Election results for Members' Council

23 March 2006

Hospital patients, staff and members of the local community are due to play an important part in the future of Chelsea and Westminster after being voted onto the hospital’s new Foundation Trust Members’ Council.

Hospital patients, staff and members of the local community are due to play an important part in the future of Chelsea and Westminster after being voted onto the hospital’s new Foundation Trust Members’ Council.

Almost 7,000 Foundation Trust members were eligible to vote in the hospital’s first ever Council elections which started on March 2 and finished this Tuesday (March 21).

The new Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust will ‘go live’ later this year if its application is approved by the regulatory body Monitor.

Chief Executive of the Trust, Heather Lawrence, welcomed the newly elected council members.

She said: “The Members’ Council will play an important role in making sure that the voices of local people, patients and staff are heard. I would like to welcome them to the Trust and I look forward to working with them in the future.

“The Council will bring a unique perspective to the way we provide services and run our hospital – drawing on their experience as patients and as staff working in frontline services.

“Their work starts now, in shadow form, and in earnest later this year, if our application for Foundation Trust status is approved by the regulator Monitor.”

As a Foundation Trust, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital will be more accountable to the local community and its staff through its membership and the new Members’ Council.

The Council will work with the Board of Directors as a ‘critical friend’, helping to shape the way the Trust develops services in coming years. It will have 34 members and a chairperson. The Council will also include 10 representatives from partnership organisations*. These members will be announced in the coming weeks.

In total 34 people nominated themselves to be patient and public members of the Council.

A total of 15 staff from across the hospital nominated themselves to stand as candidates in the elections for the Council. Staff candidates were split into six professional categories to ensure representation from across the hospital – staff voting in the elections could only vote for candidates in their professional category.

As part of the elections, special ‘meet the candidate’ events were held at the hospital to help people decide who they should vote for. Ballot papers to elect patient, public and staff members to the Council were sent to everyone who signed up as Foundation Trust members before February 16.

Notes to editors

*The 10 partnership organisations include Imperial College, Thames Valley University, Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Trust, Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Hospital NHS Trust, Kensington and Chelsea Primary Care Trust, Westminster PCT, Hammersmith and Fulham PCT, Wandsworth PCT, Royal Borough of Chelsea and Westminster and City of Westminster

STAFF MEMBERS

Admin and clerical
Cathy James
Allied health professionals
Kieran Hand
Contracted staff
Alison Delamare
Management
Nigel Grant
Nursing and Midwifery
Sue Harris
Medical and Dental
Professor Brian Gazzard

PATIENT MEMBERS

Maria Elena Arana
Ronald Clayton
Hugo Fitzgerald
Michael Henry
Jean Hunt
Angela Maria Lambert
Dorothy Pease
Martin Rowell
Jim Smith
Elizabeth Antonia Thomas

PUBLIC MEMBERS

Hammersmith & Fulham
Area 1: James Alexander
Area 2: Christine Blewett

Kensington & Chelsea
Area 1: Judith Blakeman
Area 2: Valerie Arends

Wandsworth
Area 1: Sarah Mallet
Area 2: Result to be declared April 3rd

Westminster
Area 1: Sam Angus
Area 2: Vacant

Contributors
George Vasilopoulos