I would like to give a shout out to our fantastic governors and share with you the important role they play. In a Foundation Trust such as ours, governors are elected by members, both public and staff and we have appointed governors, generally by local authorities.

Their role is to appoint the trust chair and the non- executive directors, done collaboratively after carefully considering the needs of the Trust defined by the board and other stakeholders in the case of the chair, and the views of the chair in the case of non-executive directors. Governors hold the non- executive directors to account for the performance of the Board (not the Trust nor individual services). This is a huge ask of people who are volunteers and in many instances lay people without a background in health. Our governors are critical friends. They don’t hesitate to challenge, but in a constructive way. We have a relationship built on mutual respect and trust.

By bringing the views of members and communities, governors make the Trust stronger. During the pandemic when we were required to quickly make changes to access to blood testing services in Newham, it was the local governors who made us aware that the move to on-line booking had a negative impact on access rather than improving it. As a result of their actions, changes were made to the model.

Governors in Hackney voiced concern about the increasingly long waits experienced by mental health patients in the local A & E department. We realised that we needed to better communicate to governors the real pressures on mental health services and highlight what actions are being taken to reduce such waits. I could give you countless other examples.

Our governors come from a rich and diverse range of backgrounds and are deeply embedded in their communities. We are proud to have one of the most diverse Councils in England. They always keep users of our services at the heart of all they do and by doing so, enrich the work of the Board and the Trust. I am very grateful for their wisdom, guidance and strong advocacy for their communities.

Eileen Taylor