Membership Newsletter - October 2026

Dear Members,

Welcome to the October 2026 edition of your newsletter. I hope you and your families are keeping well and enjoyed what turned into a long, hot summer.

It was nice to see some of you at our Annual Members’ Meeting and I hope you enjoyed hearing about the work of the Trust.

The Annual Members' Meeting provides a valuable opportunity to reflect on the past year, hear about the progress we have made as a Trust, and look ahead to our future plans. There will also be an opportunity to meet colleagues, governors and partners who will be showcasing some of the excellent work taking place across our organisation.

You will have heard about the progress being made with our Foundations for the Future programme.  This year we have moved some of our Calderdale community services to Dean Clough, almost completed the new multi-story carpark and started work on the new hospital at Calderdale and opened our second Community Diagnostic Centre in Huddersfield on the University Campus.

We have welcomed a newly-elected public governor, our Lead Governor and Deputy Lead Governor were re-elected and we have said goodbye to stakeholder, public and staff governors. You can read more about this below.

Like most other Trusts in the country, we continue to face huge pressure across our services, with bed occupancy running at very high levels in both our hospitals.  More positively we are doing well in a number of areas, often featuring as one of the higher performing Trusts in the country in areas like waiting times for surgery and waiting and treatment times for people with cancer.

I hope you enjoy reading this round-up of what is going on at your Trust. Thank you for your continued support and interest in the work of your local NHS Trust.

With best wishes,

Helen Hirst
Chair
Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust

Hello, my name is Lorraine Wolfenden, publicly elected Governor for Skircoat and Lower Calder, and I am also the Lead Governor.

There are lots of potential changes afoot for Governors, with Foundation Trusts such as Calderdale and Huddersfield (CHFT) no longer needing to have them, which was stated in the upcoming Health Bill (NHS Modernisation Bill 2026). 

Several of us are keen to continue to be involved with CHFT in a voluntary capacity. This might include continuing to support Observe and Act, where we visit wards and departments to see if any non-clinical improvements can be made to improve the experience of patients.

Recently I attended a virtual session with NHS Alliance to hear what other hospital trusts are planning if the Health Bill is passed, and to explore how governors might continue to support trusts. An important part of this role will be continuing to seek the views of patients, people using services, members of the public and unpaid carers to make sure they are involved in improving hospital services. This is part of the current Governor role.

I have also had a conversation this week with one of the senior nurses around possible volunteering opportunities. There is a lot of work happening within CHFT to support unpaid carers and improve their experience when their relative is discharged. This is something I will be helping with, which is really exciting! It will be great to continue to be involved, and I am really looking forward to this.