Notes of Governors Membership Meeting 12 December 10:00am ...

Notes of Governors Membership Meeting
12 December 10:00am – 12:00 at Trust Headquarters
Leatherhead
PRESENT
Julie Gaze
Lynn Fairfield
Stuart Craig
Barbara Nurse
Tracey Hayes
Ted Pottage
John Bale
Paul Thompson
Lavinia Sealy
Doreen Worsfold
Mike Smith
Apologies
Don Illman
Director of Corporate Affairs (Chair)
Associate Director of Governance
Public Governor – Surrey (Lead Governor)
Public Governor – Surrey
People Who Use Services Governor
People Who Use Services Governor
People Who Use Services, Careers and Families, Governor
People Who Use Services, Careers and Families, Governor
Surrey County Council , Public Governor
Care and Social, Care Staff Governor
Qualified Nursing, Staff Governor,
People Who Use Services Governor
In Attendance
Stephanie Cotgrove Director of Communications and Marketing
12/08 Welcome and Apologies-
13/08 Minutes of the Meeting held on 22 September 2008
Tracey Hayes noted her name includes an e Tracey not Tracy.
14/08 Matters Arising- none
03/08 Working with the Governors to Develop Membership:
Lynn Fairfield reported that feedback from her colleagues at the
Foundation Trust Network suggests that a number of
Foundation Trusts are experiencing difficulties, to varying
degrees, with membership recruitment. Adding that as Mental
Health Trust our recruitment issues are different to Acute Trusts,
this is because we have a separate Service User and Career
Constituency. Lynn Fairfield pointed out that some of our Public
Constituency Members maybe Service User and Careers, who
have chosen, not to join the Service User and Careers
Constituency
John Bale raised the matter of young carers under 14. The
group discussed our membership governance arrangements and
considered some of the opportunities available to recruit young
members.

07/08 Membership Recruitment:
Lynn Fairfield raised the explicit reasons for not using the Trusts
Patient Information Systems to recruiting membership,
discussed at the meeting on 22 September 2008
Ted Pottage noted that all Service Users should be asked if their
name and address details can be used for other Trust purpose.
15/08 a) Chair of the Group:
Mike Smith registered an interest in chairing the meeting.
The Membership group - agreed - Mike Smith as the chair.
Mike Smith accepted the appointment subject to:
• Assurance from Lynn Fairfield that administrative support is
available.
• The requirement to identify resources to deliver the
membership action plan.
• Governor responsibility for membership recruitment is clearly
understood.
b) Terms of Reference
• Lynn Fairfield and Mike Smith will draft the Terms of
Reference for the group using the Trust Template
Lynn Fairfield
Mike Smith
c) Membership to the Group
• Open to all Governors who wish to attend.
d) Frequency Meetings
The Membership Group agreed.
• Four meetings a year, timed to allow sufficient time to
prepare the minutes for reporting into the Council of
Governors Meeting.
• Next meeting to be arranged for the 2 nd week of February
2009 10am to 12 noon, with lunch.
Lynn Fairfield
Mike Smith
16/08 Membership Profile Report
Lynn Fairfield introduced the report and highlighted the key
messages:
• Membership Engagement Services (MES) had completed the
socio economic analysis in April 2008 based on the figures
available from the Trusts Membership Database.
• Membership Engagement Services (MES) had used the
Acorn classification and the National Reader Survey (NRS)
classification to present the information.
• Our target to increase our public membership to at least
6,500 by 31 March 2009 split into 3,250 for the geographical
constituencies and 3,250 for people who use our services,
their families and carers.
• Our membership has increased since the completion of this
analysis. Membership currently stands at 4,987.

• We have exceeded the target for the geographical
constituencies by 987 but we have failed to achieve the
target for people who use our services, their families and
carers by 2,500.
• The core of our membership falls in the over 45 age groups,
the 65 plus group is well represented all constituencies are
under represented in the 15-24.
• The gender profile indicates a higher representation in the
female group.
• The membership ethnicity profile is representative of our
workforce and significantly more diverse than the wider
population profile
• The requirement to develop strategies to increase
membership in the People Who Use Our Services, Their
Families and Carers Constituencies and people under 24 in
all constituencies.
The Membership Group engaged in a discussion:
Ted Pottage noted that each section is numbered but thought it
would be useful to number each sub-statement. He suggested
that numbering should sequentially reflect the statements in
each section.
Mike Smith requested that staff membership figures are included
in future publication.
Tracey Hayes reported that some new members had not
received a welcome letter. Lynn Fairfield explained that is
because of a gap during the transition of the database from the
Communications to Governance, this is now resolved.
The letter is currently under a redraft and will be shared with the
Membership Group before final approval.
Lynn Fairfield will check with recruitment that on recruitment staff
are still receiving a letter explaining foundation trust status and
that all staff are members unless they choose to opt out.
Lynn Fairfield
Lynn Fairfield
a. Membership Recruitment:
A discussion followed on membership recruitment and explaining
the benefits of membership to potential members.
Julie Gaze explained the eligibility criteria for People Who Use
our Services and Careers Constituency.
Lynn Fairfield explained that when recruiting members she refers
to Monitor’s definition of Foundation Trusts - Foundation Trusts
are:
• Established as independent public benefit corporations.
• They are providers of healthcare according to core NHS
principles - free care, based on need and not ability to pay

• They are free from central government control and from
strategic health authority performance management.
Authorised and monitored by Monitor - Independent
Regulator of NHS Foundation Trusts.
• They have a framework of local accountability through their
Members and Council of Governors, which has replaced
central control from the Secretary of State
• Free to innovate for the benefit of their local community and
patients
• Able to decide for themselves what capital investment is
needed in order to improve their services
• Free to retain any surpluses they generate and to borrow in
order to support this investment
Action: Lavinia Sealy requested that the above definition is
included in the minutes.
17/08 Membership Recruitment Action Plan
Mike Smith will review the Action Plan and Project Plan. This will
be included on the Agenda for the next meeting.
Lynn Fairfield
Mike Smith
18/08 No item 18 on the Agenda
19/08 Any Other Business
Member get Member Campaign
Stephanie Cotgrove joined the meeting to describe the proposal
for a Member get Member Campaign. Stephanie explained that
the intention is that it will be Governor led. A discussion followed.
Mike Smith noted that he felt uncomfortable with the proposal.
The Membership Group agreed that Stephanie Cotgrove will
develop a proposal for the message and Share with Governors.
Surrey Community Foundation
Lavinia Sealy will send Julie Gaze and Lynn Fairfield
information.
20/08 Date of Next Meeting
2 ND week February 2009
Stephanie
Cotgrove
Lavinia Sealy