Firstly, a little about me. I qualified as a Registered Nurse in 1984 and have some 20 years’ Executive Director experience within the NHS in provider services, commissioning services and strategic leadership. Since stepping back from a senior role in the NHS I have been an active member of the RCN at a regional level, an unpaid carer, member of a local Patient Participation Group and regular community volunteer. I’m also Chair of the Healthwatch Tameside Board.
I am passionate about nursing and ensuring that we are recognised for the extremely skilled professionals that we are. I am proud to chair the board and look forward to working with members and activists across our region to make the voice of nursing heard. I’d like to thank and pay tribute to the previous Chair, Roy Tomlinson and all the regional Board members for their commitment, dedication and work.
The Yorkshire and the Humber region represents nurses, nursing support workers, associate practitioners, nursing students and midwives across Humberside, North and North East Lincolnshire, North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire.
These areas of the region all have branches which work across the NHS, independent and social care sectors. Each branch is led by an executive committee consisting of a chair, treasurer and secretary. The branches provide an important opportunity for members to participate, shape and influence the work of the RCN as well as running educational programmes that can be used for revalidation. Any member of the Yorkshire and the Humber region can attend these branch events and any member can become more involved in the branch by standing for elected positions at the branch Annual General Meetings (AGMs). You can find out more about your local branch here:
• Humber branch
• North Yorkshire branch
• South Yorkshire branch
• West Yorkshire branch
The branches are also a critical way for members to get their voices heard – informing the regional board of local issues and concerns or engaging with the board to undertake joint work for the benefit of the regional RCN members.
Your regional board meets four times a year. There are two parts to the meetings: a confidential session and an open session. All members of the region are welcome to observe the open session by emailing your request to yhregionaladmin@rcn.org.uk. You can find more detailed information about the regional board and the members here.
As a board we are keen to improve and cement the communication channels between the board, branches and the members. I will be using our regional webpage and social media, such as Facebook and Twitter to stay in touch and let you have the latest regional RCN news and information. It will also be a two-way channel enabling you to feed back to the board.
The last two years have seen nursing and healthcare continue to deal with unsustainable pressures, increasing workload, significant staff recruitment and retention problems, and pay. Over the coming weeks and months we will be keeping you up to date and informed on the work of the region and the RCN’s next steps regionally. So please do stay in touch and ensure your contact details and email addresses are up to date.
We want to hear your voice, your concerns and issues and your ideas for how you want to work collaboratively so that the regional picture in Yorkshire and the Humber is heard round the national table.
If you would like to contact me directly you can do so by email: Tracey.McErlain-Burns@reps.rcn.org.uk.
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