Our Council of Governors

Lead Governor

Term of office: 01/06/2020 - 31/05/2023

Gavin has been a Public Governor of the Trust since 2014 and in 2018 had the honour to be elected as Lead Governor.

Gavin is a family man with four Children and now 2 Grandchildren, living in Rotherham for over twenty years. He became a Governor because he is passionate about improving healthcare both locally and nationally.

He has been able to apply his knowledge and experience working as a provider of healthcare for the NHS in South Yorkshire and from the twenty-five years engaging and understanding the NHS inner workings as a senior pharmaceutical executive.

Gavin has called on this extensive knowledge and his experience as a patient and parent to help him in his role.  He also brings enthusiasm and (occasionally) a bit of humour!

As the Governors provide a key service on behalf of the people of Rotherham, he would say hand on heart that all of them are proud to serve on behalf of the members and the public.

Term of office: 01/11/2020 - 31/05/2023 

Growing up in Portsmouth, and with a retired Naval father, the Army provided a useful and positive distraction for 15 years, sending Andrew to places around Germany, NI and UK to find excitement.

Andrew left in 1995, having met and married a local girl, and decided to settle in South Yorkshire, he spent the first few years testing ‘civi-street’ and finding his place in it before getting into IT and extending this into project management. Being a ‘people’ person, programming held little excitement for him so falling back on 15years service he focussed on the Control aspects of projects, governance, planning and risks, helping project managers deliver key programmes around the UK. He now works as an Interim Business Consultant, sharing his view and persuading others of a better way of doing things. 

Andrew lives in Surrey for work and in Bramley with his wife, a retired Police Officer and now Criminal Analyst with South Yorkshire Police. They have 22 years old twins. His son works in the local economy and striving to find his place in the world and his daughter, organises UK based professional cycling races and events, and is taking on the International world of Cycling.

Awaiting details

Term of office: 01/06/2022 - 31/05/2025

After training at Manchester, Mr Zaidi was awarded certificate of Specialist in Ophthalmology. He was appointed Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon at Rotherham Hospital on 1 October 1979 until his retirement on 31 December 2007. In this role he modernised the Rotherham Eye Unit, introducing new services for patients with Eye diseases and was responsible for training junior doctors, Nurses and Opticians.

During his time at the Trust, Mr Zaidi was appointed Clinical Director for Specialist Surgery, which not only included management of Ophthalmology but also the specialities of Ears Nose and Throat and Maxillofacial.

The Royal College of Ophthalmologists appointed him Examiner for FRCOphth and he was on the “Consultant appointment Panel” for other hospitals.

Having worked 37 years in NHS and 27 years at Rotherham, Mr Zaidi is well aware of the NHS system, constraints facing Hospitals and the requirements and problems faced by the patients. Due to his previous NHS Experience he believes he would be able to contribute to help all parties.

As a public governor, Mr Zaidi’s main aim is to support the improvement of services for patients.

Awaiting details

Term of office: 01/11/2020 - 31/05/2023

Geoff is a devoted family man, married with two grown-up daughters and six grandchildren.

During his career he enjoyed roles at various levels within several sectors, including retail, construction, manufacturing and latterly IT. He sold his technology business in 2019 and is looking forward to contributing to the Trust and wider community.

Geoff is an enthusiastic high handicap golfer, his golfing ambitions often exceed his abilities, but sometimes there are moments which make it all worthwhile.

Consultant Anaesthetist

Term of office: 01.06.2019 - 31.05.2022
Re-elected for further term: 01.06.22 - 31.05.25

Julian has been a Consultant Anaesthetist at Rotherham Hospital since 2002.

He strives to provide the best care for the people of Rotherham, be that working clinically or managerially, with patients or with staff teams providing the care.

As a Staff Governor Julian would like to influence the strategic direction of the Trust, holding the Non-Executive Directors to account for the performance of the Board that delivers that care.

Patient Safety and Governance Nurse, and Lead for Tendable

Term of office: 01/06/2022 - 31/05/2025

Quality Improvement is central to her practice and certainly to the core objectives of adopting and implementing Tendable across our Trust services. Tendable allows us the opportunity to collect data and feedback, which directly supports quality improvement initiatives, some of which have already been implemented with great success through supporting projects such as EPIQ (Enhancing Patient Care through Improvements in Quality.

Rolling Tendabe out in the Acute and Community Divisions, combined with working on the frontline during the Pandemic, has exposed Precious to the various pressures that exist for our staff and patients. She has high hopes of highlighting these issues to increase awareness with a view to further improvements where necessary and as applicable.

Precious feels privileged to be in a position to influence positive change for all our diverse staff and patient groups through continuous change. She hopes to continue this journey with an even greater influence as she commences her tenure as Staff Governor. She looks forward to working with fellow Governors and is keenly interested in positively influencing the manner with which our Non-Executive Directors plan to uphold our high standards.

Outside of work Precious is kept very busy by her 3 year old twins, between them there is never a dull moment!

Audiologist and Hearing Therapist

 Term of office: 01/01/2023 - 31/05/2025

Matt is an Audiologist and Hearing Therapist and has worked in the NHS for since 2008 and at Rotherham since 2015. Matt’s clinical caseload is based around adult hearing rehabilitation, with a specialist focus on the management of tinnitus and hyperacusis (sound sensitivity). 

Having a clinical and therapy based background has taught Matt the importance of a person centred care approach to his work and his dealings with people in general, be they patient’s or the staff constituency that he represents. Matt aims to use these skills and mind-set in his role as a Staff Governor. Matt especially feels strongly about promoting the value of ‘joined up’ clinical care and the importance of that care being continuously evolving in nature to give the best care possible first time, every time.

Outside of work Matt is married with 3 children and is very family focused. He loves holidays to Scotland, reading about history and trying new foods whenever he possibly can.