Annual Report of the Executive Committee for the year ending 30 September 2024
Following the exciting, and at times, frantic events of 2023, this year has seen a period of significant change. The Committee is coming to terms with the rules and regulations that surround our move to becoming a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). FoSH was registered as a CIO by the Charity Commission on the 12th January 2024. At the Emergency General Meeting on 28th March, FoSH as previously constituted, was dissolved and the entire undertaking of FoSH transferred to the Friends of Saxonbury House CIO, (registered number 1206515). As always the Trustees wish to thank existing members and other patients for their donations and continuing support during the last year.
The Committee has now formally adopted a policy to cover Privacy and Data Protection, as well as a Conflict of Interest policy. The Committee will review these annually and adopt any further policies as and when necessary.
Whilst on this topic of contributions, can I please remind existing members to amend their standing order details with the new title and account number. The standing order should be made to The Friends of Saxonbury House Surgery CIO (Registered Charity No. 1206515), Sort Code 60-06-27 and Account Number 33687145. This is as a direct result of the organisation becoming a registered charity. My thanks to those members who have already made this change.
Due to the complexities of our change to becoming a CIO the committee has undergone some internal reorganisation to accommodate these changes. As Chair, can I express my sincere thanks to all of the committee members for their understanding and hard work in their respective roles which I feel have made the committee a more focussed team and already the results are being seen at an operational level.
FoSH now has a Facebook page where information and notices can be accessed and this page provides a variety of information about FoSH and includes details of our funding support for the Surgery over the last twelve months. This last year the committee have approved spending for the purchase of equipment and training to the value of £2892.31. This comprises:- New chairs for the waiting room- £880.80, a Spirometer- £1,946.51 and Staff Training- £65. In addition we are pursuing a number of other projects and have already committed to spending a further £2263.00 for an INR machine and further training.
Some final notes on financial issues. As we are now a registered charity FoSH can potentially access Gift Aid on annual subscriptions. If any members wish to contribute in this way could you please email your intention to us by using our email FriendsofSaxonbury@gmail.com and we can set the process up for you. Also we must express our sincere thanks to Matthew West for completing the accounts and to Colin Henderson for auditing the accounts. FoSH is looking to recruit a new treasurer for the coming year(s). If there is anyone who would be interested in this role could they please make themselves known to the committee by using our email or leave a message with the surgery reception - thank you in anticipation!
One of the committee’s aims for the next year and beyond is to increase our current membership to achieve increased financial support potential for the surgery. During our extremely informative sessions with Ian Gibson, the Practice Manager, the committee have been made very aware of the precarious nature of NHS funding for General Practice and the effects this can have on some strategic decisions going forward. The role of FoSH to support the surgery going forward will doubtless be affected by this and will feature high on our agenda next year. In order to try and increase our membership the committee have organised a leaflet distribution at the new round of COVID clinics which outline the role of FoSH and what we are trying to achieve. In short: FOSH NEEDS YOU!
Another area that the Practice Manager and the committee are looking to develop over the coming year is the formation of an active Patient Participation Group (PPG) Every practice theoretically should have one of these groups but in reality their formation and activity have tended to be largely
sidelined due to the day to day demands of extremely busy general practices. If anyone from our existing membership or beyond would be interested in contributing to the formation of a Saxonbury PPG please get in touch with the Surgery.
We are always looking for help with various roles on our committee and should you like to know more about joining us please contact us through our email address.
If you wish to nominate anyone to be a member of the Executive Committee please notify the Secretary, Sue West, or the Chairman, Nigel Bullock, in writing c/o the Surgery.
We look forward to seeing as many members as possible at the FoSH AGM at 7.00pm on the 28th November at the Surgery.
Nigel Bullock (Chair), Sue West (Secretary), John West, Robin Streatfield, Emer Murphy, Lindsay Cole, Sue Bullock, John Wayte, Martin Smith.
The Friends of Saxonbury House Surgery CIO
(Registered Charity No. 1206515)
Saxonbury House, Croft Road, Crowborough, TN6 1DL
Dear Member,
Annual General Meeting at 7pm on Thursday 28 November 2024 at Saxonbury House
You are invited to attend the Friends’ Annual General Meeting. The agenda will be:-
-
Apologies for Absence
-
Minutes of the Extraordinary General Meeting held on 28 March 2024 – available on the evening
-
Report from the Doctors
-
Annual Report of the Charity Trustees from the Chair
-
Presentation and acceptance of the annual accounts 2023-24
-
Approval of the Special Resolution (see attached)
-
Election of Trustees (see below)
-
Any other business
The meeting should last for about an hour.
I attach a copy of the annual report, summary of accounts and special resolution.
If you wish to nominate anyone to be a Trustee, please notify me in writing (c/o the Surgery or by email to FriendsofSaxonbury@gmail.com) by 14 November.
Finally, may I thank you for your continued support and encourage you to attend the meeting. It is important that we have a quorum in order to validate the meeting and have the ability to pass the Special Resolution,as outlined in item 6 of the agenda.
Yours
Nigel Bullock (Chair)
Election of Trustees. The FoSH Constitution limits the number of trustees to ten. At present, there are eight:Nigel Bullock, Susan Bullock, Lindsay Cole, Emer Murphy, Robin Streatfield, Anthony Wayte, Susan West and John West. In addition, Martin Smith has agreed to be nominated as a new Trustee. All the existing Trustees are happy to be re-appointed.
The Constitution provides that all Trustees must be re-elected at the first AGM of the CIO. Thereafter, one third of the Trustees should be re-elected on an annual basis.
It is therefore proposed that the Trustees be elected as follows:- Emer Murphy, Martin Smith and Robin Streatfield for a term of one year; Lindsay Cole, Anthony Wayte and Susan West for a term of two years; Susan Bullock, Nigel Bullock and John West for a term of three years.
Annual Report of the Executive Committee for the year ending 30 September 2024
Following the exciting, and at times, frantic events of 2023, this year has seen a period of significant change. The Committee is coming to terms with the rules and regulations that surround our move to becoming a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). FoSH was registered as a CIO by the Charity Commission on the 12th January 2024. At the Emergency General Meeting on 28th March, FoSH as previously constituted, was dissolved and the entire undertaking of FoSH transferred to the Friends of Saxonbury House CIO, (registered number 1206515). As always the Trustees wish to thank existing members and other patients for their donations and continuing support during the last year.
The Committee has now formally adopted a policy to cover Privacy and Data Protection, as well as a Conflict of Interest policy. The Committee will review these annually and adopt any further policies as and when necessary.
Whilst on this topic of contributions, can I please remind existing members to amend their standing order details with the new title and account number. The standing order should be made to The Friends of Saxonbury House Surgery CIO (Registered Charity No. 1206515), Sort Code 60-06-27 and Account Number 33687145. This is as a direct result of the organisation becoming a registered charity. My thanks to those members who have already made this change.
Due to the complexities of our change to becoming a CIO the committee has undergone some internal reorganisation to accommodate these changes. As Chair, can I express my sincere thanks to all of the committee members for their understanding and hard work in their respective roles which I feel have made the committee a more focussed team and already the results are being seen at an operational level.
FoSH now has a Facebook page where information and notices can be accessed and this page provides a variety of information about FoSH and includes details of our funding support for the Surgery over the last twelve months. This last year the committee have approved spending for the purchase of equipment and training to the value of £2892.31. This comprises:- New chairs for the waiting room- £880.80, a Spirometer- £1,946.51 and Staff Training- £65. In addition we are pursuing a number of other projects and have already committed to spending a further £2263.00 for an INR machine and further training.
Some final notes on financial issues. As we are now a registered charity FoSH can potentially access Gift Aid on annual subscriptions. If any members wish to contribute in this way could you please email your intention to us by using our email FriendsofSaxonbury@gmail.com and we can set the process up for you. Also we must express our sincere thanks to Mathew West for completing the accounts and to Colin Henderson for auditing the accounts. FoSH is looking to recruit a new treasurer for the coming year(s). If there is anyone who would be interested in this role could they please make themselves known to the committee by using our email or leave a message with the surgery reception - thank you in anticipation!
One of the committee’s aims for the next year and beyond is to increase our current membership to achieve increased financial support potential for the surgery. During our extremely informative sessions with Ian Gibson, the Practice Manager, the committee have been made very aware of the precarious nature of NHS funding for General Practice and the effects this can have on some strategic decisions going forward. The role of FoSH to support the surgery going forward will doubtless be affected by this and will feature high on our agenda next year. In order to try and increase our membership the committee have organised a leaflet distribution at the new round of COVID clinics which outline the role of FoSH and what we are trying to achieve. In short: FOSH NEEDS YOU!
Another area that the Practice Manager and the committee are looking to develop over the coming year is the formation of an active Patient Participation Group (PPG) Every practice theoretically should have one of these groups but in reality their formation and activity have
tended to be largely sidelined due to the day to day demands of extremely busy general practices. If anyone from our existing membership or beyond would be interested in contributing to the formation of a Saxonbury PPG please get in touch with the Surgery.
We are always looking for help with various roles on our committee and should you like to know more about joining us please contact us through our email address.
If you wish to nominate anyone to be a member of the Executive Committee please notify the Secretary, Sue West, or the Chairman, Nigel Bullock, in writing c/o the Surgery.
We look forward to seeing as many members as possible at the FoSH AGM at 7.00pm on the 28th November at the Surgery.
Nigel Bullock (Chair), Sue West (Secretary), John West, Robin Streatfield, Emer Murphy, Lindsay Cole, Sue Bullock, John Wayte, Martin Smith.
Report to AGM on proposed Special Resolution
There is one special resolution on the Agenda which we are asking you to approve. (See below)
This relates to a particular provision of the adopted Constitution of The Friends of Saxonbury House CIO (FoSH) currently registered with the Charity Commission.
Background
The wording of clause 11(5)(b) of the constitution is currently as follows:-
“Subject to the following provisions, the quorum for General Meetings shall be the greater of 20% or 5 members. An organisation represented by a person present at the meeting in accordance with sub clause (7) of this clause, is counted as being present in person.”
At the present time, FoSH has 145 members, which in effect means that to be quorate, at least 29 members should be present at General Meetings. Having regard to the fact that many of our members are elderly, and the limited turnout of members in the past, the trustees do not feel that 20% is realistically achievable. Additionally, the second sentence of the existing clause is not relevant to FoSH as currently constituted.
The effect of not having a quorum present at a general meeting is that under the current constitution, the meeting will have to be adjourned with a minimum of seven days notice of a revised date. At the adjourned meeting, the quorum requirement would not apply. It therefore seems prudent and sensible to ask the membership to consider and approve the special resolution.
Special Resolution to be voted on at the AGM
It is hereby resolved that the provisions of clause 11(5)(b) of the current constitution of the Friends of Saxonbury House Surgery CIO (registered no. 1206515) should be deleted and replaced with a new clause 11(5)(b) as follows:-
The new clause 11(5)(b)
“Subject to the following provisions the quorum for general meetings shall be the greater of 10% or 5 members.”
Frlends of Saxonbury House Surgery Income and Expendlture Account lor the year to 30 Septembtr 2024 INCOME 2023124 2022123 Subscrlptions- Bankers Orderslczsh Donationslin Memorfam Bank Interest Recelved 1409 430 2742 1507 92522 4581 94029 EXPENDITURÉ Equlpmentfor 5ur8ery 2351 5438 General 3782 359 Exossldeflck of Incom• over Expendltsre -1552 88232 FUNDS sfATEMETr 2023124 2022123 Balance blf 30 September 2024 EX$5 of IncDme over Expenditure 98286 98827 88232 -1552 Rapresented by:" Cash at Bank 96733 98286 Nl8el Bullo¢k Trustees Susan West Date 18 1,.12f- H3vln8 examlned the accountln8 record51 am 5atlsfted that the ibDve Is a true and proper Statement of the flrtanclal affrdlrs forthe Frlends of Saxonbury House for the pertod Shown Colln Henderson FCMA Examlnw D4t• 251122¥