Regional board

Paul Vaughan, RCN Council member

Paul works at NHS England as Deputy Director of Primary Care Nursing and the NextGen Nurse, having previously served as Director of Nursing and Transformation there. He has extensive RCN experience, having been the Regional Director of the West Midlands, where he championed the member voice through the coproduction and delivery of the Cultural Ambassador Programme, addressing concerns of BME members with the disciplinary and grievance process, and the Local Learning Event Programme, which boosted member engagement with the region’s branches. Previously to that he was the RCN’s HCA Adviser. He has a Master’s degree in Management. His MSc. dissertation focused on the factors that enable nursing staff to raise concerns in their workplace. He was elected to RCN Council in 2023 and quickly became Vice Chair.

Roaqah Shaher - Trade Union Committee member

Roaqah has worked for South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in Middlesbrough since she qualified as an adult nurse in 2004. She is currently a clinical sister in the Cardiothoracic High Dependency Unit and also has experience as a ward manager in general medicine.

Roaqah was accredited as a RCN steward in 2007 and joined the Joint Partnership Committee soon after in 2008. After being elected to Vice Chair of the Staff Side Committee for two years, she was elected to Staff Side Chair in 2015 and has remained in that position since. Within the RCN Tees Valley Branch she has held the positions of vice chair and secretary. She has been the treasurer of the branch for the last three years.

Tim Grace - Professional Nursing Committee member

Tim Grace works in the leadership team of a community mental health service as a psychological therapist. An independent prescriber and a specialist mindfulness based cognitive therapy practitioner, his main professional interests relate to working with people with voice-hearing experiences, service development, teaching, supervision and research. 

He provides clinical supervision for a range of professionals and has supervised postgraduate students. Tim also works together with people with lived experience of mental health problems, developing workshops, delivering training to staff, and working on service development. The clinical leadership aspect of his role allows him to influence patient care across services while retaining the individual clinical work that he enjoys.

The RCN has been a part of Tim’s professional life for most of his career, which included a 15-month secondment with the College. He finds being on the Northern Board and the RCN Professional Nursing Committee very rewarding.

Lynda High

Lynda High is the treasurer of the Cumbria Branch. She is currently working on the bank having recently retired as a health care assistant with Millom District Nurses, where she had worked since 2005. She's been an RCN member since 2011, and did her safety rep training in 2013. She is currently serving my second term on the Northern Board. She has previously served a two-year term on the Nursing Support Workers Committee, formerly known as the Health Practitioners Committee at the time, which she really enjoyed. 

Andrew Moore

Andrew became an RCN Northern Board member in 2020 after being elected to represent members in the region. He is currently the treasurer for the Northumberland, Tyne and Wear branch along with being an active steward involved in case work with members and promoting the RCN in the workplace. He has 11 years' experience in the NHS, initially working in the community delivering care in patients’ houses. He is currently a full-time nurse assessor for Gateshead / Newcastle CCG. He is passionate about his board and steward work, recognising the importance of professional nursing work, and is determined to do everything in his power to help to deliver an improved pay deal for nursing staff.

Mark Tull

Mark Tull has been a registered mental health nurse for almost thirty years and an RCN representative for 25 years. He trained as a cognitive behavioural therapist at Newcastle University 10 years ago and for the past five years has been managing and leading a team of psychological therapists based in central Gateshead. He has a very strong interest in staff wellbeing and promotes meaningful initiatives at all levels in his various representational roles. Being an RCN representative and a member of the RCN Northern Board allows him to highlight, promote and bring to debate issues for the benefit of our members.