Annual Report 2006/07 - Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital

Royal Devon & Exeter NHS Foundation Trust Annual Report 2006/07
Relationships with Stakeholders
Both the Board of Directors and Council of
Governors have taken steps to safeguard
that satisfactory systems are in place to ensure
effective dialogue with members, the public,
patients and the local community. These include
active involvement and participation in the
following activities:
Patient and Public Information Forums;
Devon County Council Overview and
Scrutiny Committee;
quarterly General Meetings of the Council
of Governors;
Annual Members’ Meeting;
quarterly Public Constituency Meetings;
Disability and Equality Action Group;
engagement with the voluntary and
charitable sector including our Leagues of
Friends, ELF, FORCE and DIRECT;
Joint Staff Consultative Forums.
The Trust has a statutory duty to collaborate with
partners in health and social care to ensure that
services provided to the public are well coordinated
and effective. Good working relationships
are in place with Devon Primary Care Trust,
Devon Partnership Trust, North Devon District
Hospital, Devon County Council Social Services
Department and local City and District Councils.
Public engagement is key to the ongoing
development of the Royal Devon & Exeter as a
public benefit corporation. To ensure the
continued development of the membership base
and the engagement of members in the forward
thinking about the ongoing development of our
services, the Council of Governors leads the
work of the Trust’s membership development
strategy. This work is supported internally
within the hospital by the activities of the
Patient Advice and Liaison Service in developing
public and patient involvement.
The Board of Directors and Council of Governors
work effectively together to secure the ongoing
success of the Trust. Board members attend
Council of Governor meetings, and joint Board of
Director and Council of Governor development
sessions are held each year to ensure all parties
maintain a sound understanding of the views
and aspirations of the Trust and its members
and contribute to the forward thinking for the
organisation’s future development.
Code of Governance Compliance
Monitor published the Code of Governance
in September 2006. The Code requires
foundation trusts to achieve full compliance with
the code or to explain non compliance by the
end of the financial year 2007/08. The Board
of Directors has decided to report as fully as
possible against the requirements of the Code
in this Annual Report. The Code of Governance
may be viewed on Monitor’s website at www.
monitor-nhsft.gov.uk/publications.php?id=930.
The Board considers that, with the exception
of the following, the Trust has, throughout the
2006/07 reporting year, applied the principles
and met the requirements of the Code of
Governance. Non Compliance or limited
compliance is reported as follows:
Code Provision A.1.3 (The Chairman should
hold meetings with the Non-Executive Directors
without the Executives present. Led by the
Senior Independent Director, the Non-Executive
Directors should meet without the Chairman
present at least annually to appraise the
Chairman’s performance, as part of a process
which should be agreed with the Governors for
appraising the Chair and on such other occasions
as are deemed appropriate.)
Explanation: Whilst an appraisal process is in
place for the NEDs, the Board, in co-operation
with the Governors, is reviewing its current
system of appraisal of the whole Board, Chair
and Non-Executive Directors (NEDs) which will
incorporate the role of the Senior Independent
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