Meet the team

Accord Steering Group Members

Liz Read

Chair of the Accord Steering Group

Although I am now retired, I was for many years a teacher in a mainstream primary school, with responsibility for Special Needs. I therefore had a professional interest in Children's Services.

I joined Accord because I thought it was an exciting opportunity to help influence and shape health services and provision in our local area. I also wanted to actively support the NHS, which is a national treasure.

I felt privileged to be chosen to become an Ambassador. I wanted to contribute to an organisation which helps to give a voice to the people of North East Lincolnshire. I believe that local people deserve their say in the decisions that are made on their behalf, and we are very lucky to have Accord, which has been set up in order to enable us all to do so.

 

Trevor Brooks

Vice Chair of the Accord Steering Group

When I joined Accord in 2009, I was working full-time and didn’t really have the opportunity to become more involved. Following my retirement in 2014, I saw the item in the newsletter asking for people who were interested in becoming a member of the Accord Steering Group and an ambassador, and decided to make an application because the roles looked both interesting and challenging.

I worked in the public and third sectors all of my working life, initially in the field of social housing and, latterly, with the commissioning and procurement team at the local council. This gave me plenty of experience of dealing with people as well as a detailed knowledge as to how public authorities set about deciding what sort of services are needed by the local people and how to purchase them.

Being a member of the steering group has given me the chance to try to improve the ways in which ordinary members of the public can influence how services are provided and reviewed, and being an ambassador has allowed me to get out to meet people from all sorts of ages and backgrounds to talk to them about Accord and how they can take part.

Over the past 3 years, I have also had the opportunity to take part in a number of projects including the early stages in the development of the Social Prescribing service and the recommissioning of the Healthwatch and Complaints Advocacy services and I hope to be able to be involved in similar things in the future.

In my spare time, I enjoy walking and gardening as well as watching a wide range of sports. I am also a season ticket holder at Grimsby Town.

Dave McGuire

I joined Accord in 2009 after reading in the newspaper that the local NHS wanted the public to get involved in how NHS money is spent. I am passionate about helping his local community and believe that ”The best way to engage people is face to face.

I then became an Ambassador and joined the Accord Steering Group in 2016 and I am committed to making sure the community has a say in their health and care services. I regularly go out and about in the community raising awareness of Accord and opportunities to get involved. Being part of the Steering group means that I help plan and facilitate the Way Forward and Annual Members’ events.

I am a volunteer with the CCG, Care Plus Board, both the Older Peoples and Diabetes Collaboratives and Shoreline Housing and I am proud to have been the driving force behind the establishment and growth of the NEL Diabetes Support group which meets twice every month.

 

Barry Waby

I am a Chartered Engineer, who has worked in the UK as well as in several other parts of the world. At the time I retired, I had several family members and friends with a variety of health issues and I spent a large amount of time visiting them in many parts of our health service. Much of the attention they received was excellent, but others were quite poor. I decided that I could either sit at home and moan about the poor service or try help things to improve.

Around this time, I became aware of Accord and I decided to become a member. As a result, I became involved in separating Navigo and Care Plus Group from the NHS. Once they were formed, I was asked to remain as a Governor with Care Plus Group (a role I still have). I am also a “Buddy” at the Hope Service Falls Group.

I have regularly attended Accord meetings and in November 2018 a request was made for anyone who would like to join the Accord Steering Group. With Navigo and Care Plus Group now fully established, I decided it would be a good time to become involved elsewhere. Hence, I volunteered for the Accord Steering Group.

I am looking forward to working with the existing members of the Steering Group to continue to develop Accord and the opportunities its members receive, to have their say in how health and social care services in North East Lincolnshire are designed.