ANNUAL MEMBERS MEETING Minutes of the meeting held on Monday 17 th September 2007, Education Centre, Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Present: Michael Cassidy (MC) Chairman Nancy Hallett (NH) Chief Executive Pauline Brown (PB) Director of Corporate Development John Coakley (JC) Medical Director Guy Young (GY) Director of Nursing & Quality Caroline Clarke (CC) Director of Finance & Information Tracey Fletcher (TF) Director of Operations Kate Costeloe (KC) Non Executive Director Eric Sorenson (ES) Non Executive Director Gillian Borrie (GB) (Hackney) Eli Kernkraut (EK) (Hackney) Joe Lobenstein (JL) (Hackney) Helen Scher (HS) (Hackney) Sarah Weiss (SW) (Hackney) Laura Sharpe (LS) Appointed Katie Lloyd-Thomas (KLT) Tanya Reynolds (TR) Staff Governor Mary Britton (MB) Staff Governor (Clinical) Patricia Bennett (PB) Florence Osaigbovo (FO) Jonathan Sibley (JS) Ezendu Ariwa (EA) Sam Eaton Head of Governance In attendance: Angus Mulready-Jones Anna Tatton Suri Friedman Fleur Nieboyer External Audit Manager, KPMG Apologies for absence: Apologies were received from: Professor Chris Fowler, Dean for Education, QMW Appointed Andrew Williams, Staff Governor (Clinical) Geoffrey Rivett, Ian Luder, Non Executive Director Paul Cannon, Staff Governor (Clinical)
Michael Keith, Non Executive Director Stephen Hay, Non Executive Director Andrew Panniker, Director of HR & Environment Jessica Crowe, Non Executive Director Minute taker: Pauline Brown, Director of Corporate Development 1. Chairman s welcome and introduction The Chairman welcomed the attendees to the 4 th Annual Members Meeting. 2. Chairman s reflections on the year Mr Cassidy reported on the years key developments and reflected on his first year as Trust Chairman. 3. Reviewing the year and looking into the future Nancy Hallett addressed the members. She presented highlights from the annual accounts, outlining the Trust s income and expenditure and concluding that the accounts had been subject to a rigorous audit review by the Trust s external auditors, KPMG. Ms Hallett presented the review of the year entitled Key Developments in 2006/2007. Ms Hallett highlighted developments in the following areas: Breast care Laparoscopic surgery Allergy services Sports medicine Incontinence Perinatal centre development Patient Experience Tracker She closed with thanks to the governors and members for their continued support and involvement with the hospital. 4. Annual Audit letter Fleur Nieboyer, external Audit Manager presented the Annual Audit Letter. She highlighted the role of the external auditors in assessing the hospitals use of resources and financial accounts. Ms Nieboyer highlighted the following positive issues: Successful delivery of the Financial Recovery Plan Increased focus on productivity and efficiency New lecture theatre and academic centre opening Full compliance with Healthcare Commission Core Standards Future challenges were highlighted as: Continued need to focus on financial recovery 2
The development of service line reporting Financial pressure within the local health economy 5. Membership report Mary Britton, staff governor and chair of the Membership Development Committee presented the membership report. Dr Britton s presentation featured membership priorities for 2007/08 and membership involvement activities including: Advisory groups for improving patient experience Volunteer schemes Way finding project Going smoke free Community visits and events Members Communication Survey Dr Britton also presented membership data highlighting membership composition, ethnicity, gender and age. This data had been profiled against City and Hackney 2001 Census data. 6. Guest lecture Professor Kate Costeloe presented a historical piece featuring children s healthcare in Hackney. Professor Costeloe showed a fascinating collection of slides and archive material dating back to the opening of the Queen Elizabeth Children s Hospital in Hackney Road to the present day. 7. Results of governor election Michael Cassidy, Chairman presented the results of the governor elections. Elected: Anna Tatton, Angus Mulready-Jones, Suri Friedman, Re-elected: Eli Kernkraut, Joe Lobenstein, Outgoing: Gillian Borrie, Laura Sharpe, Appointed Governor Faizullah Khan, Jenny Spouse, Appointed Governor The Chair thanked the outgoing governors for the contribution and involvement. 8. Questions from members to the board of directors and governors 3
Q: I m Assistant Director for Policy & Public Affairs at Asthma UK, the national charity for people with asthma, and I am interested in finding out what strategy Homerton has in place for addressing the needs of people with long term conditions I d be particularly interested in finding out how you tackle health inequalities in the area. A. The Trust employs a nurse specialist in asthma and respiratory disorders. The Trust works across the community and the hospital to support people so that they can access services via their GP or nurse specialist. The Trust does not have an asthma strategy but the PCT has a long term conditions strategy, a component of which is improving access and health promotion. Q. Visiting times and compliance A. Guy Young, Director of Nursing advised members about the new draft policy which proposes changes to the visiting hours and identifies numbers of visitors allowed. The new policy provides a level of support for staff asking visitors to leave. Q. Members asked why the Trust has some mixed sex wards? A. Due to large emergency workload it is not always possible to predict patient numbers. We do have single sex bays within mixed sex wards, but occasionally emergency patients may be located in a mixed sex bay on the Acute Care Unit. Q. Has going smoke free had much impact? A. This initiative has been a great success with fewer patients smoking at the front entrance and in the grounds. Q. What are the hospitals plans for dealing with a flu epidemic? A. The Trust has a comprehensive plan in place. Q. Why are so few applying to be governors? A. The Trust needs to promote the role at membership and community events and encourage members to standing by promoting the positive benefits of getting involved. Q. Why is the hospital fundraising? Shouldn t the state fund essential services? A. Core delivery of service is funded by the Primary Care Trust. Fundraising is for extras for example landscaping the grounds. Q. Has staff training been cut this year? A. Central funding has been reduced but we have been able to raise money from other sources to maintain our high level of staff training and development. Q. What impact does housing have on infant mortality and premature births? A. We do not know the statistics but we are working in partnership with Team Hackney and other partners on a range of projects to reduce infant mortality. Q. What are the rates for c.difficile at Homerton 4
A. The rates are low and the hospital is regarded as an exemplar of good practice nationally for reducing c.difficile. Q. Why haven t you made the Annual Accounts available? A. The accounts have not been circulated but are available in full on the website. Hard copies are also available now for governors and members who would like a copy. 5