## **The Andrew Rodger Trust** ## **Trustees Annual Report April 2023/2024** ## **Charity Commission Registration 1160141** ## **Context** Formed in 2014, The Andrew Rodger Trust aims to improve end of life care given by generalist frontline care -providers in low to middle income countries (LMIC) with a focus mainly on Africa. It is named after Andrew Rodger, who died aged 24 in 1982 in South Africa following a car accident in Botswana. He was exploring ways of supporting people and churches at the height of the Apartheid regime with plans for work there in future. He was married to Keri Thomas , who later became the founder of the Gold Standards Framework (GSF) charity used extensively in the UK. See https://www.gsfinternational.org.uk/gsf-founders-story Most care for most people at the end of life is given by generalist frontline care-providers, staff or family carers. Everyone caring for a person in their final years might benefit from some training and support. So there is recognition of the need to train and enable more people caring for those nearing the end of their life across the world, with a rising need in poorer countries. The burden of serious health-related suffering is rising fastest in low/middle -income countries (LMICs) and is escalating (Katherine Sleeman Kings EAPC 2019 ). It is estimated that in future there will be increased demand for palliative and end of life care. As predicted deaths in LMICs rise 80% of the need for palliative care is thought to come from resource poor / low and middle income (LMIC) countries in the future .See https://www.gsfinternational.org.uk/andrew-rodger-trust-charity For previous work in Africa see https://www.gsfinternational.org.uk/gsf-africa ## **What we do** The objective of this work is enabling ‘gold standard’ care for people nearing the end of life. This is broadly focussed on enabling generalist frontline providers of care , working closely with palliative care specialists, to improve community support ,reduce the burden of care on hospitals and enable better experience of care and quality of life for those nearing the end of life. We seek to enable care that is **proactive** through earlier recognition of decline , **personalised** to meet clinical needs and personal needs by offering advance care planning discussions, and **coordinated** to ensure the right care at the right time given by all care providers- a gold standard of care . We seek to play a role in relieving serious health-related suffering (SHRS) and improve palliative and end of life care either directly or by enabling others, supporting more people to have a better experience of care and quality of life, and to live well until they die. To do this we co-adapt the expertise and lessons learnt from over 25 years of GSF in the UK and worldwide to their local context. This includes; tools and resources, academic and research experience, advocacy at national policy levels, as well as an integration of spiritual values. Outline of the charity’s work in:_ **1. Training programmes and mentoring for generalists in palliative/ end of life care, sharing lessons from the UK’s GSF (Gold Standards Framework UK) .** **2. Research, evaluation studies and academic collaborations** **3. Spiritual and religious support and training** The trustees, who remain the same as last year, continue to explore how to support resource-poor countries particularly in Africa provide better care for people nearing the end of their lives. This builds upon the expertise and experience in this area of the UK’s Gold Standards Framework Centre (GSF ) in End of Life care , from its founder and Chairman Professor Keri Thomas OBE , seeking ways that this work , resources , energy and experience can be applied and adapted for work within the context of resource poor countries. ## **How we do it.** We work closely with those involved in palliative care in Africa, notably the African Palliative Care Association (APCA) , through the APCA International Conference and webinar series , and others involved in palliative care there to map out potential collaborations and pilots in several African countries. For example , the possible development of a Palliative/Supportive care register of identified patients in one area that could lead to spread in other African countries. Prof Keri Thomas received an invitation to speak at the APCA International Conference in Aug 22, and there were discussions of offering small grants for early pilots , called ‘ Planning Early , Going for Gold’ pilots, working with interested palliative care leads. This would continue in 2023-4 onwards, with further details , application forms and supported training workshops on line. The charity received donations from individuals in previous years and a donation from the asset lock of the UK’s GSF Centre CIC , when it became a subsidiary of Hospice UK and later an independent charity . There is a good will relationship between both charities . The charity has now developed a very comprehensive website www.gsfinternational.org.uk , through which examples from the UK , from Africa and from other countries can be shared , with access to training resources and the GSF Virtual Learning Zone . This will be the platform for further communication and development going forward. Donations to the Andrew Rodger Trust are registered for Gift Aid . Some of the previous work is detailed in the GSF Africa section . https://www.gsfinternational.org.uk/gsf-africa For more details contact Keri Thomas at keri.thomas@gsfinternational.org.uk or Mark Thomas at markthomas51@hotmail.co.uk IHARIIY (OhlMISSION FOR ENGLANDAND ¥VAiES TlTre Aiidiew Rodgi r Tiua Receipts and payments accounts CC16a For the perlod from Yer To (WW2023 OS0412024 Section A Receipts and payments Unrestricted funds tothe t)earest Restnctsd funds EndovAY*nt funds Totsl fvnds Lastyear trot￿ n￿rest£ tr>thÈnÈ&rÈst£ tothÈ n￿3r￿tE tothÈ nÈarest£ A1 Receipts Bank Init￿SIR*(e￿d Don8bon 1,688 100 1,186 420 Sub total(Gross income for ARJ 1.786 1,786 420 A2 Asset and Investh*nt 5ale5, {see table Sub total 1.786 1,786 420 A3 PasTr*nts Profe$$i¢nal fèes Website design Just 9IWng lees Bank Charges Sub5¢ripb'on 100 330 180 80 177 Sub totsl 747 A4Asset and Invesln*nt purcha5e5. {see table) Sub total zazz 160 747 Net of re¢elpts/(payments) Transfers betY￿en funds Cash funds last >tar end Cash funds Ihis year end 95,569 97,19 95,896 95, 97,195 ## **Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period** |**Categories**|**Details**|**Details**|**Details**||**Unrestricted**
**funds**|**Restricted**
**funds**||**Endowment**
**funds**| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ||||||**to nearest £**|**to nearest £**||**to nearest £**| |**B1 Cash funds**|Current Account||||**7,047**|**-**||| ||Savings Account||||**90,148**|**-**||**-**| ||||||**-**|**-**||| ||**_Total cash funds_**||||**97,195**|**-**
OK||**-**| ||(agree balances w ith receipts and payments
account(s))||||OK|||OK| |||||||||| |Signed by one or two trustees on
behalf of all the trustees|Signature||||Print Name|||Date of
approval| ||Mark Thomas||||MARK THOMAS|||17/12/2024| ||Keri Thomas||||KERI THOMAS|||17/12/2024|