Public Questions for Board

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust welcomes feedback and questions from the public and from its members. The Trust holds a Board meeting in public once every other month.

Details of future meetings in public, together with agendas and minutes from previous Boards are all published on the Trust website.

How our Board Meetings work

Our Board meetings are held in public, rather than being public meetings: this means that the public are very welcome to attend and observe, but cannot take part.

However, people who live or work in the county or are affected by the work of the Trust (including members of the Trust who live outside of the County) may ask the Chair of the Trust Board a question on any matter which is within the powers and duties of the Trust and which is relevant to the business set out within the meeting Agenda.

10 minutes will be allocated at the public section of each Board meeting for written questions from the public to be answered. Please see below for details of how to submit questions for the Board.

Where it is not possible for all questions to be dealt with within this timeframe a written response will be provided to the questioner and copied to all Board members within fifteen working days of the meeting.

In exceptional circumstances, the Chair may extend the time period for public questions.

Subject matter for questions

The Chair has discretion on whether a question can be submitted for answer and reserves the right to reject written questions that they consider:

• Are not on any matter that is within the powers and duties of the Trust and which are being considered within the Agenda for the Board meeting
• Questions about an individual's care or about friends or relatives should not be raised, and should be directed to our Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS), who will put you in touch with the department involved. Contact details can be found on the PALS page, which is linked under "Report a problem" at the end of this page
• Are defamatory, frivolous or offensive, or related to individual members of staff
• Are substantially the same as a question that has previously been answered or are more appropriately answered by the Trust through another process such as a Freedom of Information request or the NHS complaints process; or
• Would require the disclosure of confidential or exempt information
• Contractors and representatives of businesses may attend but must not ask questions relating to their business, any services they wish to offer the Trust or any ongoing tender processes.

Process for submitting questions

The Trust has a process to support questions to be submitted to Board:

• A question may only be asked if it has been submitted in writing to the Corporate Governance Team
• Questions must be submitted four clear working days before the date of the Board meeting
• Questions submitted must show the name and address of the person submitting the question, and if on behalf of an organisation, then its name and address of the organisation must also be stated
• The Trust requires that these are questions rather than statements to allow the maximum number of questions and to allow for responses
• No more than three written questions may be submitted.

Procedure at the Board meeting held in public

At the Board meeting the questioner, if present, will be welcomed and acknowledged by the Chair prior to the Chair or Trust Secretary reading out the question.

If possible, a written answer will be provided to a written question received in good time before the meeting. This response will be given to members of the Trust Board before being read out at the meeting by the Chair, with a written answer being subsequently provided to the requester.

Further information

For further information, please contact the Corporate Governance Team on 0300 422 2932 or e-mail ghn-tr.corporategovernance@nhs.net