TB2012.04
Trust Board Meeting: Thursday 12 January 2012
TB2012.04
Title
Membership Strategy
Status
For adoption.
History
The draft was considered at Board away day on 30
November 2011 and subsequently reviewed by
Foundation Trust Programme Board in December 2011.
Board Lead(s)
Mr Andrew Stevens, Director of Planning and Information
Key purpose
Strategy
TB2012.04_Membership Strategy.docx
Assurance
Policy
Performance
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Oxford University Hospitals
TB2012.04
Introduction
1. As part of its development as an NHS Foundation Trust (FT), Oxford University
Hospitals (OUH) is developing its membership and governance arrangements.
2. Prior to conducting a public consultation in summer 2012 on its proposed FT
governance arrangements, this paper sets out arrangements for developing the
trust’s membership and proposals for a Council of Governors.
3. Subject to its adoption by the Board, the draft Membership Strategy will be used as
the basis for ‘pre-consultation’ work with stakeholder groups from January - May
2012 before agreement is reached with NHS South of England in June 2012 on formal
consultation proposals.
Conclusion
4. The draft Membership Strategy is based upon two principles developed with the
Board at its workshop on 30 November, namely that OUH:
4.1.is committed to building a substantial and representative membership base to
take forward the trust’s strategy, to support public accountability and local
engagement, and to develop a more outward-facing organisation; and that
4.2.believes that a well-informed, motivated and engaged membership will help it to
be a more responsive organisation with an improved understanding of the needs
of its patients and local communities.
5. Based on these principles, action will be resourced and undertaken during 2012 to
develop the trust’s membership and to prepare, subject to consultation, for the
development of a constitution compatible with the requirements for FTs.
6. The draft Membership Strategy proposes actions and a timescale which are
compatible with known requirements and with the Tripartite Foundation Trust
agreement signed in September 2011 with the Department of Health and Strategic
Health Authority.
Recommendations
7. The Board is asked to:
7.1.Consider the stated benefits of membership – for public and staff members and
for the organisation (paragraphs 9 – 19 of the paper);
7.2.Agree the Trust’s membership objectives (paragraph 23);
7.3.Note the transition from existing Patient Panel arrangements (paras. 33-37);
7.4.Agree membership arrangements (paras. 38-47) and target numbers (para 48);
7.5.Agree proposals for the Council of Governors (para. 57); and
7.6.Adopt the Membership Strategy.
Mr Andrew Stevens, Director of Planning and Information
Melanie Proudfoot, Head of Communications
January, 2012
TB2012.04_Membership Strategy.docx
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Oxford University Hospitals
Oxford University Hospitals
Membership Strategy
Draft – January 2012
Draft Membership Strategy – January 2012
1
Oxford University Hospitals
1. Introduction
1. Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) is committed to building a substantial and representative
membership base to take forward the trust’s strategy, to support public accountability and local
engagement, and to develop a more outward-facing organisation.
2. OUH believes that a well-informed, motivated and engaged membership will help it to be a more
responsive organisation with an improved understanding of the needs of its patients and local
communities.
3. OUH provides a wide variety of services to varied populations. It provides a district general hospital
service to the people of Oxfordshire and South Northamptonshire. It provides specialist services
for Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Milton Keynes and into Northamptonshire, Warwickshire,
Gloucestershire and Wiltshire, and for some specialist services on a national basis. The trust’s
public membership should reflect this range of catchments as far as possible.
4. The trust will continue to build its membership base as it seeks authorisation as an NHS Foundation
trust. This is a natural extension of its existing work to encourage public and patient involvement.
5. Public and patient involvement includes a Patient Panel; the trust’s work with the local community
in Banbury and North Oxfordshire through the Community Partnership Network; patient groups
such as the Cancer Patient Panel and Diabetes group; regular consultative meetings with the local
community about how to improve our services; regular briefings for and with stakeholders and the
many ways in which the trust seeks the views of patients and the public through various feedback
mechanisms.
6. OUH is also supported by its own Charitable Funds and by a number of other small charities. Many
generous members of local communities who have had contact with our hospitals or have family or
friends who have been cared for by the trust’s services give their time and money to support us.
7. In seeking foundation trust status, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust will hold a public
consultation on its proposals and strategic direction. In advance of this, it is recruiting public
(including patients) and staff members.
8. This paper deals with membership recruitment, the proposed structure of the staff and public
constituencies of the foundation trust, and how members will be engaged in the governance of
Oxford University Hospitals as an NHS Foundation Trust.
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2. Benefits of membership
Public members
9. It is important to present tangible benefits valued by members and to provide a role which
supports the organisation in improving the services it offers. The trust will:
segment its membership so that it can communicate with specific groups of patients, based on
age, and their areas of interest. The trust will solicit the views of members on those issues that
matter to them most.
produce briefings on clinical service developments and the opportunity for members to
participate in focus groups to share their views and experiences;
consult members on the trust’s plans for future healthcare services;
produce a twice yearly newsletter for members and all members on email will receive a copy of
the bi-monthly stakeholder briefing which goes out to key partners and friends of the Trust;
stage open forum events with the trust’s Chair, Chief Executive and other executive directors;
continue to run regular programmes of talks from its leading biomedical research clinicians,
aimed at the interested members of the public and local stakeholders.
10. A key benefit for public members will be the ability to stand for election to the Council of
Governors and/or to elect others to it. This ability to hold the organisation to account and have a
voice in the strategic direction of the trust is vitally important.
11. Members will be invited to training events in anticipation of standing for the Council of Governors.
12. The trust has a dedicated area of its website for members.
13. The trust will advertise the benefits to public members via the following messages:
You can help us improve our services by giving us your views.
You can be a critical friend to OUH – telling us when we get things right, but also ensuring that
we always centre our services on patient need.
You can attend open days and special members’ events such as talks by our world-class
specialists.
You will be invited to special members’ tours of key services or new buildings whenever
opportunities arise.
You can help others understand more about the services that the trust offers.
Your views will help decide the direction of our service and hospital developments in the future.
You will be able to work with people with a special interest in a particular service or area of
medicine to help improve that service for future patients.
You will be kept informed about the latest news and events from OUH, the latest developments
in medicine, and our research partnerships with the University of Oxford and others.
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You can vote for people to represent your interests on the Council of Governors.
You can stand to be a governor and be a voice for other members of the public and patients.
You will be able to act as an ambassador for the trust and will be closely involved in the ongoing
recruitment of members.
Benefits for staff members
14. The benefits shown for members of the public constituency also apply to staff, including the ability
to stand for election to or to elect others to the Council of Governors.
15. Staff will be part of an organisation with greater flexibility to make changes and to innovate.
16. Staff will be able to contribute directly to steering the organisation’s direction by getting involved
in generating plans for the future.
17. Through representation on the Council of Governors, staff will have a greater voice to develop
ways of working that reflect patients’ needs and priorities. Staff will be encouraged get involved to
make a real impact on local health provision and service design.
Members as a resource for the organisation
18. It is anticipated that members will have information, experience and networks of real value to the
Trust and the intention will be to make the best possible use of that expertise by:
18.1. Giving the Council of Governors the support and resources it needs to communicate
regularly with members.
18.2. Using our devolved clinical leadership management structure to encourage staff to seek
members’ ideas and opinions on service developments.
18.3. Helping members to be ambassadors for the trust and to communicate with the wider
community about the trust and its work, including with partner organisations such as the
University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes University.
18.4. Providing regular briefings for members on key trust issues so that members are well briefed
and able to answer questions from their constituent members.
18.5. Establishing easy feedback mechanisms through which members can express their views and
pass on concerns about the Trust’s services and how it is performing to the Council of
Governors and through them to the trust’s Board.
18.6. Enabling our many donors, supporters and patient activists to add a new dimension to their
support for the trust.
19. We will also offer members other ways in which they can become involved, perhaps by
volunteering or becoming involved with charitable activities.
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3. Substantial and representative membership
20. The trust began membership recruitment in May 2008. Through a campaign titled ‘Be Part of our
Future’, around 4,000 public members were recruited and have been kept informed of the trust’s
work via bi-monthly stakeholder briefings and invitations to open events and public talks.
21. Both public and staff FT members will play a vital role in influencing the development of our
services and will provide confidence that our plans are designed to meet the needs and concerns of
the communities that we serve.
22. This means that it is vital to create a substantial membership that matches the demographic mix of
our catchment area and to create a vibrant membership programme to support successful longterm engagement with members.
The trust’s membership objectives
23. Over the two years to the end of 2013 we plan to:
23.1. Build on our existing membership base and ensure that it reflects the diversity of our local
communities according to the latest census for Oxfordshire. In particular we will want to
approach patient and charitable supporters who are interested in our services.
23.2. Ensure that individuals who have expressed an interest in becoming members receive a
welcome pack.
23.3. Deliver a range of engagement events and activities and focus on increasing membership
attendance to these events.
23.4. Increase understanding amongst members of the trust’s strategy and the range of services
offered by it, including current changes in health services and the real challenges facing us
all.
23.5. Develop a thriving and influential Council of Governors which is embedded in the local
community, is responsive to the aspirations and concerns of members, and works effectively
with the trust’s Board.
24. We anticipate that the Council of Governors will review these objectives within the first year of
operating as an FT.
4. Establishing an active membership: the membership community
25. OUH is one of the largest acute teaching hospital trusts in the UK. It provides a wide range of
general and specialist services from four hospitals: the Churchill Hospital, John Radcliffe Hospital
and Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Oxford, and the Horton General Hospital in Banbury.
26. OUH provides general hospital services for a population of approximately 600,000 in Oxfordshire, a
further 15-20,000 in South Northamptonshire and more in surrounding counties. Specialist
services are provided on a regional and sometimes national basis. This membership strategy
reflects the need to attract public members, from local communities, from surrounding counties
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and from elsewhere in England. The pattern of constituencies and recruitment activities are
oriented to achieve significant and representative membership from Oxfordshire and the
neighbouring counties of Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire,
Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.
27. It is essential that the membership accurately reflects all of the communities served by the Trust.
For this reason, we recruit members from a wide geographic area. We continue to monitor the
membership, and will work to ensure that populations which are under represented are
encouraged to become involved. We will do this by targeting patient mailings in particular
geographical areas and through active recruitment through existing public engagement events in
those areas. As our active membership grows and our Council of Governors evolves, we will also
support our governors in working to attract more members.
28. Oxfordshire and neighbouring counties have lower levels of social deprivation than a number of
other areas in England. There are, however, pockets of deprivation within Oxford City, Banbury and
in some other areas. The trust will target particular recruitment campaigns at these areas as
necessary so that its membership represents the whole community proportionately. After each
recruitment drive, we will evaluate our membership against the demographic profile of our
catchment and plan the next phase of activity accordingly. This will be done through attending
community events in these areas and also through postcode-targeted patient mailings.
Younger members
29. The need to ensure a proportionate membership in terms of age also means that we will need to
tailor specific campaigns to fill any gaps in our membership profile.
30. In particular, we will work with the trust’s young persons’ patient panel, YiPpEe, to develop
sustainable plans for recruiting younger members. This is likely to include using YiPpEe members as
ambassadors, working with secondary schools across Oxfordshire, helping also to recruit young
people to train as healthcare workers, including as nursing students at Oxford Brookes and medical
students at the University of Oxford.
Diversity
31. It is vital to ensure that we have representation from black and minority ethnic, and white nonBritish communities. The trust’s existing membership is largely representative of the local
community in Oxfordshire. Where there are particular ethnic minority groups who seem underrepresented in the membership in comparison to their presence in the wider community, every
effort will be made to find ways of encouraging members of that particular community to join.
Involvement in community meetings may include presentations about health conditions of
particular interest for certain ethnic minority groups. As with all trust leaflets, translations will be
made of foundation trust membership leaflets and other documents if requested. The standard
membership form offers translations in many different languages.
32. The trust asks on its membership form if members have any special needs in terms of disabilities
that may need extra support. OUH regularly supplies large print leaflets including membership
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leaflets as requested. All venues used for public and Foundation Trust member events are fully
accessible, including having hearing loops.
Transition to membership for OUH’s existing Patient Panels
33. Members of the trust’s existing patient panels will be invited to become part of its public
membership and some may wish to stand for election to the Council of Governors.
34. We must build on the involvement work undertaken by our patient panel members. It is proposed
that early engagement with patient panel members takes place to consider how these members
can continue to contribute to service specific issues and ensure that we secure the meaningful twoway relationship that we have currently. It will be important to use the insight of patient panel
members to identify specific areas of the work and business of the trust that will be of most
interest to patients and service users. This might include:
helping to produce patient-friendly information;
participating in focus groups on service provision;
giving feedback on policy and strategy;
advising the trust on issues relating to travel and transport;
food, hygiene and infection prevention; and
monitoring patient experience.
35. As part of our recruitment, we will ask members to state in order of priority the top three areas
that are of most interest to them. This information will be stored on the membership database and
can be used to segment the membership for targeted engagement and involvement.
36. We will develop our membership database to ensure it allows public members to contribute
directly and meaningfully about areas that concern them most, and in doing so assist the Trust in
improving the delivery of its services.
37. It is important to ensure that our duty to deliver patient and public involvement on service specific
issues continues at a local level and is facilitated and supported by the trust’s divisional structure.
This work will be co-ordinated by the trust’s Patient Experience and Involvement Manager. There
will need to be a strong synergy between this local involvement work with service users, some of
whom may not be members, and with the broader membership. Our patient and public
involvement work will encompass communications with both membership special interest groups
and service users (who are potential members) and will ask for their willingness to take part in a
variety of activities at departmental level.
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5. Membership constituencies
38. The trust will use the following membership constituency categories:
38.1.
Public Members: members of the general public, patients and carers who live in
Oxfordshire and in other geographical areas from which substantial numbers of people
come to us for treatment and support.
38.2.
Staff members: Staff employed by OUH and by the University of Oxford’s Medical Sciences
Division.
39. OUH does not intend to designate a separate membership category for patients, as we do not
consider that differentiating between patients, carers and members of the public will be helpful;
we expect that within the general category of ‘public’ there will be many people who have been
patients of the trust at some time in the past, and/or who are carers.
Qualification for membership
40. Full membership begins at age 16, which means that anyone eligible to become a member is also
eligible to stand for election to the Council of Governors (an important principle of governance).
41. We hope that as many members as possible will engage fully with the trust’s membership
programme and will participate in events, in any consultation activities and in voting in elections to
the Council of Governors.
42. Perpetrators of assault or harassment against trust staff will not be permitted to join the trust’s
membership.
Recruitment of younger members
43. OUH will develop a young people’s membership. The trust has a Children’s Hospital and it is
important for our young patients to have a voice in our development as a Foundation Trust. For
this reason, the Council of Governors will have a young person’s governor nominated by YiPpEe,
the trust’s young person’s panel.
44. This governor will need to be aged at least 16 in order to carry out all functions as a governor and
we will work closely with YiPpEe to make arrangements as helpful to their nominee(s) as possible,
including making sure that their nominee has appropriate support.
45. YiPpEe have also asked that it be allowed to alternate between nominees, and sometimes have
more than one attendee (although only one vote). YiPpEe has also requested that the Council of
Governors considers meeting times carefully so that they are not always held during school hours.
46. OUH’s young people’s membership (for young patients and carers) can be converted into full
membership once the individual reaches their 16th birthday.
47. We will need a different approach to recruiting and communicating with under-16s, with different
membership forms which will need to include an area for parental consent (experience here and
elsewhere suggests that this is necessary for any communication to under 16s). The whole
approach will need a different appeal, and we will need to target different areas in order to recruit,
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such as schools, youth clubs, clubs and music venues. We will work with YiPpEe on how best to
recruit young members. A young membership will call for a separate event and communication
programme with associated costs.
Membership numbers
48. The target size of the membership reflects the size of the population served by the Trust, and staff
numbers:
Public members
48.1.
The population of Oxfordshire is approximately 600,000.
48.2.
We aim for 9,000 members from Oxfordshire (1.5% of the population) and 3,000 from our
other catchment areas, within two years of becoming a Foundation Trust.
48.3.
We plan to have at least 6,000 public members by the date of the first election (1%) and
7,000 by the time of authorisation.
Staff members
48.4. 11,000 people are employed by the Trust.
48.5. We expect a high level of support from staff with no more than 3% choosing to opt out of
membership and we have therefore set our target at 11,000 staff members.
48.6. Staff working for the University of Oxford’s Medical Sciences Division will be able to opt in to
staff membership.
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6. Planned recruitment trajectory
Public members
49. Each month, we will evaluate our membership against the total profile for our catchment area.
This will include evaluation against census categories such as age, ethnicity and social economic
category and also against wider ‘lifestyle’ categories. The process of evaluation will allow us to
take a highly targeted approach to recruitment, to ensure a close match to the local catchment
profile. Targets and planned activity are as follows:
Time period
Public
membership
target (at
month end)
January 2012
5,500
Recruitment activity
Email to all stakeholders on the database outlining FT timelines and
inviting them to join. Email link to online application form (to be
linked directly to the membership database).
Direct mail to all existing members enclosing a membership form and
inviting them to recruit a friend or family member.
February
2012
6,000
Direct mail to all local voluntary groups and associations and charities
associated with the Trust. Letter to invite them to invite their
members to join, offering speakers and enquiring about the
possibility of an insert into a mailing to their membership.
Ongoing ‘recruit a friend’ campaign with staff and public members.
Insert into Charitable Funds mailing + article in Torch.
April 2012
6,200
May 2012
6,400
Bespoke recruitment activity to address gaps. Direct Mail to 20,000
patients.
Ward competitions; continued recruit a friend activity; clinics and
outpatients targeted recruiting; footer for emails.
To be followed by evaluation and re-targeting each month.
June 2012
6,600
July 2012
6,800
September
2012
7,000
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Communications - membership recruitment campaigns
50. The trust will begin communicating with staff about membership in January 2012 and start active
recruitment of public members in February 2012. Staff engagement on membership will be
informed by the results of the 2011 Staff Survey due in early 2012.
51. The plan is as follows:
Activity
Date
Public membership
Staff membership
January
2012
Trust to produce new printed application forms.
Letters and application forms to be prepared and sent to
stakeholder database and to the trust’s patient panels.
Commission Capita to provide services regarding data
loading and communicating with membership.
Commission new banner stands.
Mailing to entire membership with a newsletter, an
updated list of events, anticipated timeline for operating
as a Foundation Trust, and membership form for a friend.
Global email to staff reminding
them they are members and
inviting them to recruit a
family member or friend.
Recruit staff champions.
February
2012
Email to key stakeholders, outlining process with
invitation to join and offering speakers for recruitment
meetings.
Letters and application forms to all local voluntary groups.
The letter will explain why the trust is seeking members,
why membership will be useful and interesting and will
layout the proposed membership activity programme for
the next 18 months.
The letters will be sent out electronically and/or by post.
Ongoing work with patient focus/reference group to get
their input during the production of membership
materials.
Displays at all four sites.
Leaflets available on all sites
and on wards.
Materials and regular updates
on intranet
Regular global emails on
recruitment
Regular updates at Chief
Executive Briefings and in
Team Brief
Staff training sessions on
benefits of FT and standing for
Council of Governors
February/
March
2012
Membership form and letter to go with next Charitable
Funds big mailing.
All stakeholder and GP mailings to have membership
‘ask.’
Ongoing staff updates in OUH
News, Team Brief, through
global emails and on the
intranet about what it means
to be a staff member. This
needs to include an education
process about the Council of
Governors and the staff
constituencies.
Poster campaign inviting staff
to recruit new members
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April/May
/June
2012 and
ongoing
Direct mail to about 20,000 former patients using
selected post codes (to support an appropriate socioeconomic mix of respondents). This should be something
that Capita, our membership database company can
assist us with.
Footer for staff emails to encourage recruitment.
Identify ‘celebrity’ members for media campaign.
Displays at all four sites.
Leaflets available on all sites
and on wards.
Materials and regular updates
on intranet
Regular global emails on
recruitment
Regular updates at Chief
Executive Briefings and in
Team Brief
52. The recruitment campaign will be designed to ensure that membership materials are designed to
be as accessible as possible in terms of Easy Read and legibility for people with poor eyesight.
53. Regular reminders will also be sent to our local newspapers to encourage the public to become
members and to encourage members to stand for election to the Council of Governors. We may be
able to generate stories around ‘celebrity’ joiners. We will work with Charitable Funds and our key
stakeholders to see who might be willing to do this.
54. We should consider incentivising individuals who recruit a lot of members and also setting up ward
competitions. We can monitor this by having scratch codes on the membership forms when they
are printed so that we can identify the source of the member when the form is returned. Previous
monitoring using this method has indicated that sending out membership forms with dispensed
prescriptions (TTOs) is not productive in terms of members and nor is attending third party events
with an OUH stand. Most successful is visiting outpatient clinics and actively recruiting or attending
and speaking at a community event and actively encouraging people to sign up as members.
7. A representative membership
55. To create a representative membership, OUH will take into account factors such as:
Whether members are public or staff.
Whether particular groups of staff have higher opt-out rates.
Geographical location of public members.
Age and gender of public members.
Ethnic origin of public members.
Socio-economic profile of the membership.
Lifestyle profile.
56. The database supplier (Capita) provides us with the ability to measure our progress against our
targets and our catchment profile generally, using measures specified by Monitor.
57. The proposed Council of Governors has a membership of 28, as shown below.
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Proposed Council of Governors
Public constituency (elected)
Staff
constituency
(elected)
Stakeholder members
(appointed)
Cherwell DC
2
Clinical staff
5
Oxford City DC
South Oxfordshire DC
2
2
Non-clinical staff
1
Vale of White Horse DC
West Oxfordshire DC
Surrounding counties:
2
2
4
Oxfordshire Clinical
Commissioning Group
Oxfordshire County Council
Specialist Commissioner
(nominated by NHS
Commissioning Board)
Oxford Health NHS FT
Oxford Brookes University
University of Oxford
1
Young person (nominated
by YiPpEe)
1
1
1
1
1
1
Buckinghamshire, Berkshire,
Northamptonshire, Warwickshire,
Gloucestershire and Wiltshire
Rest of England and Wales
1
Total
15
6
7
58. The proposal for public constituencies divides Oxfordshire geographically by district council areas.
It then joins together the surrounding counties who send patients to our hospitals for general and
specialist services.
59. OUH staff will be members unless they choose to opt out. Staff constituency proposals are based
on the numbers of staff in each employment group, with the ‘non-clinical’ constituency
incorporating staff categorised in the trust’s Electronic Staff Record as administrative and clerical,
estates and ancillary staff; and the ‘clinical’ constituency incorporating allied health professionals,
additional clinical services, healthcare scientists, medical and dental, nurses and midwives,
professional scientific and technical staff.
Age and gender balance of public members
60. The trust will seek to achieve a balance between adult public members (aged 21-64), older public
members (aged 65+), and younger public members (aged 12-20). Target proportions will be:
Adult (aged 21-64)
50%
Older (aged 65+)
30%
Younger (aged under 21)
20%
61. If the membership does not have a similar age profile to that sought (for example if there is a lower
proportion of younger public members) then particular recruitment methods will be used to attract
members in that age group. This is likely to include additional recruitment work with sixth forms,
schools and colleges etc.
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62. OUH will also seek to achieve a gender balance such that if either gender is greater than 60% of the
total, then recruitment efforts will be targeted at the other gender. This has not been an issue.
Ethnic origin of public members
63. The ethnic composition of the population of Oxfordshire is set out in Appendix 1 as a comparison
against our current membership. The Trust aims to get its membership as closely in line as possible
with the ethnic minority breakdown of the county and will therefore monitor this on a bi-monthly
basis and take appropriate recruitment action as necessary.
Socio-economic background of public members
64. The socio-economic background of the population of Oxfordshire is also set out in Appendix 1 as a
comparison against our current membership. The trust aims to have a membership as close as
possible to the socio-economic background of the wider population and will therefore monitor this
on a bi-monthly basis and take appropriate recruitment action as necessary.
Membership protocols (see also election rules for more detail)
65. The targets have been calculated using the following assumptions and protocols:
65.1. A member will be able to be a member in only one public constituency, divided
geographically; this will be determined by the postcode of their home address.
65.2. Anyone eligible to be a member of the staff constituency will not be able to register as a
member in any other constituency.
Record-keeping and administration
66. The trust will maintain an accurate and informative database of members. It currently has a
contract with Capita to supply database management services. This allows data to be held securely
and progress to be monitored towards meeting recruitment targets.
67. The minimum data set for members is name, address, member category (public or staff), postcode
(to determine which public constituency), age, gender and ethnic origin. In addition, members are
asked whether they have any particular interests, whether they have ‘carer’ responsibilities, about
any disability they might have and whether they are interested in volunteering or helping the
trust’s charitable funds. Wherever possible, we will attempt to capture email addresses for
members and to communicate with them by email to contain costs.
68. The trust will regularly ‘clean’ the database to remove members whom we have been informed
have died or who have moved without a forwarding address. This will be done as and when these
communications are received.
69. The database will be used as the basis of defining the electorate for elections to the Council of
Governors. Administration of the election process will be outsourced to an organisation with
expertise and the capacity to carry out elections.
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8. Maintaining an active membership: infrastructure to support members
Membership Office
70. The trust will set up a ‘Membership Office’ to communicate effectively with members, to support
potential Governors in preparation for the first elections and to support communications with
Governors and members following the initiation of the Council of Governors.
Training for Governors
71. As the membership drive builds up, the trust will set up training sessions for members who might
wish to stand as Governors. These will include meetings to inform them about the role of the
Council of Governors, work of the trust, and more broadly about the workings of the NHS. They will
be organised in local communities across Oxfordshire at a variety of venues and times in order to
maximise accessibility.
72. Induction training will be organised for new Governors. This will use the national Foundation Trust
Network to provide basic governor training, with additional bespoke training on OUH and how the
Council of Governors will operate.
73. OUH will maintain training arrangements for governors, responding to specific needs as they arise.
The Foundation Trust Network has a regular programme of training for FT Governors and will
consider a mentoring system to support new Governors.
Communications - keeping in touch
74. The trust will continue its programme of talks and events for members and over time it hopes to
develop special interest consultation groups. Once the Council of Governors is in place, there will
be further channels of communication between the trust and its members via the Governors, who
may require some support with their communications. Twice-yearly newsletters and regular
updates on the members’ area of the website will be a key part of the trust’s communications.
Other approaches will include:
Communicating and liaising with local voluntary organisations and key stakeholders including
the Oxfordshire Local Involvement Network (LINk) (and Healthwatch when established).
Organising community outreach events.
Contact with potential service users through representative organisations and charities.
Members’ meetings for specific constituent groups and educational events built around local
health issues.
Special efforts to help Governors engage directly with members and service users, such as
‘surgeries’ where patients can meet with Governors and comment on services and issues.
75. The application form will ask members how they wish to be contacted and will state clearly that
while we will be producing a twice yearly newsletter, we are keen to be as cost and environment
conscious as possible and would be grateful to any members who opt to have all their contact via
Draft Membership Strategy – January 2012
15
Oxford University Hospitals
email. Email addresses are held for some 40% of the membership, which compares favourably to
other trusts. The rate of change of email addresses is quite high, so there is a constant need to ask
members to supply their email address in any mailing we do.
Events
76. OUH will directly invite those members who have already indicated an interest in the subject, and
invite those for whom an email address is held. We will also list the event on the website, and
advertise it in the members’ newsletter. We will aim to give as much notice of events as possible in
order that members who do not have regular access to the internet or an email have an
opportunity to know about events. We will also seek to publicise them through the local media.
Consultation and surveys
77. The same mailing approach will be employed, combined with targeting geographical areas where
this is appropriate.
Website
78. The trust’s website contains information about membership, Foundation Trusts and the Council of
Governors, as well as an online application form. The website also has events and news linked to
the Foundation Trust members’ area. OUH has used Survey Monkey to do online surveys, and this
is something we could use in the members’ area in the future, with reporting back on findings.
79. The aim is to have a lively online presence that stimulates members to become involved and
provides real value in terms of information provided and opportunity to provide feedback.
Membership programme
80. A lively membership programme is an essential part of creating a motivated and engaged
membership. The main elements of the membership programme are as follows:
80.1. Talks and lectures on a variety of issues – Oxford BRC has provided most OUH speakers as
they are keen to publicly engage on their work and they are able to provide fascinating
speakers on cutting-edge translational research.
80.2. Events – members are invited to the Annual General Meeting. Members have also been
invited to special events such as a Cancer Centre open day and the Cardiac open day
organised by Charitable Funds. Members have also been invited to attend engagement
meetings. Any such event being organised in OUH should to be drawn to the attention of
members, particularly those who have expressed an interest in attending events.
80.3. Consultative forums – we hope to develop new special interest patient groups and to adopt
existing groups within the Foundation Trust membership structure in order to have a clear
channel of communication between patients and the public and the trust.
Draft Membership Strategy – January 2012
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Oxford University Hospitals
Social responsibility
81. Many trust staff already give their time as volunteers both at home and abroad, supporting the
trust’s charitable funds and national medical charities as well as providing important training and
assistance overseas. We will work with members and the Council of Governors to see how they can
build on these ‘social responsibility’ activities and develop links with projects in our local
communities, particularly those whose aims are to promote health and well-being.
Staff training
82. Staff throughout the trust will be encouraged to attend information sessions about FT membership
and to volunteer to become more actively involved in membership recruitment. Early induction and
training of members of the Council of Governors will feature information about their role in
supporting and developing the membership scheme.
9. Membership Strategy - looking ahead
83. The Board of Directors and Council of Governors will receive regular reports on total numbers and
the composition of membership. Progress on recruitment will be measured against the targets and
trajectories set. There will be regular analyses of the membership’s composition to inform
recruitment. Views will be sought during consultation on how membership constituencies should
be sub-divided to offer effective representation on the Council of Governors.
84. Where membership numbers fail to meet targets, and/or the composition is skewed, specific
recruitment activities will be undertaken to address issues that have emerged.
85. The Council of Governors will be asked to consider all aspects of the Membership Strategy and to
work with the trust to evaluate and update it, informed by the views of members.
86. OUH will monitor attrition rates from membership on a monthly basis including reasons given to
spot trends if possible. There can be expected to be an attrition rate of about 10%, so the trust
would need to recruit at least 10% a year just to stand still.
Developing the strategy
87. The creation of a membership will support cultural change within the trust, allowing OUH to
develop as a demonstrably responsive and locally-accountable organisation. The trust serves a
diverse population and is committed to securing members from a representative cross-section of
the public. The trust will ensure that membership recruitment involves as many stakeholder
groups and diverse ethnic, disability and faith groups as possible.
88. To assist in developing the strategy, the Council of Governors will regularly review this strategy and
its membership profile so that the membership reflects the diverse community the trust serves and
that all sections of the community have the opportunity to become members.
Draft Membership Strategy – January 2012
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Oxford University Hospitals
Appendix 1
Membership Breakdown Report
13 October 2011
Actual
membership as a
% of total
Membership
Actual
members as a
% of eligible
population
Category
Actual
membership
Gender
Female
Male
Unknown
Total
2520
1839
22
4381
57.52%
41.98%
0.50%
1319083
1277597
0
2596680
50.80%
49.20%
0.00%
0.06%
0.03%
N/A
0.04%
Monitor Ethnicity (categories as used by
Monitor)
White
Black
Asian
Mixed
Other
Unknown
Total
3906
48
117
57
44
209
4381
89.16%
1.10%
2.67%
1.30%
1.00%
4.77%
2491963
17903
45212
25713
16863
0
2597654
95.93%
0.69%
1.74%
0.99%
0.65%
0.00%
0.04%
0.04%
0.06%
0.04%
0.00%
N/A
0.04%
General Ethnicity
White British
White Irish
White Other
Mixed White and Black Caribbean
Mixed White and Asian
3752
29
125
21
8
85.64%
0.66%
2.85%
0.48%
0.18%
2399336
25730
66897
9358
7900
92.37%
0.99%
2.58%
0.36%
0.30%
0.04%
0.04%
0.02%
0.11%
0.00%
Draft Membership Strategy – January 2012
Eligible
population
Actual as a %
of total
eligible
population
18
Oxford University Hospitals
Category
Actual
membership
Actual
membership as a
% of total
Membership
Eligible
population
Actual as a %
of total
eligible
population
Actual
members as a
% of eligible
population
Mixed Other
Asian Indian
Asian Pakistani
Asian Bangladeshi
Asian Other
Black Caribbean
Black African
Black Other
Other Chinese
Other Ethnic Group
Unknown
Total
15
50
38
4
25
16
28
4
42
2
209
4381
0.34%
1.14%
0.87%
0.09%
0.57%
0.37%
0.64%
0.09%
0.96%
0.05%
4.77%
6140
17022
20560
3340
4290
11419
4806
1678
9147
7716
0
2597654
0.24%
0.66%
0.79%
0.13%
0.17%
0.44%
0.19%
0.06%
0.35%
0.30%
0.00%
0.00%
0.03%
0.12%
0.00%
0.14%
0.00%
0.15%
0.00%
0.00%
0.00%
N/A
0.04%
Monitor Age Range
Age 0 – 16
Age 17 – 21
Age 22+
Unknown
Total
20
188
3895
278
4381
0.46%
4.29%
88.91%
6.35%
165066
150475
1890914
0
2206455
7.48%
6.82%
85.70%
0.00%
0.01%
0.20%
0.04%
N/A
0.05%
Age by 10-year bands
Age 0 – 9
Age 10 – 19
Age 20 – 29
Age 30 – 39
Age 40 – 49
Age 50 – 59
0
114
353
400
443
489
0.00%
2.60%
8.06%
9.13%
10.11%
11.16%
322109
325498
303754
409302
366080
342797
12.40%
12.53%
11.69%
15.76%
14.09%
13.20%
0.00%
0.05%
0.10%
0.03%
0.02%
0.04%
Draft Membership Strategy – January 2012
19
Oxford University Hospitals
Category
Actual
membership
Actual
membership as a
% of total
Membership
Eligible
population
Actual as a %
of total
eligible
population
Actual
members as a
% of eligible
population
Age 60 – 69
Age 70 – 79
Age 80 – 89
Age 90+
Unknown
Total
811
853
525
115
278
4381
18.51%
19.47%
11.98%
2.62%
6.35%
237690
183446
90087
17116
0
2597879
9.15%
7.06%
3.47%
0.66%
0.00%
0.06%
0.05%
0.06%
0.00%
N/A
0.04%
Social classifications
NRS
ABC1
C2
D
E
Unclassified
Total
3350
703
100
184
44
4381
76.47%
16.05%
2.28%
4.20%
1.00%
1177694
293152
292792
254178
0
2017816
58.36%
14.53%
14.51%
12.60%
0.00%
0.06%
0.07%
0.07%
0.02%
N/A
0.06%
ACORN Classifications
Wealthy Achievers
Urban Prosperity
Comfortably Off
Moderate Means
Hard Pressed
Unclassified
Total
1744
555
1285
273
451
73
4381
39.81%
12.67%
29.33%
6.23%
10.29%
1.67%
Draft Membership Strategy – January 2012
20