AH ANNUAL REPORT 2018

Throughout our membership activities, the Trust
endeavours to ensure that all the communities that
it serves are provided every opportunity to become
an engaged member. It is our intention to continue to
maintain our membership population at around 13,500
overall but with a focus on recruitment of more children
and young people as members in the coming year.
This strategy will be carried out in line with the Trust’s
Quality Strategy and with all legislation pertaining to
equality and diversity issues.
A number of mechanisms will be used for membership
engagement including:
• Regular newsletters
• E-mail bulletins
• Greater social media presence and as a method to
elicit feedback
• Annual Members’ Meeting
• External consultations, e.g. Springfield Park
• Trust consultations
• Participation in elections to the Council of Governors.
Membership Profile
Constituency
Number of
Members
2017/18
(Actual as at 31st
March 2018)
Number of
Members
2018/19
(Planned)
Public 3,696 3,818
Patients &
Parent Carer
5,375 6,814
Staff 3,023 3,101
Total 13,309 13,733
OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS
The Trust’s Constitution provides for a Board of
Directors which is comprised of no more than seven
Executive and no more than eight Non-Executive
Directors including the Chairman. All Director roles
have been occupied during 2017/18 in accordance
with the policy developed by the Trust in support of
the Constitution. The Trust considers that it operates a
balanced, complete and unified Board with particular
emphasis on achieving the optimum balance of
appropriate skills and experience; this is reviewed
whenever any vacancy arises and was rigorously tested
in the year as part of the process to appoint Executive
Directors and re-appoint Non-Executive Directors.
Following the introduction in November 2014 by
the CQC of the Fit and Proper Persons test, the
Board amended the documentation and processes
associated with directors’ appointments, which
have been built into a revised Recruitment Policy
to incorporate all relevant checks both prior to
appointment and on an annual basis for all incumbent
directors, this includes an additional proactive
declaration in relation to the requirement.
The Board of Directors operates to clear terms of
reference and an annual work plan which reflect the
Trust’s constitution and Provider Licence and which
are in turn supported by detailed Standing Financial
Instructions and Standing Orders, a scheme of
delegation and a Schedule of Matters Reserved for
the Board, which are set out in the Trust’s Corporate
Governance Manual and Constitution.
It is the role of the Board to set the organisation’s
strategic direction in the context of an overall
operational planning framework set by NHS regulators.
It is responsible for all key business decisions but
delegates the operationalisation of these to an
appropriate committee or the Trust’s Operational
Delivery Board in order to receive assurance that the
organisation is fulfilling its responsibilities including
compliance with standards and targets and the
conditions set out in the Trust’s Provider Licence.
The Board meets on the first Tuesday of each month,
with the exception of August. Board meetings are fully
and accurately minuted, including challenges and
concerns of individual directors as appropriate. The
Chairman meets separately with the Non-Executive
Directors directly before each meeting. All Board
meetings are held in public; dates, times and agendas
are published on the Trust’s website prior to meetings
and the papers posted shortly after. The Board’s
agenda is structured around the Trust’s strategic
priorities set out in the overarching plan. Each meeting
begins with a patient story which is designed to ensure
that patients remain at the centre of all discussions
and decisions. At each meeting the Board receives a
corporate performance report which describes in detail
how the organisation has performed against key local
and national metrics, including a Quality Report which
focuses on progress against the Trust’s quality aims.
Accompanying the performance information is the
Board Assurance Framework which demonstrates to
the Board how the principal risks to the organisation’s
business are being controlled and mitigated.
Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust 62
Annual Report & Accounts 2017/18