Present
Prof Ian Cumming – Chairman of the Board of Directors
Public Constituency Governors
Peter Brookes – Birmingham
Khalid Ali – Birmingham
Dave Murray – Black Country
Anthony Bradley – Black Country
John Davies – Coventry and Warwickshire
Brian Murray – Coventry and Warwickshire
Brenda Richards – West Mercia
Eileen Cox – Staffordshire
Robin Cooke – Staffordshire
Staff Constituency Elected Governors
Sarah Lawson – Emergency and Urgent Operational Staff
John Auerbach – Emergency and Urgent Operational Staff
Inderpal Sidhu – Non-Emergency Operational Staff
Duncan Spencer – Emergency Operation Centre Staff
Appointed Governors
Coun Ed Lawrence – Dudley Council (Representing the Local Authorities)
In Attendance
Anthony Marsh – Chief Executive Office
Phil Higgins – Trust Secretary
Suzie Wheaton – Governor and Membership Engagement Officer
Paul Tolley – Head of Education and Training
Karen Rutter – Director of Finance
Pippa Wall – Head of Strategic Planning
Suzanne Banks – Non Executive Director
Minutes
01/25/01
Welcomes, Apologies and Chairman’s Announcements
The chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting.
Apologies were received from Matt Brown, Dave Fitton and Roy Aldcroft.
The chairman started the meeting by thanking Governor and Paramedic, Sarah Lawson who organised the Trust Carol Concert in December. He congratulated her on the successful event.
The chair informed the Governors that Public Trust Board is at 11am tomorrow – Suzie has sent out the details already to all Governors. A number of governors have expressed an interest in attending.
The NED/Governor/ Hub links have been revised following changes to the board membership. Once the paper has been agreed by Board, Suzie Wheaton will contact Governors to inform them of who their NED buddy will be. Suzie will be able to assist in setting up meetings as a point of contact.
The chairman highlighted the outcome from the Governors Self-Assessment. The results of the self-assessment are required to published in the annual report each year. Ten out of 17 governors returned their assessment. Overall the assessment results were positive, there were lots of useful constructive comments which we will work through.
The Chairman highlighted the distinct roles of the CoG and the Board of Directors which are very different. The Chairman stated he would be interested in the thoughts and views of the Governors on their role could be enhanced. Brenda Richards commented that governors are given plenty of opportunity to speak up in meetings and governors need to make sure they take the opportunity to actually speak up and express their views.
The chairman’s report concluded.
Resolved
That the chairman’s update be noted.
01/25/02
Declarations of Interest
The chairman asked governors to note the register of interests and reminded the governors that it is their responsibility to inform us of any changes and to report them to Suzie Wheaton, in order for the register to be updated.
The Council of Governors received the register of interests and noted that it will now be published on the Trust’s website.
01/25/03
To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the Meeting of the Council of Governors that took place on 6th November 2024.
Governors were asked if the minutes of the previous meeting were a correct and accurate record.
Resolved
The Governors were happy to approve the minutes as accurate record of the meeting.
There were no matters arising.
01/25/04
CEO Report
The chairman invited Anthony Marsh, Chief Executive Officer to present.
The CEO referenced the briefing meeting that he held on 19th December and the subsequent briefing paper that was circulated on 6th January around handover delays and performance. The predictions he had made at the meeting in terms of likely trends have proved to be accurate. He highlighted some of the worst days with over 2,000 hours lost in one day and he confirmed that at the time of this meeting crews were still waiting to handover patients from the previous day. This was the seriousness of the situation. The CEO reported that over 40,000 operational hours have been lost so far in January 2025, and this is the highest number of lost hours in a single month on record. Based on current trends the Trust is predicting that it will lose 370,000 hours for the whole financial year, which is 100,000 hours more than last year. This equated in value to £29 million in lost hours.
Given the unprecedented situation the CEO authorised the move to REAP level 4 earlier in the month, but it has now dropped back down to REAP level 3. Resource Escalation Action Plan (REAP), contains four levels of alert designed to maintain an effective and safe operational and clinical response for the UK’s ambulance services with 4 being the highest)
The Trust has escalated the current situation to the CQC given the impact it is having on patient safety.
Brenda Richard questioned if it was the same hospitals?
The CEO confirmed that the worst handover delays were acutes at Stoke, Shropshire, Worcestershire & Birmingham. In addition the acutes are trying to implement a 45-minute maximum handover.
With reference to intelligent conveyancing where patients are deflected from a problematic hospital to another doing better. Dave Murray commented that it can cause issues for the patient and their families as there are problems discharging patients once they are in a hospital further away from where they live.
Having said the above, the CEO was still confident cat 2 will be under 30 minutes response for the year, unless something significantly untoward occurs.
There is a training plan in place to complete all mandatory training for this year so that the Trust continues to provide a safe service.
Anthony Bradley said he was at a meeting on Friday about the future plans for a UTC in the Black Country independent of the local hospital and it will have its own facilities such as an x-ray machine.
CEO in response indicated that there seemed to be a lot of mixed messaging without a clear strategic direction in terms of priorities which he hoped the planning guidance which to be published will assist, but he felt that financial planning will continue to be a challenge.
Dave Murray commented that crews should be just handing over to one person in ED and the hospitals should then take responsibility for the patient flow within the hospital, but at the moment crews seem to are handing patients over in multiple places. John Auerbach agreed with Dave Murray and said he saw crews having to determine where to take the patient to enable the handover. Dave Murray asked if the Trust is able to confirm to whom the crews can hand over.
Robin Cooke stated it was important for the Trust to capture all the data about being passed from department to department at the acute to enable handover.
The CEO continued with his briefing including an update on student cohorts, new fleet arriving by the end of the year and he informed the meeting that he is currently revising the winter plan for the next year, whilst the winter plan for this year is still operational so learning can take place.
The chairman thanked the CEO and expressed how difficult it is for everyone, patients, public and staff given the impact of handover delays.
Resolved
The Council of Governors noted the presentation
01/25/05
Education and Training
The chairman introduced Paul Tolley, Head of Education and Training.
Paul presented a number of slides about the training department including the diversity of the programmes that are run by the department, the journey of the education and training department, alignments and partnerships with universities, funding and the future plans for the Trusts own degree programme.
Paul highlighted that the Trust has developed practical training programmes such the purchase of a driving simulator, where driving conditions can be changed. The department has also been involved in advising on the sections of the road safety act that related to emergency service vehicles. Paul concluded his presentation by outlining on going development opportunities for staff to maintain knowledge and provide a safe service to our patients.
Anthony Bradley asked how important is it to engage with children when they are young? Paul said that we certainly need to engage with children at the age of 13 on career opportunities with the Ambulance Service so that they can choose the right academic courses. However, there are various routes open to a career with the Ambulance Service.
The CEO confirmed that the Trust never has a problem with people applying for places and the university courses are always oversubscribed.
Brenda commented that she was a teacher and later a head teacher. She thinks education should start even earlier in schools, such as CPR training and other life preserving skills as part of the general education syllabus in schools. Sarah Lawson and Eileen Cox agreed and enforced how they think school education is really important.
The Chairman thanked Paul Tolley for his attendance and informative presentation. He highlighted that that education and training was crucial to maintaining standards and also enable the Trust to be an employer of choice for students.
Resolved
The Governors received the report.
01/25/07
Finance/Budget Planning Update
The Chairman invited Karen Rutter, Director of Finance to present.
The Council of Governors received a presentation on the current financial plan and position to date. The NHS planning guidance was for next year was yet to arrive, however, the Trust had developed a plan for submission to the March Board meeting.
Robin Cooke felt that financial performance seemed satisfactory despite the pressures on performance. He confirmed it looked as though the whole organisation was delivering against its CIP target and efficiencies that are required. He asked if the Trust could look at additional income to absorb some of the lost hour costs?
In response the CEO confirmed that he believed the organisation will breakeven and also meet the sub 30 minutes for cat 2 response.
Resolved
The Governors received the presentation.
01/25/08
Quality Account Development Plan
The Chairman invited Pippa Wall, Head of Strategic Planning to present to the COG.
Pippa discussed how the Quality Account, which the Trust was obliged to publish each year was developing. The CoG was reminded that there is a section within the Account for a Governors statement and the CoG will be asked to approve a statement at its meeting May 2025 prior to Board approval and publication by the end of June 2025.
There were no questions or clarity sought, so the Chairman on behalf of the CoG thanked Pippa for her presentation.
Resolved
Governors were asked to note the report.
01/25/09
Attendance
The chairman noted that there were no issues to currently report but highlighted the following for reference:
if a Governor fails to attend 3 meetings of the Council of Governors in any rolling year period, they shall cease to hold office unless the Chair is satisfied that:
- The absence was due to a reasonable cause; and
- The person will be able to start attending meetings of the Council of Governors again within such a period as the Chair considers reasonable.
Resolved
The Governors noted the report.
01/25/10
Schedule of Business and Meeting Dates for the Council of Governors 2025
The Chairman asked the Governors to receive the Council of Governors schedule of business for the year ahead and requested that Governors note the meeting dates in their diaries.
Suzie Wheaton maintains the schedule and any amendments will be reported to each meeting of the Council of Governors or emailed.
Resolved
Governors are asked to receive the report
01/25/11
Any Other Urgent Business notified to The Membership and Governor Engagement Officer in advance of the meeting.
Eileen Cox asked if she could raise a couple of items.
She said she was invited as Lead Governor to BSOl ICB governor meeting, this has changed to a systems governor meeting. The agenda items covered on this meeting included a systems update, finance and recovery, ops performance, 2025 planning. Governors are invited to attend and can listen and make comments.
Eileen is also the linked into the Staffordshire and Stoke ICB due to the school academy she is involved with. It is open for the public to attend. At the meeting it was announced that both the CEO and the Chief Financial Officer have both announced their intention to leave the organisation. Eileen suggested that it may mean that there may well be reorganisation of the ICBs pending.
Eileen asked why we can’t do more to publicise the patient harm caused by ambulance delays. The CEO informed her that we do, but we get objections from NHS partner organisations if we do.
Peter Brookes agreed with what Eileen says. He stated the most asked question he receives is why can’t I get an ambulance? A lot of people don’t understand but they do when they are aware of the problem the Trust faces.
Dave Murray asked how he could get involved with other ICBS. SW agreed to recirculate the ICB communication/ involvement email she sent out early last year.
The chairman thanked everyone for their updates.
Date of the next meeting: 8th May 2025