DBTH showcased at national governor event

Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals (DBTH) was one of 10 trusts invited to showcase its work at the NHS Foundation Trust Governor Focus Conference on 24 May at Congress House, London.

The Trust was selected for its work on ‘enhancing governor effectiveness’, which reported in October 2017, and took into account views from governors locally and around the region.

A number of changes were proposed to enhance the work of governors, including the introduction of more ways for them to represent the interests of members and the public, additional representation from partnership bodies on the Council of Governors, a cap on the number of terms a governor can serve in line with best practice and a streamlining of the governor committee structure.

Hazel Brand, Peter Abell, Bassetlaw Public Governors, and Phil Beavers, Doncaster Public Governor, attended the event to showcase DBTH’s best practice to foundation trust chairs and governors from across the country.

The day-long conference also heard from DBTH’s chair, Suzy Brain England OBE, who provided an overview of how South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw trusts were engaging governors in the development of system wide plans in the area’s Integrated Care System.

Suzy spoke about the collaborative approach that the work had taken, which culminated in a half-day governors’ conference at Rotherham’s New York Stadium and heard from former Secretary of State for Health, Alan Johnson, former NHS England medical director, Sir Bruce Keogh, and SYB ICS chief executive, Sir Andrew Cash.

Alongside Suzy, who serves on the NHS Providers board as an acute trust chair, Peter Abell has also recently been elected to a role on NHS Providers’ Governor Advisory Committee for an initial three year term. Peter fought off competition from over 50 other trusts to win the nomination and represent governors from the acute sector.

Suzy said: “This conference was a great opportunity for the Trust to showcase some of the fabulous work governors have been doing in Doncaster and Bassetlaw, as well as an opportunity for Peter to meet some of the people he will be representing over the next three years on the national committee.

“Above all, the day was a fantastic celebration of foundation trust governors. These are people who give up their time to volunteer to be the voice of our patients and members and they deserve all the thanks and positive encouragement we can give them.’’

More than 100 governors from across the local health system turned out to support the national event.