THE chairman of Burtonwood and Westbrook Parish Councillor has been rewarded for her hard work after she was re-appointed to serve as a non-executive director of 5 Boroughs Partnership NHS Trust.

Judith Guthrie, of Cabot Close in Old Hall, was appointed to the trust as a non-executive director in 2006 and will now serve from December 1, 2009 to November 30, 2010.

She is a senior lecturer in palliative care at Liverpool John Moores University, having first qualified as a nurse in 1976, and has more than 20 years service in the NHS.

Bernard Pilkington, chairman, said: “It’s great that Judith has been re-appointed. She is a real asset to the board of directors and to the trust as a whole.”

Clr Guthrie previously served as a borough councillor in St Helens for four years.

She was chairman of St Helens and Knowsley Community Health Council and a director of nursing at St Rocco’s Hospice.

In 2006 she received a volunteer innovation award for devoting her spare time to work as chairman of Warrington Bereavement Service, which provides a free bereavement counselling service for people in the town.

Clr Guthrie will be able to claim up to £6,096 a year in expenses in her role and the reappointment has been made in accordance with the Commissioner for Public Appointment’s Code of Practice.

Under these rules all non-executive appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process.