Healthwatch Northumberland welcomes new chairman Peter Standfield

Peter Standfield has taken over from David Thompson, who has stood down following six years in the post.

Healthwatch Northumberland, which is delivered by the Adapt (NE) charity, is one of 152 local Healthwatch organisations in England that have the power to ensure that people’s voices are heard by the Government and those running services.

Peter has had a varied career – which includes 20 years of military service, more than 14 years in the NHS and 10 years in the private sector, where he has experience as both a chief executive and management consultant.

He will represent Healthwatch Northumberland at high-level meetings across health and social care in the region.

Peter said: “David and the team have established an impressive reputation for Healthwatch Northumberland over recent years.

“I’m looking forward to working closely with a wide range of partners to continue enabling improvement in local health and social care services on behalf of the people of Northumberland.

“These may be challenging times for health and social care nationally, but we are lucky that the picture in Northumberland is generally very good.

“Of course, there is always room for further improvement and local communities can be assured that we at Healthwatch Northumberland will continue to do everything we can to work positively with our health and social care partners to ensure that residents of Northumberland are at the heart of the services provided.”