Foundation Trust members urged to stand for election

Nominations are now being invited for members of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust to stand for election to a vacant seat on its Members’ Council.

All Foundation Trust members living in the Public constituency of City of Westminster Area 2 have been personally invited to nominate themselves as candidates in the forthcoming election by Juggy Pandit, Chairman of Chelsea and Westminster Healthcare NHS Trust.

He said: “Our Members’ Council will have an important role to play in the future life of our hospital if our current application for Foundation Trust status is approved by the independent regulator Monitor.

“That is why I have written personally to all our Foundation Trust members in the City of Westminster Area 2 constituency to encourage them to nominate themselves as candidates in the forthcoming election.”

As a Foundation Trust, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital will be more accountable to the local community and its staff through its membership – which now totals almost 14,000 - and the Members’ Council.

Elections to the Members’ Council were held in March this year – 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.

The Council will have 34 members and a chairperson including 10 patient members, eight public members (two each from the boroughs of Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith and Fulham, Wandsworth and City of Westminster) and six staff members drawn from all areas of the hospital. It will also include 10 representatives from partnership organisations.

No nominations were received in the City of Westminster Area 2 constituency for the Members’ Council elections in March which is why an election is now being held to fill the vacant seat.

All nominations must be received by July 27 – nomination papers can be obtained from the Returning Officer, Electoral Reform Services Limited, The Election Centre, 33 Clarendon Road, London, N8 0NW.

Ballot papers will be distributed to all Foundation Trust members in City of Westminster Area 2 on August 22 and the deadline for returning voting papers to Electoral Reform Services is September 14.