Amber Valley

Lai Mei is passionate about improving mental health services and ensuring people’s voices are heard. She is aware of funding constraints that the Trust is under, but is keen to bring something positive to the governor role. Lai Mei is a contract engineer in the nuclear sector and loves working with new people and taking on challenges. At her previous employers, she was a mental health first aider and supported and coached colleagues experiencing mental health difficulties. Lai Mei wants to be able to raise mental health awareness, ensure Trust funds are used effectively, and that the public and members are empowered to speak up and voice their opinions and thoughts. She feels privileged to be representing Amber Valley.

Angela lives in Amber Valley and has a strong sense of community. Now retired, she worked in the local voluntary sector for 35 years, 20 years in mental health, supporting organisations that are often user led to thrive and influence the development of better services for people experiencing mental ill health. Angela has served three years as a public governor for Amber Valley. She attends most governor meetings in person since this has been possible. She finds this enables governors to ask relevant questions and hold the Non-Executive Directors to account. She has been on several Board visits across services, attended the Living Well collaborative, and the local voluntary sector Mental Health Forums. She supports open and transparent decision making; and advocates for the strong involvement of people who use services, those caring for people and partner organisations that can support the Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (DHCFT) to deliver exceptional care. Angela notes that it has been a difficult time for mental health with increased demand set against NHS financial constraint. However, she is pleased that DHCFT will shortly benefit from the opening of several new wards designed to improve patient dignity, and the introduction of the first ever psychiatric intensive care beds in Derbyshire, enabling more people to access the treatment they need much closer to home. It is an exciting though challenging time and she is pleased that she is able to continue to offer her voice to ensure that this work goes well in the next three years.