examinations administrator for both academic and vocational qualifications.

Charles continues to be a national examiner for A-level History both as a Principal Examiner, with an oversight of setting administering and assessment and as a Moderator for A-level History.

Outside of his education roles, Charles volunteers as a welcome steward and a private and public guide at Durham Cathedral, escorting groups of visitors from all over the world.

As a Town Councillor Charles holds joint portfolio status for allotments and is currently working with agencies to develop a more accessible and inclusive environment for tenants to support their greater well- being and physical and mental health issues. Charles is also an active member of his local Patient Participation Group.

Ian has lived and worked in the Sedgefield area for over 35 years, including raising his family. Working in mainstream banking, Ian specialises in large scale asset finance and has considerable financial knowledge and experience. After completing a short service commission in the Royal Air Force, Ian continued to serve in the Army Reserve both at home and abroad, with experience gained in policy setting and strategic planning. He had the privilege of commanding an Army battalion and picked up unique management experiences from this.

Outside of work, Ian has been involved in other public work such as being a school governor with the post of Chair for six years as well as extensive charity work. Having experienced the local NHS care on numerous occasions, Ian is passionate about the NHS and accessibility.

Iain was born in London but spent nearly all of his childhood in the Scottish Highlands. He spent 15 years at sea as a navigation officer in the Merchant Navy, rising to the rank of Captain and then spent 2 years working at a London maritime law firm as a marine casualty investigator. He then joined a marine insurance firm in Newcastle where he worked as a marine claims adjuster for 29 years rising to the position of area director in charge of the company's 4 offices in Asia. During this time he lived in Hong Kong and Singapore for 8 years. Iain has lived in Shotley bridge since February 2000 and is married to a former health practitioner.

Ken has been a resident of Chester le Street for over twenty years and a Foundation Trust Member for a similar period of time. He provided some positive feedback about an experience at a local hospital and subsequently responded to a suggestion that he become a Trust Member.

He has now retired from full time work in both the public and private sector, largely involving development, regeneration and environmental management. He worked for a local authority in a largely management role at Capita.

Ken is involved in a local resident’s group and chairs these meetings on a monthly basis. Ken and the group provide constructive challenge to scrutinise the County Council, Police and other organisations, to help support local people. He is a serving magistrate and member of the Magistrate Association, which is a voluntary role, working in both crime and family courts.

He enjoys watching football and supporting local teams in the Northern League. He also plays croquet in the summer months with Croquet Durham at the Riverside Park in Chester le Street.

Peter is a retired Senior Civil Service Programme Director and now runs his own consultancy leading reviews of high-risk programmes for UK and Scottish governments. Peter brings strong expertise in governance, risk management and financial oversight, and currently chairs the Audit and Standards Committee at Northumberland County Council. He is a Trustee of Citizens Advice Durham. He was previously a public governor in Northumberland and is committed to supporting his local NHS Trust in being accountable and effective in delivering patient-focused quality healthcare.

Peter rows with Durham Amateur Rowing Club as his sport.

Stephen had a career as a Primary School Teacher prior to his early retirement due to ill health and since then he has kept busy though his active engagement in the local community. Stephen is a parish councillor of over 10 years and has taken part in council activities on a countrywide basis. Grateful for the NHS treatment he has received for his heart condition, Stephen has put energy into supporting his local NHS providers through patient representative groups (PRG) as well as other public roles. In addition to being a Governor, Stephen is involved with the Countywide PRG as well as the Health and Safety Executive.

Stephen has lived in Derwentside for over 25 years, bringing up 2 children who are now grown up and pursuing their own careers in the care sector and law respectively.

He recently retired after a full and varied career in the NHS that extended over 48 years. He started working in operating theatres, spending time in several specialities before settling in orthopaedics and anaesthetics. During his time in the NHS, Stephen worked his way up to various senior roles within theatres, before finishing his career as manager of the Sterile Service Department.

Stephen is a keen DIY enthusiast and now has no excuse for putting off those jobs he never had time for. As someone who has spent their whole career working in the NHS, he hopes to bring this experience to the role of governor for the benefit of the people of Derwentside and Durham. 

Mac has experience as a Governor with County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust and has represented various committees, including the Council of Governors, Equality and Diversity, Remuneration, Health, BAME, and PLACE Inspections. He is also a member of Haswell Mencap and Downs Syndrome NE.

Mac, a retired Principal Health and Safety Officer and Site Liaision Emergency Officer, qualified at Durham, Sunderland, and Newcastle Colleges in a range of areas including mining, work study, industrial relations, business studies, mental health (distant learning), and health and safety (London). He also studied Law at Newcastle and is familiar with Nolan Principals.

Other experience includes 35 years as a Magistrate (Chairman),15 years on the Police Committee, 6 years with the Tribunal Service, and as Chairman of Durham County Council. Mac is currently Vice Chair of the Police Commission Audit, Freeman of Durham/City of London, and Recorder for the City of Durham.

Born to Nigerian parents, Ajibola attended both private and public schools and went on to study law at University and Nigerian Law School, and graduated to become a Solicitor and Barrister of the law. He has worked in the office of the Executive Governor of Lagos State and ventured into private legal practice. After a brief stint he joined the banking industry.

He spent over two decades working extensively in Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 international banks as well as companies both in Nigeria and the United Kingdom. He has an MBA from the prestigious Durham Business School (Durham University) and also has Practitioner Certification under the GDPR.

Ajibola is a Deacon of the Redeemned Christian Church of God (RCCG) and also volunteers on weekends helping coordinate the distribution of food aid to less privileged in the society in the Durham, Sunderland, Stockton-On-Tees and Middlesbrough areas.

He also serves as Financial Secretary for the Nigerian Committee on Tees (NICOT).

David is an accomplished, time served finance and administrative professional with a wide experience of systems in both industry and commerce of both large and complex organisations, and also small to medium sized companies. Though now spending more time keeping fit, he is fully aware of local and national financial and political events along with health care developments regionally. David is originally from Yorkshire but has lived locally now for over 30 years.

Kath worked at Darlington Memorial Hospital as a qualified nurse for many years. After retiring, she wanted to give something back to support the Trust in its endeavours to provide excellent care to the people of Darlington and surrounding areas.

Growing up on farms on the Cumbrian-Durham border taught Steven the value of community, resilience and supporting each other. These early experiences shaped his problem-solving abilities and instilled a strong sense of service and commitment to others. His early career spanned several sectors, from jewellery retail to luxury china and crystal business and ownership and management.

Running his own business for 15 years taught Steven the importance of listening, effective communication, and delivering on promises – skills that remain central to his professional values today. A turning point came when he became a full-time carer for his partner and his mother. Navigating the challenges of health and social care deepened his empathy and strengthened his resolve to advocate for dignity, equality, and compassion in all aspects of care. This experience inspired Steven to retrain as a nurse, becoming the first in his family to attend university. Since qualifying, he has worked across critical care, Community Services Governance and Performance Matron, supporting teams to maintain high standards, manage incidents, and drive improvements through governance and digital innovation, particularly in developing and refining our community EPR SystmOne. 

In his role as Staff Governor, Steven hopes to continue giving back to the Trust and its people. His broad experience – from frontline care to leadership – enables him to represent staff voices with fairness, insight and integrity. He is committed to ensuring CDDFT continues to deliver safe, effective, and compassionate care.

Bola is a Clinical Nurse Specialist, within the Acute Pain team at County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust. Possessing nearly a decade of diverse nursing experience, Bola initially trained as a Registered Nurse in Nigeria and subsequently earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Sunderland.

Her extensive career includes staff nurse roles in various specialties in Nigeria and also as a Post Anaesthesia Care Nurse in the United Kingdom. Bola has also actively participated in humanitarian pursuits and projects, maintaining ongoing involvement with charities dedicated to assisting children and vulnerable women in Nigeria.

Beyond her professional endeavours, Bola is a dedicated science enthusiast with a passion for nursing, the overall wellbeing of individuals, and the governance of contemporary societies. She resides in Chester Le Street with her husband.

Chinedu is a Systems Manager at County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, representing the Administration, Clerical and Managers staff constituency as a Governor.

He has a strong background in healthcare systems, digital transformation and operational governance within the NHS. In his current role, he works closely with clinical teams, IT services and external suppliers to support the safe and effective delivery of digital systems that underpin patient care. His experience includes system upgrades, information governance, data protection impact assessments, clinical system integrations and service continuity planning.

Alongside his technical expertise, Chinedu has a strong understanding of frontline operational pressures and the importance of staff wellbeing, workforce stability and efficient processes. He is particularly interested in how digital systems, effective governance and clear accountability can reduce administrative burden and enable staff to focus on delivering high-quality care.

As a Staff Governor, Chinedu is committed to representing the views of administrative, clerical and managerial colleagues, ensuring their voices are heard at Trust level. He aims to provide constructive challenge and assurance, promote transparency, and contribute positively to the Trust’s strategic direction and long-term sustainability.

Sue is a Nurse Consultant, specialising in respiratory and sleep medicine and has worked at County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust in respiratory services for the past 25 years. Sue is passionate about nursing and strives to keep a balance between her clinical work and service development and improvement.

Professor Dhar is a Professor of Medicine at Teesside University and Consultant Gastroenterologist at Darlington Memorial Hospital and Bishop Auckland Hospitals in County Durham.

He has been a Consultant with the Trust since 2003 and in addition to his clinical role he is involved with a number of leadership roles such as Clinical Lead for Upper GI Cancers and the educational and training lead for Gastroenterology to Health Education England North East. In addition he has leadership roles in the British Society of Gastroenterology and Royal College of Physicians.

Professor Dhar graduated from the University of Delhi with a Presidential Gold Medal and then completed his Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology training at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. He came to the UK as a Commonwealth Research Fellow to work with Professor Derek Jewell at Oxford University. Professor Dhar's Gastroenterology training in the UK was at the University of Oxford and the University College London Hospitals. He was appointed as a Consultant in CDDFT in 2003 and Professor of Medicine at Teesside University in 2019.

A National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Clinician Investigator, Professor Dhar is involved in several national and international clinical trials at County Durham. He holds a tenured Chair in Medicine at the School of Health and Life Sciences at Teesside University for education and clinical research and has previously been a faculty member of the School of Medicine and Health at Durham University.

Throughout his career Professor Dhar has been the recipient of many prestigious awards such as the British Society of Gastroenterology, Endoscopy and Advanced Endoscopy travelling fellowship. He has over 80 publications in peer reviewed journals.

Professor Dhar has a keen interest in the welfare of all medical staff in the organisation, with a special interest in equality and diversity.

Shaun began his working career at a very young age as a coal miner, spending a decade in the coal mines before they closed. He then worked in the food factory environment for a further two decades as a technician. He is currently employed by County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, and has been working in the community for the last 14 years delivering health and wellbeing. He also works for the NHS Adult Wellbeing Service Wellbeing for Life, and is based at Healthworks Easington - right in the heart of the communities that need support. He has lived in County Durham all of his life and understands the needs of the community that he lives and works in.

He has experience of being on governing bodies. He was a school governor for over 10 years and served a 3 year term in the Trust’s Council of Governors as a Staff Governor for admin and management. He has held many different roles within different sub-committees and has gained a lot of experience. Shaun believes being a governor helps shape the way forward and is committed to challenging the Board appropriately in strategic decision making.

In his spare time, Shaun enjoys golf, gardening and dog walking with his family, as well as and working as a volunteer.

Chris is Chair of the Board of Healthwatch County Durham having taken over from Brian Jackson. He has a broad managerial experience with a background in both the NHS and Civil Service. Upon his retirement, he has become more involved in a number of voluntary roles supporting the local health and social care agenda.

Valerie is a retired Civil Servant with wide-ranging experience in the Departments of Employment; Education and Skills; Children, Schools and Families, latterly Education (DfE) and ACAS.  She has long experience in operational management roles with teams ranging in size from 7 to 45 staff; experience in Human Resource Management, Training and Development, Contract Management, Procurement, Buildings Management and outward facing / representational roles.

Valerie has served as a Trustee for several organisations in the Voluntary and Community sector including Age UK (previously Age Concern), the Women Matter Bursary, and Tees Valley Rural Action, over a period of 25 years.  She is an experienced school governor, currently a Director of Firthmoor Primary School, and a Governor of Corporation Road Community Primary School, both in Darlington.  Valerie's qualifications include; CIPD Certificate in Training, NCFE Certificate in Counselling Skills, ITD Diploma in Training Management, IPM Diploma in Personnel Management, MA Strategic Human Resource Management, ISO 9001/2 Lead Assessor.

A southerner originally, hailing from Bournemouth, Robert graduated as a doctor from University College Hospital in London in 1976. After hospital jobs and GP training posts in Surrey and Hampshire, Robert arrived to join one of the practices operating out of Parkgate Health Centre in 1981. The practice moved gradually to the Whinfield site from the following year eventually moving out of the Health Centre completely. Robert continued in that practice as a partner, eventually senior partner, until 2011. In addition to being a full time GP, Robert did consultancy work for Cleveland Bridge, for a number of years.

He also worked in the Psychiatry department at Darlington Memorial Hospital as a clinical assistant with a special interest in the Elderly Mentally Infirm for a number of years.  Robert worked as an emergency doctor with Healthcall Ltd from 1981 until 2003.  From 2003 until 2010, he worked with Durham Constabulary as a Forensic Medical Examiner (colloquially known as a police surgeon though one is neither police nor a surgeon!)  Robert was a member, latterly vice-chair, of County Durham and Darlington Local Medical Committee representing Darlington GPs from the 1980s until he retired.

Robert has two adult children - a daughter who is trained as an artist, teacher and psychologist who works as a psychotherapist in the Manchester area and a son who is a musician performing in a local band and works locally in Darlington. Since retirement, Robert and his wife like to travel, spending time in his wife's home country, the USA, and for the last few years, he has been involved with Healthwatch Darlington Ltd, a registered charity, formerly as Chair and now as Vice Chair and one of their directors and trustees. Robert maintains a strong interest in healthcare issues and is passionately concerned that locally it should be of the highest quality, available to all equitably and sensitive to the needs of the local population and that providers should be able to explain and justify their decisions to their patients both on an individual basis and to the population as a whole.  

Robert was appointed to the Council of Governors by Healthwatch Darlington, and shares that post jointly with Val Johnston. Robert has another role associated with healthcare and that is that he is member of a Research Ethics Committee (REC) under the auspices of the NHS’s Health Research Authority. RECs perform an important role in ensuring that medical and social research is ethical and people who take part and their data are properly protected.

Sam came to the North East in the mid-1980s from the South before returning to London to study pharmacy as her chosen career. Joining the professional register in 1998, she has experience across many sectors of the pharmacy landscape – from hospital pharmacy, through the community sector, into Health and Justice, GP surgeries, Primary Care Networks, policy setting and finally into academia in the early 2000s. Across this portfolio career, she returned to the North East a number of times, and most recently returned to settle in 2021 after a number of years working overseas.

A passionate advocate for sustainability and environmental preservation, Sam also volunteers at Preston Park Museum and Gardens, working in the Walled Garden as often as possible, and when not there she spends her time roaming across the landscape of the region often found with her foraging bag with her.

Sam firmly believes in the values and principles underpinning the NHS and works to support and build networks, to develop resilience across many areas of the organisation. Currently working with NHS England colleagues to formalise support programmes for Newly Qualified Registrants across all health professions, she also works closely with the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board to shape pharmacist education for the future. In her current post as Director of Pharmacy at Teesside University, Sam is leading on the development and delivery of a visionary new undergraduate programme for student pharmacists from 2025.

Originally appointed as a Governor as part of her ‘Professorial Duties’, Sam has become deeply immersed in the role and finds it a deeply fulfilling addition to her professional post at the University, providing her with unique insights in to how the University sector can support the needs of CDDFT more closely.

Sonia is the Councillor for the Northgate Ward in Darlington and was re-elected in 2024. She became a Councillor due to her passion to ensure residents got the best support and care possible from those who can make a difference. Sonia has been a member of Darlington's Family Placement Panel since 2016. Sonia has a history of being involved with care having trained and worked as a nurse at Darlington Memorial Hospital for 28 years until her retirement. She co-ordinated telephone calls for Darlington Volunteers during the 2020 Covid-19 lockdown and has continued to support this.