Annual Report and Accounts 2012/13 - Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital

104 5. Our Governors and Members
Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust
Annual Report and Accounts 2012/13
Member and
Public Engagement
working group
This group exists to develop and
implement the Trust’s membership
strategy and to contribute to the
Trust’s work on wider stakeholder
and public engagement.
The Group agreed three core
objectives for the year:
• To maintain and increase
membership, targeting the 'hard
to reach' groups identified by the
report on membership
• To engage members of the public
with the activities of the Trust
• To educate and involve the
public in the development and
implementation of the Trust
strategy.
Over the course of the year the
Group undertook the following
activities:
• The Group established terms of
reference and a work plan to meet
its objectives
• Contributing to the design and
implementation of the Trust’s
Members' Say activities (see
page 125). Members' Say was
seen as one of the main ways in
which the Governors could better
understand member concerns and
priorities. Following September
2012’s Members' Say event, the
Group discussed the pros and
cons of running one annual event
alongside the Annual Members'
Meeting in autumn 2013 and that
a different type of event – aimed
at a younger audience (under 50s)
be held in the first half of 2013.
The Group agreed that a survey
of members from this age group
would be undertaken to help
design such an event in the best
way possible to meet the needs
and interests of this group
of members
• The Group has run a significant
number of membership
recruitment activities in the
hospital restaurant and in other
locations in the hospital in order
to maintain overall membership
numbers. It was agreed to
alternate Oasis sessions with
outpatient locations (Medical
Outpatients and Orthopaedic
Outpatients). The Group also
discussed undertaking recruitment
at various supermarket locations
and doctors' surgeries but these
initiatives are likely to be taken up
later in the year
• Tracked membership numbers
over the year as well as receiving
and analysing a report on the
Trust’s membership which detailed
demographics, geography and
other relevant indicators
• A visit by three public Governors
to a community coffee morning
held in Cullompton’s newly
refurbished Community Centre
in October. This provided an
opportunity to talk to 80 people
ranging in age from 96 years to a
mother with a 4 week-old baby.
The event was attended by over
70 people and a small number of
members were recruited
• A member of the group also held
a talk on membership at a school
on the Devon/Dorset border –
Colyton Grammar School. This
was an exploratory meeting to
develop a better understanding
of what the Trust would need to
do to encourage greater numbers
of members – and indeed
engagement – from younger
people, a group that is currently
under-represented in the Trust’s
membership. The visit confirmed
our belief that young people are
interested in health issues, albeit
from a perspective of enhancing
their own future careers and
personal development. The
encouraging number of recruits
has helped to balance the overall
age of our membership and
Governors also welcomed one of
the students as an observer at our
January CoG meeting
• The Group agreed that the series
of talks - Medicine for Members -
should be re-introduced during the
year as these were popular with a
good number of members
• The Group considered whether
there was a need for membership
cards as this might incentivise
membership and could also
be potentially used for local
discounts. However, on the basis
of costs, the Group decided that
cards should not currently
be issued.