Council of Governors
INTRODUCTION TO BEING A GOVERNOR
Note: The video was produced before the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust integrated with Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust to become the Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, so contains references to the former Trust. The video was produced in 2016 and includes Governors and members of staff in post at the time. The content remains useful for prospective Governors of the Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.
GOVERNOR ELECTIONS
The majority of governors are elected by members to represent patients, staff and the general public. We hold elections each year, and members vote for governors within the constituency they live.
Elections are run by an external polling company and members receive ballot papers and information by post when an election takes place.
2021 ELECTIONS
Voting in the elections to the Council of Governors closed at 5pm on 21 September 2021 and we can now declare the results as follows:
East Devon Dorset Somerset & Rest of England – 3 to elect, all for terms of two years
- Kay Foster and Barbara Sweeney re-elected
- Heather Penwarden newly elected
- Current Governor Bob Maskell was not re-elected
- Turnout was 23.48%
Mid North West Devon & Cornwall – 2 to elect
- James Bradley re-elected for a term of three years
- Annie Adcock newly elected for a term of two years
- Current Governor Marcus Pipe was not re-elected
- Turnout was 20.17%
Staff – 4 to elect
- Anum Shuja re-elected for a term of three years
- Hazel Hedicker re-elected for a term of two years
- Mascia Checconi and Simon Leepile newly elected for terms of two years
- Current Governors Catherine Geddes and Dominic Hazell were not re-elected
- Turnout was 10.27%
The full report of voting is available to download. Terms of office start and end at our Annual Members Meeting on 29 September 2021.
In the Exeter & South Devon constituency, we had three candidates for three posts and therefore all three candidates are elected uncontested. The uncontested election report is available to download.
Thank you to all our candidates and to all our members who voted.
2020 ELECTIONS
In March 2020, NHS England and Improvement contacted all Foundation Trusts to propose changes in order to reduce the burden of reporting and to free up senior capacity to prioritise the management of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In light of this direction and taking into account the need to focus on managing COVID-19, the Council of Governors proposed some temporary changes to the Constitution at an extraordinary meeting in April 2020. The Trust Board has subsequently approved the proposed changes to the Constitution to ensure business continuity, maintain good governance, and to pay heed to ongoing Government guidance on social distancing and avoiding non-essential travel. The changes approved by the Board are:
- To remove the need for routine Council of Governor elections in 2020.
- To offer those Governors whose terms of office come to an end in September 2020 an extension to September 2021. The proposal is being made in order to maintain the status quo of the Council and to not disadvantage those Governors whose term of office is due to end in September 2020.
The Governors who have had their terms extended in line with these changes are:
- Kay Foster (East Devon, Dorset and Somerset and Rest of England)
- Bob Maskell (East Devon, Dorset and Somerset and Rest of England)
- Barbara Sweeney (East Devon, Dorset and Somerset and Rest of England)
- Tony Ducker (Exeter & South Devon)
- Marcus Pipe (Mid, North, West Devon & Cornwall)
- Dominic Hazell (Staff)
- Hazel Hedicker (Staff)
- Anum Shuja (Staff)
At its extraordinary meeting in April 2020, the Council of Governors agreed that a plan would be developed to ensure that annual elections are maintained from 2021 onwards bearing in mind the need to retain the balance of the different categories of Governors on the Council (as set out as requirements in the Constitution).
WHAT THE ROLE IS
Governors provide a vital connection between the Trust and its patients, the community it serves, and its partners. The Council of Governors (CoG) has a real say in the Trust's future priorities and who fills key posts on the Board.
It holds the Board and Non-Executive Directors to account, individually and collectively, for the performance of the Board of Directors.
Governors represent the broad interests and views of local people to the Trust’s Board, and feed back information about the Trust's performance to the communities we serve.
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Governors represent the broad interests and views of local people to the Trust’s Board, and feed back information about the Trust's performance to the communities we serve.
This means discussing things like major new service developments, the annual report and accounts, and how members are being recruited and kept informed.
The Council meets four times a year and, in addition, many Governors also participate in informal working groups:
- CoG Coordinating Committee
- CoG Effectiveness Working Group
- Member and Public Engagement Working Group
- Patient Safety & Quality Working Group
WHAT THE ROLE IS NOT
The Trust is committed to listening to your views and experiences about the Trust and your feedback helps us to continually improve our services. Governors play a key role in representing these views as a collective.
They do not, however, represent individual cases.
If you have any questions or concerns about any aspect of your treatment or care, please contact the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) on 01392 402093 or [email protected].
YOUR GOVERNORS
Under the Royal Devon’s revised Constitution, the size of the Council of Governors has been increased from 26 to 31 Governors. New posts have been created for both Public and Staff Governors in order to better reflect the enlarged footprint being served by the Foundation Trust. The number of Appointed Governors remains the same as now (two). In addition to the changes in the number of posts and the distribution across the Public constituencies, the names of the Public constituencies have been changed. The new posts will be included in the CoG 2022 election.
The Council currently consists of 21 Governors, with 5 vacancies.
If you want to get in touch with our Governors, please email [email protected], stating which Governor your message is intended for.
AllAppointed GovernorsEast Devon Dorset and SomersetExeter and South DevonMid North West Devon and CornwallStaff Governors
Professor Angela Shore
Appointed Governor
Professor Angela Shore
Appointed Governor
Angela was appointed on behalf of the University of Exeter in October 2016 and was re-appointed in October 2019 for a further three years.
She is Professor of Cardiovascular Sciences and was Vice Dean Research at the University of Exeter Medical School until 2019. Angela is principal investigator of a large team of scientists and clinicians in vascular medicine based at the hospital. She co-leads the Exeter Centre for Excellence in Diabetes Research with Andrew Hattersley. As Scientific Director of the Exeter NIHR Clinical Research Facility she facilitates Experimental Medicine Research for the RD&E/Medical School collaboration. Angela is currently Chair of the Diabetes and Wellness Foundation project and fellowship committees and a member of the Diabetes Research Steering Group 6 (complications) led by Diabetes UK. Angela was President of the British Microcirculation Society 2017-2020 and Treasurer for the European Society for microcirculation for over 10 years. She is a member of the International Liaison Committee for World Microcirculation Research.