Become a member

If you’re not already a member, consider joining us, it’s free and comes with several benefits:

• you can influence how the trust and its services are developed by being a member
• receive up-to-date information about the trust and the services it provides
• take part in elections to vote for governors who play a crucial role in the trust
• consider standing for election to the council of governors and actively contribute
• help reduce the stigma associated with mental health, learning disabilities, and other health conditions

Learning about local health services is something many of us are interested in, and by becoming a member, you may choose to be more involved in the future.

Join the trust

If you would like to become a member of the foundation trust, fill in the provided form. The information you provide will be used to keep you informed about the foundation trust and notify you of membership elections to the council of governors.

Rest assured, any information you share will only be used for the stated purposes and will be held in accordance with the Data Protection Act (1998).

The home of membership

Our membership home is structured into gold, silver and bronze rooms:

Bronze room

As a bronze member we will share with you an easy read format of:

• our newsletter Trust Matters
• our quarterly members and volunteers newsletter
• our annual report

We offer access to clothing and bedding donated by colleagues for people rough sleeping and in need.

You will also be invited to take part of the public annual member meeting. If you would like to be more involved, please step in to the silver room, keeping all your bronze room perks.

Silver room

Examples of involvement include participation in focus groups, projects, strategic developments or changes to services for example. Co-producing training delivery and staff recruitment are popular involvement activities across many of our services.

For strategic involvement work, we offer sessional payments for time, along with expenses. Please find the payment and reimbursement of trust involvement for information. There is a form for your activity supervisor to complete.

If you participate in a minimum of 12 hours of involvement activity during a 12 month period, we will:

• reimburse expenses and pay sessional fees as appropriate
• offer shadowing opportunities
• invite you to networking events in your area
• invite you to the annual involvement and volunteering celebration event
• offer access to sessional curriculum vitae (CV) writing support
• provide access to NHS computers and digital support

Gold room

If you regularly volunteer with us, or are a governor, we will:

• an NHS email address (Blue Light discount)
• a point scheme where you can save points and exchange for vouchers or passes
• access to electric car charging on trust premises
• support to access to English as a second language
• 1 internal training course per year
• 1 free laundry service every 6 months
• access to chaplaincy and occupational health
• support to apply for apprenticeships and employment, including functional skills
• access to 1 free trust premises room hire per annum for permitted usage
• the chance to win a hamper in the annual winter draw
• access to cycle maintenance services via the Yorkshire Bike Shack at Flourish

In order to record your donated hours, we need your supervisor or coordinator of the involvement activity you took part in to complete the volunteering and involvement activity recording form.

Toward the start of each month, we will email you about your current rank and points balance, as well as a link to the rewards claim form. If you have not received this, you can also email rdash.patient-experience@nhs.net and we will tell you your current rank and points balance.

If you become a gold member by accumulating 24 total donated hours, you will start to earn points at a rate of one point per hour. These points can be redeemed for vouchers.

Once you are ready to claim rewards, you can redeem your rewards. You will then be contacted by a member of our team to arrange collection or request additional information to get your reward to you.

If you have questions about foundation trust membership or the council of governors, please contact the foundation trust office at rdash.membership@nhs.net.

Page last reviewed: April 15, 2026
Next review due: April 15, 2027