Our Board
Our Chair, Val Douglas
Val is a retired Nurse, having had a long and varied career in the NHS.
Having been involved with Health, Social Services and Local Government for many years Val was interested in volunteering for Healthwatch, to assist in their programme of identification and highlighting areas of discrimination and the inequalities in our society, in an effort to include, enable and empower the most vulnerable people in our population.
Despite being retired from work, she do not have a great deal of time for volunteering, so Healthwatch Darlington's very flexible approach suits her well.
Our Vice-Chair, Robert Upshall
Robert is a retired GP and worked in what was to become the Whinfield Medical Practice for just over thirty years. Robert moved to Darlington at the same time as joining the practice having trained in London and the South East hailing originally from the South Coast. Nowadays Robert lives near the centre of town but he does often visit Florida, which is where Roberts wife originates from.
Liz McAllister
Liz’ background is in Primary Education with a particular interest in Special Educational Needs. She was a head teacher from 1993 to 2002 after which she ran her own Education Management Consultancy until 2012, undertaking Consultant and Interim Headships in Co. Durham, Leeds and Leicester.
She sits on Education Appeals Panels for a neighbouring Local Authority and is a Governor of a local Primary School. She was Chair of Governors from 2002 to 2012 when she relinquished that post. She held the position of Chair of the Interim Executive Board of a Leicester Primary School for 2 years.
She has been a volunteer with Darlington and District Samaritans since 2000.
Valerie Johnston
Valerie Johnston is a retired Civil Servant with wide-ranging experience in the Departments of Employment; Education and Skills; Children, Schools and Families, latterly Education (DfE) , and ACAS.
She has long experience in management roles with teams ranging in size from 7 to 45 staff; experience in Human Resource Management, Training and Development, Contract Management, Procurement, buildings management and outward facing representational roles.
Valerie has served as a Trustee for several organisations in the Voluntary and Community sector including Age UK (previously Age Concern), The Women Matter Bursary, over a period of 24 years. She is an experienced school governor, currently a Director of Firthmoor Primary School, and Chair of the Local Advisory Board of Corporation Road Community Primary School, both in Darlington.
Robbie Jones
Robbie is Director and Owner of local domiciliary care business, Home Instead. He is passionate about making a positive contribution to our local communities and supporting some of the more vulnerable in society. It is important to him that local communities have access to good quality services that helps people maintain their health, their independence and their quality of life.
Robbie joined the Board to support Healthwatch Darlington’s mission and challenges, recognising it as a key influencing organisation and representative of the local community for health and social care issues.