Trustee Spotlight - Michael Bloomfield

This week, our Trustee Spotlight falls on Michael Bloomfield.

Michael Bloomfield represents NICON on the Board and is also a member of our Audit and Risk Committee.?

We caught up with Michael to find out more about him...

Tell us a little bit about yourself

I’ve spent my entire 35-year career in the public sector – the first twenty years or so in the Northern Ireland Civil Service and the remainder in the Health and Social Care Service in Northern Ireland. I was appointed Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service in 2018, before which I was Director of Performance and Service Improvement and Deputy Chief Executive at the regional commissioning organisation in Northern Ireland – the Health and Social Care Board. I am currently Chair of a number of regional groups including the Northern Ireland Cancer Network, the Northern Ireland Major Trauma Network and the Northern Ireland Confederation for Health and Social Care.

Outside of work, I am married with three grown up children and two dogs. In my spare time I enjoy walking the dogs, gardening, leisurely cycling and kayaking close to where I live on the beautiful County Down coast. After the challenges and restrictions of the past two years I am starting to rediscover my love of travelling and looking forward to more of that in the coming years.

Why did you want to become a Trustee?

The simple answer is that by becoming Chair of the NI Confederation which I strongly believe has a significant contribution to make to the delivery of Health and Social Care services in Northern Ireland, I also become a Trustee of the NHS Confederation. However, I have found it very interesting and beneficial to be involved in the broader UK-wide discussions that being a Trustee provides and the learning I can take from this for application locally. It is also very useful in expanding my networks and contacts nationally with people with a vast amount of expertise and experience.?That has never been more valuable than now as we emerge from the pandemic given the similar challenges, we face across the UK in rebuilding services.

Having been a member of a number of Boards over many years as an Executive Director I was also keen to gain experience in the non-executive role that being a Trustee provides. I believe there are benefits in this both to me personally from the insight I gain from this perspective and hopefully the experience of corporate governance that I bring to the role of Trustee.

What excites you the most about our direction, and how will you contribute towards it?

I’m greatly encouraged by the higher public profile we have been taking over the last year. It is important for the NHS and for the public to have a strong, credible, independent voice to comment on the full range of issues impacting on the service and the challenges over the coming years in recovering from the pandemic. Through our leadership and wider networks, the Confederation has the capability to fulfil this role and I hope to see it continue to do so. As Chair of the Northern Ireland Confederation, I would hope to work with colleagues locally and with the support of the NHS Confederation team to develop a similar role in NI.?

What is your proudest achievement?

Many of our proudest achievements are in our personal lives and often will seem of little significance to others but mean a lot to us as individuals and family members. From a work perspective, I am fortunate to be able to look back at many achievements that I can take pride in. The common factor in all is where I have been part of a team of remarkable people who have supported and encouraged each other to deliver meaningful improvements for the communities we serve. Given the challenges of the past two years which have been the most difficult of my career, I’m proud of having led an organisation of dedicated, professional and compassionate individuals who have sacrificed so much and stepped up time and time again to deliver the best services they could for the people of Northern Ireland, and to hear feedback from those staff that they have felt supported by the organisation in doing so.

How would you fill an unexpected day off?

It’s most likely that an unexpected day off would be spent catching up with the endless list of jobs around the home and garden, but if the weather permitted, I’d escape in the kayak and explore some of the amazing loughs, lakes and rivers we have in Northern Ireland.

If you would like to find out more about Michael Bloomfield and the rest of our Board of Trustees, please check out the 'Our People' section on our website.