Issue - meetings

To hear evidence from:

Maria Kane (Acting Chief Executive), Andrew Wright (Head of Business Development) & Katia Louka (Membership and Marketing Manager)

Maria Kane (Acting Chief Executive), Andrew Wright (Head of Business Development) and Katia Louka (Membership & Marketing Manager) gave a short presentation (attached) and responded to questions from the Panel.  A summary of the points within this discussion is provided below:

Consultation process

The Panel were keen to hear how the MHT would engage the diverse communities that live across the three boroughs. 

·        The MHT reported that the consultation document would be distributed in two formats; the full consultation document and a summarised version.  In total, 30,000 copies would be distributed.  A newsprint version of the consultation document has been produced and will be circulated too all homes across the locality.  Copies have also been distributed to all local libraries and general practices.

·        The Panel suggested that there was a danger of the public becoming consultation weary and inundated with requests to become Members of different local Foundation Trusts.  The MHT indicated that the public could indeed become members of any number of Foundation Trusts.  The MHT was working with the NMUH and the Whittington to develop a joint membership arrangement with these trusts.

Agreed: That Haringey local Area Assemblies be included within BEH MHT consultation programme for Foundation Trust status.

Governance arrangements

The Panel thanked the MHT for the clarity of new governance proposals within the consultation document. The Panel were concerned as to how the community would be represented at the executive level within the Foundation Trust.

·        The MHT proposals for the Members Council include a larger number of Governors than for other Foundation Trusts, this being to reflect the number of boroughs which the trust covers.

·        The MHT indicated that it has a long tradition of user and carer involvement in all aspects of service planning and delivery.  It was expected that this tradition would be expanded under new governance arrangements for the trust.  The MHT also noted that it had a good relationship with its Patient & Public Involvement Forum. 

·        The Panel were concerned at the MHT proposals to change the name of the trust to North London NHS Foundation Trust.  The MHT reported that it proposed to omit reference to mental health in its name to minimise service associated stigma.  The MHT also felt that ‘North London’ was more appropriate to signify the area in which its clients were resident.  The MHT indicated that this particular issue was one of the key consultation questions and agreed to provide specific feedback from the consultation to Overview & Scrutiny.

·        Members questioned the MHT on why there was just one public constituency within proposals for the Membership.  The MHT indicated that a distinct patient constituency for a mental health trust may deter people from applying, thus preferred the general option of one public constituency which would not be stigmatising.  The Panel suggested that it might be more appropriate to retain both public and patient constituencies to give people a choice.  The Panel indicated that it would like to receive feedback on this specific aspect of the consultation.

·        Representatives from  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6