A new chairman has been appointed to head up a team that makes important decisions about local health care.

Val Moore has been appointed as the new chairman of Healthwatch Cambridgeshire which makes sure local people have a say about health and social care services.

Ms Moore, most recently a director at NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) will provide a strategic lead to the organisation as well as sitting on local health and care policy boards, like the Cambridgeshire Health and Wellbeing Board.

Ms Moore said: “If local people are involved thoroughly in service design the ideas will be better and the energy this generates will help to secure a better practical experience of care.

“Where community services and social care meet there is the potential for great care but also for errors in coordination or duplication of effort. What takes place in Cambridgeshire will be of interest to the wider Healthwatch network throughout England, but first and foremost, can be a source of great satisfaction and comfort for staff and patients alike if we do well.”

Ms Moore is keen to understand the impacts of health and care service challenges, change on new groups and, as yet, unheard voices in the community.

The local Healthwatch team welcomes their contact, she said.

Having lived or worked in Cambridgeshire for 30 years she started her career as a teacher in the county then worked in health development.

She held leadership roles for the NHS in Cambridgeshire and for the East of England government office and public health teams on improving health outcomes and how evidence of what works can be applied in practice.