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

2. Our Trust Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust 27
Annual Report and Accounts 2012/13
From the beginning of the next
financial year, the RD&E will be issued
a licence to operate its services by
Monitor. The new licence – which
essentially mandates the key services
that the Trust provides within the
context of Monitor's broader role –
replaces the “terms of authorisation”
that Monitor had previously issued to
providers like the RD&E.
The new Act contains a clause to hold
Board meetings in public from 1 April
2013. In anticipation of this legislation,
the RD&E Board decided to embrace
openness and transparency by holding
Board meetings in public from June
2012. The meetings in public allow
any member of the public to see
the Board in action as it transacts
its core business. The meetings are
now regularly attended by individual
Governors and they are able to gain
an insight into how the Board operates
which is proving to be very useful in
their role of holding the Board – and
individual Non-Executive Directors – to
account.
The new Act heralded changes in
some of the powers of the Council of
Governors by setting out the nature of
the accountability relationship between
the Board and the Council, as well
as conferring some new powers to
Governors on issues such as mergers
and acquisitions. The new clarity on
the role of Governors contained in the
Act was welcome and, while there
are some changes required in specific
areas, such as when Governors may be
involved in significant transactions, the
work we have done with Governors
over the last few years puts us in a
good position to accommodate the
changes resulting from the Act.
The second Francis Report on the
unacceptable failure of care at the
Mid Staffs Foundation Trust received
considerable media attention during
the year. The Board discussed not only
the key issues from the public inquiry
but also reviewed the actions it had
agreed to take forward from the first
Francis Report. This enabled the Board
to assure itself that the actions it had
agreed to take two years ago were
appropriate, followed up and actioned,
but that it also took into account any of
the key lessons from the second report.
“We have all been shocked at
the stories of individual suffering,
neglect and abuse that have,
with the publication of the Public
Inquiry report on Mid Staffs,
now been thoroughly exposed.
As a nurse, a senior manager,
but above all as a human being,
it is impossible not to be affected
by the litany of failure that was
so starkly set out by the families
and loved ones of those who
received a level of care that was
completely unacceptable. For
me and for all of us responsible
for delivering safe, quality care,
the publication of the Francis
Report has triggered a chance to
pause and reflect on what now
needs to be done to ensure that
the NHS does not allow this to
happen again.”
Em Wilkinson-Brice
Chief Nurse/Executive Director of
Service Delivery