News

Dear Colleague,

Our Trustee Board meeting took place on the 22^nd September 2022, at which Dawn updated the Board on the annual Forget-Me-Not service held in the spring. After a gap of three years the feedback from families has been quite overwhelming, with over 200 family attendees. The Board were impressed with the impact this activity has and thanked everyone involved for their support in making it happen.

We continue to look at the options for progressing further developments at Derian House, ensuring this is aligned with our strategy, regional demand and prevalence. We have an Away Day with the Senior Management Team at the end of September to progress things and when we have more detail, we will share.

As we stated in April, we committed to review the previously agreed cost of living pay rise when changes to pay within the NHS were announced. The Board discussed this at the meeting and approved a proposal from the senior team to offer a further increase of 1.5%, which will be backdated to April 2022; it therefore represents an increase of 4.5% for 2022. David will e-mail you all very soon to confirm the full details of this additional award but I hope this goes some way to recognise the value we place on you all and will be a little help with the challenges we are all currently facing with the cost of living.

We have now been presented with the Birdsong results and are delighted to see such a positive response to the questions. It is truly great to see such an improvement! I am delighted to let you know that for this survey round we were included in benchmarking, not just nationally but also with closer colleagues across Great Manchester Hospices, and the Board are proud to share that Derian House performs at the highest level compared to our peer group. Ben will share the report and other Birdsong information shortly.

It is good to see that we are maintaining strong income levels for the first eight months of the year and the Board recognises the excellent work in securing our income whilst keeping costs under control. At this challenging time for everyone it is vital we maintain a financially secure charity for all those who use or work for us.

The year of 2022 has been challenging, however with the amazing Derian Team spirit we are confident you will continue to provide the very best care for all those families who need us so much.

The Board would like to thank everyone for their continued commitment and hard work.

 

 

 

Karen Swindley

Chair of Trustees