The Annual General Meeting was held at 9.30 am on Wednesday 29th September 2021,
via Microsoft Teams.
Present:
Mrs A Marshall Chair
Mrs E Adams Public Governor – Central
Mr L Brown Public Governor – Western
Mrs J Coleman Staff Governor
Mr S Connolly Staff Governor
Mr A Dougall Public Governor – Eastern
Reverend J Gill Public Governor – Western
Mrs G Henderson Public Governor – Western
Mrs H Jones Public Governor – Central
Ms M Ndam Staff Governor
Mr G Riddell Public Governor – Western
Mrs K Tanriverdi Public Governor – Central
Dr L Ternent Appointed Governor
Mrs E Ward Public Governor – Eastern
In attendance:
Mrs J Baxter Chief Operating Officer
Mr A Beeby Medical Director
Mrs J Bilcliff Acting Chief Executive
Dr R Bonnington Non– Executive Director
Miss J Boyle Company Secretary
Mrs N Bruce Operational Director for Medicine (21/05)
Mrs L Crichton-Jones Director of People & OD
Mrs G Findley Chief Nurse
Ms E Koltai Health Care Assistant (21/05)
Mrs K Mackenzie Acting Director of Finance
Mr A Moffat Non-Executive Director
Mrs D Owen Clinical Operations Manager (21/07)
Mr A Robson Managing Director, QEF
Mr M Robson Non-Executive Director
Dr M Sani Non-Executive Director
Mr D Shilton Non-Executive Director
Mrs A Stabler Non-Executive Director
Ms D Waites Corporate Services Assistant
Apologies:
Mr J Bedlington Public Governor – Central
Mrs C Ellison Staff Governor
Cllr M Gannon Non-Executive Director
Mrs K Marley Staff Governor
Mrs H Parker Non–Executive Director
Prof D Porteous Appointed Governor
Mr A Rabin Public Governor – Central
Mr A Sandler Appointed Governor
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Mr J Stephens Public Governor – Central
Mr C Toon Appointed Governor
| Agenda item | Discussion and action points |
| AGM/21/01 | CHAIR’S WELCOME: Mrs A Marshall, Chair, opened the Annual General Meeting by welcoming Board members, Governors, members of staff, and members of the public. She reminded those present of the impact on the Trust due to the recent pandemic and felt it was important to share some of the work undertaken across the organisation during this time. |
| AGM/21/02 | DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST: Mrs Marshall requested that members report any revisions to their declared interests or any declaration of interest in any of the items on the agenda. |
| AGM/21/03 | MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2019: The minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on Wednesday 30th September 2020 were approved as a correct record. |
| AGM/21/04 | OVERVIEW OF THE YEAR: Mrs J Bilcliff, Acting Chief Executive, welcomed those present to the Annual General Meeting. She began her review of the year by sharing a video showing some of the success stories around the organisation however reminded the group of the impact the pandemic has had over the year which is reflected in the Trust’s core operational performance summary. Mrs Bilcliff reported that during the meeting, the group will hear some examples of innovations in more depth however highlighted some of the work done which has benefited our patients and staff. This included contributions from our research team to the world’s largest clinical trial for Covid treatments which have significantly reduced the risk of death for patients and schemes to keep patients connected with their loved ones when visiting was restricted. Our community services were presented with a Blaydon Angel award by Liz Twist, MP for their outstanding contribution to the Gateshead community during the pandemic and work has continued to develop our staff networks. Throughout the year, there has been a strong focus on health and wellbeing and our Occupational Health team have played a critical role in our pandemic response. During 2021/21, the Trust has recruited 56 new volunteers to support us in a variety of important roles. Mrs Bilcliff highlighted some of the work undertaken with valued partners and reported that the Trust will continue to build on these relationships going forward. She drew attention to the work of QE Facilities and their support during the pandemic with the timely movement of patients upon discharge, as well as collecting and delivering PPE for trusts across the region. She also highlighted some of the recent charity projects which included providing additional support to the Chapel of Rest, Paediatrics, Chemotherapy Day Unit garden, Jubilee garden and grab bags which provide essential items and transport for patients fleeing domestic violence. Mrs Bilcliff concluded by thanking the staff and highlighted that the Board were extremely proud for their continuous hard work. |
| AGM/21/05 | SHOWCASE PRESENTATION – PROJECT WINGMAN Mrs N Bruce, Operational Director for Medicine, and Ms E Koltai, Healthcare Assistant, provided some background on the work of Project Wingman which comprises of airline crew who were grounded and furloughed during lockdown and volunteered their time to provide a welcoming space away from work areas for staff. Ms Koltai highlighted her personal experience having volunteered with the project after being made redundant and reported that this gave her a sense of purpose and was able to give something back to the NHS in its time of need. She highlighted that 22 members of crew have since secured jobs within the Trust and she herself is now working as a Health Care Assistant. She felt that it has been an amazing opportunity for the crew to explore every department and thanked the Trust for the great opportunity. Mrs Marshall, Chair, thanked Ms Koltai for sharing her story and thanked all volunteers for their continued support. |
| AGM/21/06 | QUALITY REPORT 2020/21: Mrs J Baxter, Chief Operating Officer, provided an overview of the Trust’s Quality Report for 2020/21 and explained that the Trust identified 12 quality improvement priorities to focus on during 2020/21 across the three domains of quality – clinical effectiveness, patient safety and patient experience and provided an update on progress against the priorities in the past year. Mrs Baxter drew attention to some of work undertaken to deliver the priorities despite the pandemic in particular positive feedback in relation to patient safety and highlighted the quality improvements for 2021/22 which includes ensuring patient discharge processes are safe and effective. She explained that learning from patient feedback continues to contribute to improving processes and procedures moving forward. |
| AGM/21/07 | SHOWCASE PRESENTATION – HOSPICE AT HOME: Mrs D Owen, Clinical Operations Manager for Community Services provided some background on work of the Hospice at Home team. She reported that this is a joint initiative between the Trust, Newcastle Gateshead Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), and Macmillan Cancer Support and highlighted the challenges of launching the new service during the pandemic however explained that the aim of the service is to assess patients for support during the last 12 weeks of life to prevent hospital admission and improve discharge from hospital to home. The service has received some incredible feedback from families and has been shortlisted for a Star Award and Nursing Times Award. Mrs Owen wished to thank the team for their hard work over the past year and Mrs Marshall also expressed her thanks on behalf of the Board and Council of Governors. |
| AGM/21/08 | FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS 2020/21: Mrs K Mackenzie, Acting Group Director of Finance, presented an overview of the Trust’s financial performance for 2020/21.Mrs Mackenzie drew attention to the complex end of year financial discussions and wished to recognise the efforts of the finance team, both for the Trust and QE Facilities, and the External Audit team. She provided an overview of the Trust’s financial performance for 2020/21 including income, expenditure and capital spend. She reported that due to additional NHS funding during the year, the Trust reported a small revenue surplus of £1.326m. Capital expenditure for the year was £17.242m and included expanding pathology services to deliver covid testing and digital solutions in response to pandemic. Mrs Mackenzie highlighted the work of the Trust’s External Auditors, Ernst and Young and some of the conclusions from their audit of the financial accounts. She explained some of the challenges and reported that this will be similar for 2021/22 however the Trust will be welcoming Mazaars as their new External Auditors. |
| AGM/21/09 | SHOWCASE PRESENTATION – SUSTAINABILITY: Mr A Robson, Managing Director for QE Facilities, provided an overview of the Trust’s sustainability journey. He drew attention to the Regional Greener NHS targets in relation to medicines, travel and transport, and people which includes some of the local schemes and highlighted that the Trust is working closely with the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care System. Mr A Robson reported on some of the progress to date and highlighted that the Trust has been awarded the Green Apple Award for Environmental Best Practice. Next steps include finalising the Green Plan for 2021-2024 and ensuring that sustainability training becomes mandatory for all staff. The Sustainable Procurement Policy is currently being developed and will be implemented soon and further measures are due to be implemented in relation to the Green Travel Plan and Clean Air Hospital Framework. Mrs Marshall commended the strategy being undertaken within the organisation in taking Gateshead forward as a sustainable leader within the region. |
| AGM/21/10 | COUNCIL OF GOVERNORS’ ANNUAL REPORT 2019/20: Reverend J Gill, Public Governor and Lead Governor, presented the Council of Governors’ Annual Report 2020/21. She highlighted that the elections for 2 staff and 6 public governors were held during 2020/21 and as a result, the Trust welcomed 2 new staff governors and 2 new public governors with another 2 public governors being re-elected and one vacancy remained within Central constituency. Two of our governors resigned due to personal reasons and Rev Gill thanked them for their dedication and support over the years. The election nominations process for 2021/22 is currently open and she highlighted that for this election there are 11 Governor positions (8 public Governors and 3 staff Governors). Rev Gill reported on some of the key achievements and decisions during the year which included the recruitment, selection and appointment of two new Non-Executive Directors. The appointment process for a Deputy Lead Governor was also agreed and the Council welcomed Mr Abe Rabin into the position. Membership figures decreased slightly during the year however Rev Gill explained that this is expected due to the pandemic and as such membership engagement events have not been able to take place however it is hoped that these can be reintroduced in the near future. Some of the governors were able to take part in a recent “thank you” recording to staff as part of the Trust’s Thank You event and Rev Gill also thanked all her governor colleagues for their support during the difficult past year. Mrs Marshall also thanked the governors for all the good work and thanked Rev Gill for her support as Lead Governor in keeping the Council informed of any communications and developments during the year. |
| AGM/21/11 | LOOKING AHEAD – 2021/22 AND BEYOND: Mrs J Bilcliff, Acting Chief Executive, started by thanking all those who have presented to the group highlighting the brilliant achievements around the organisation. She then provided a briefing on some of the work being undertaken looking ahead. There are four main areas: • Patients, care, clinical excellence – Mrs Bilcliff reported that this relates to the national commitment to reduce waiting lists and the Trust will be introducing its new operating model. • Our people – health and well-being is one of the Trust’s key priorities due to recent pressures as well as building on equality, diversity and inclusion standards. Mrs Bilcliff highlighted that actions plans are in place around the NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) and Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES). • Partnership, Collaboration, System Working and Networks – work to continue to build on relationships within the Integrated Care System and the Trust plays a significant role within this. • Progress, Innovation, Growth and Research –digital innovations including the Global Digital Exemplar Programme in response to the pandemic and priorities moving forward include pathology, gynae-oncology and driving the sustainability agenda. |
| AGM/21/12 | QE FACILITIES’ MASK PRODUCTION: Mr A Robson, Managing Director of QE Facilities, provided an overview on the work being undertaken around the production of FFP3 face masks. He reminded the group of the national supply issues around Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) during Covid and the impact this had on the NHS as a whole. The development and production of the FFP3 masks has been undertaken with this in mind which will result in masks being distributed locally and to the wider region. The masks are currently awaiting certification and following recent media coverage, has opened up further opportunities to overseas markets. Mr A Robson highlighted the benefits to the Trust and further future opportunities. Mrs Marshall agreed that this was an excellent opportunity for the Trust and thanked Mr Robson and his team for their achievements. |
| AGM/21/13 | OPEN TO QUESTIONS: There were no questions or comments from attendees |
| AGM/21/14 | CHAIR’S CLOSING REMARKS: Mrs Marshall closed the meeting by formally thanking the work and efforts undertaken by staff and volunteers and thanked those |
| AGM/21/15 | DATE AND TIME OF NEXT MEETING: RESOLVED: that the next Annual General Meeting will be held on 28th September 2022 at 9.30am |