Trust Announces Election Results

26 October 2004

The results of West Suffolk Hospitals NHS Trust¹s elections to the council of members have been announced.

More than 8,700 members of the public registered an interest in becoming members should West Suffolk Hospitals NHS Trust become a NHS Foundation Trust. They were eligible to vote on who should fill the 16 public representative places on the council of members. There were 101 candidates.

Government guidelines state that the members have to be elected before a decision is announced by the Office of the Independent Regulator, now called Monitor, on whether NHS Foundation Trust status has been granted.

Public Constituency: 16 to Elect

The count was conducted using the single transferable vote (STV) system.

The following candidates were elected (in order of election)

Brian Main
Ian Baird
Patricia Beasley
David Bevan
June Carpenter
Adrienne Wakeling
Margaret Martin
Anne Marie Abbs
Graeme Garden
Trevor Beckwith
Dick Hamshere
Jean Syzling
Giles Creagh
C K Das
Jayne Gilbert
Ian Macdonald

At the same time, staff at the Trust were eligible to vote on who should fill the five staff representative places on the council of members. There were 13 candidates

Staff Constituency: 5 to Elect

The count was conducted using the single transferable vote (STV) system.

The following candidates were elected (in order of election)

Jane Chilvers
Karen Miles
Rosemary Wade
Nick Finch
Kevin Spencer

The election process was carried out by the Electoral Reform Ballot Services who have over 100 years experience of managing independent elections.

Notes:

The announcement on which trusts have been successful in their foundation trusts application has been delayed by Monitor (the independent regulator of foundation trusts) until the end of December. This is to allow more time for applicants to assess the impact of the forthcoming 05/06 tariff changes under the Payment by Results system. If successful, West Suffolk Hospitals NHS Trust will become a Foundation Trust on January 1 2005. More information can be found on Monitor¹s website www.regulator-nhsft.gov.uk under press releases.

The role of public representatives on the Council of Members will be to

• Represent the interests and views of public members

• Ensure the Trust operates in accordance with its terms of authorization

• Be consulted by the Board of Directors about the future strategic plans of the NHS Foundation Trust and any significant changes to the services provided

• Appoint the Trust¹s auditors

• Receive copies of the Trust¹s annual accounts, auditor¹s reports and annual reports

The Council of Members, which will also include five elected staff representatives, is responsible for appointing the chairman, who will also be the Chair of the Board of Directors. However, to ensure continuity the current Chairman of the Trust Veronica Worrall will continue until 2007 when her appointment ends. The Council of Members will not be paid but will be able to claim expenses.

The operational management and running of the NHS Foundation Trust will be in the hands of the Trust Board, which becomes the Board of Directors.