Julia Charlton steps down as Healthwatch North Tyneside Chair of our Trustees

Healthwatch North Tyneside said goodbye to outgoing chair Julia Charlton at our recent AGM on 13th November. Julia had served in the role since November 2020, having joined our trustee board eight years ago when Healthwatch North Tyneside became a Charity. Before that, Julia was involved with our predecessor organisation LINK.

Over the past three years, Julie has brought decades of experience to the role, having been a nurse, midwife and teacher in health and social care, as well as having been Chair of the North Tyneside and Newcastle British Thyroid Foundation Patient Support Group and a member of North Tyneside Health and Wellbeing Board.

As part of her closing speech at the AGM, Julia (photo left, next to Healthwatch North Tyneside Director Paul Jones) thanked all Healthwatch North Tyneside’s staff and volunteers, including the rest of the board, for their hard work and support.

Julia now goes onto a new role training at the Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. We wish her all the best and thank her for her effort and dedication over the last few years. Leading the board during the challenges of the pandemic and seeing us reach more people than ever before with our engagement work.

It’s been a very busy, but productive year for Healthwatch North Tyneside. We have heard the views of more people than ever before and that’s testament to the hard work of all our staff and volunteers…All this would not be possible without the input of all the people we have talked to over the year, who have given us honest feedback and helpful suggestions for improving services. I thank them, and our hardworking staff, volunteers and trustees who have made us the well respected organisation I hope we are.

Extracts above from Julia’s final statement as chair of our board of trustees in our annual report 2022/23. If you would like to know more about our board, including incoming chair Carol Nevison, click here.