Waverley Public - Merrill Bate | Public Governors

I am proud to have been elected as one of the public Governors for Waverley. I lived in Guildford and Cranleigh as a child and am pleased that I was able with my late husband and family to return to Surrey in 1994. After training as a Registered Nurse in London I was commissioned as an officer in Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps. Over the course of 22 years military service, I held a variety of clinical positions but worked extensively in nurse education as a registered nurse tutor. I have a degree in nurse education and postgraduate qualifications in management and executive coaching. In recognition of my significant contributions to Army nursing, I was delighted to be awarded the Royal Red Cross by the late Queen Elizabeth. On retiring from the Army as a Lieutenant Colonel, I had a successful career in leadership development and talent management within the NHS. This gave me the opportunity to pursue my professional passions which are to support NHS staff to deliver high-quality patient care and to help NHS staff, be they healthcare professionals or in administrative roles, to feel empowered to assume responsibility, maximise their potential, devise their own solutions, and sustain organisational change. Now fully retired, in addition to being a Public Governor for Waverley I am a Patient Ambassador. The Royal Surrey Patient Ambassadors represent the voice of patients, and we work closely with the Trust to improve the experience of patients. I am a member of the Royal Surrey End of Life Care committee, the Medicines Safety Group and am Vice Chair of the Patient Ambassador Panel. As a Governor I want to use my experience and knowledge to be a representative of patients and carers and support the Trust to be the best it can.

Email: merrill.bate@nhs.net