Posted on: 16 September 2020

CNWL’s chair, Prof Dorothy Griffiths, opened our AGM yesterday (Tuesday, 15 September) by remembering CNWL staff and colleagues who have died from Covid-19.

OI000001.JPGHeld remotely over Zoom but with our Senior Executives appropriately socially distanced at headquarters, she held a minute’s silence in honour of those staff and colleagues before opening with a highlights film, which can be seen here: https://vimeo.com/452219079.

She also presented to governors our Annual Report, which has been laid in Parliament, as well as our summary of the Annual Report and an Easy Read version.

OI000006.JPGDuring her opening address Prof Griffiths said: “This year has been dominated by the COVID Public Health Emergency and our response to it.  I would like to start by offering a huge thank you to our staff who responded so selflessly and so magnificently to the Emergency. CNWL is its staff and you have made us all very proud.

This year has been dominated by the COVID Public Health Emergency and our response to it.  I would like to start by offering a huge thank you to our staff who responded so selflessly and so magnificently to the Emergency. CNWL is its staff and you have made us all very proud.

“We sent a card to every member of staff, some of whom didn’t see their families for weeks, the card said:

‘You answered the call so patients could be cared for. It was a worrying and frightening time but you served; every contribution made the NHS workforce an inspiration and you created a particle of that. This should hold a place of pride in your cvs, as lasting testimony to your dedication to others and the humanity you showed when the summons was made. On behalf of the Board of Directors , thank you, you deserve a medal.’”

She made a critical point: “The Emergency is not, of course, over and we are now preparing for a second wave taking into account all the lessons we learnt from the first wave. The way we work will never return to pre COVID ways: we hope that our post COVID world will be even more local, even faster, even more responsive, more digital for those who prefer it and offering more choice for everyone.”

During the AGM, Chief Financial Officer, Hannah Witty, ran through our accounts while our Chief Medical Officer, Dr Cornelius Kelly spoke about Quality Improvement across the organisation, making the point that none of the quality improvements we have seen could have been done without staff, “particularly those on the frontline who have worked incredibly hard this year delivering care to the best of their ability in very difficult circumstances. Our sincere thanks.”

Our Chief Executive Claire Murdoch provided her forward view for the Trust warning that it will be another difficult year – “a year looking forward like no other” – and that we will be busy focussing on a number of areas to drive quality, safety, effectiveness and  efficiency while still dealing with the Covid pandemic and maintaining our values.      

We also showed a film showing how we responded to the pandemic. This can be seen here. https://vimeo.com/456509908

The AGM was recorded and can be seen here: https://vimeo.com/458293971.

We have created timestamps on the video so viewers can jump directly to the section they want to.

These are:

00:00 Prof Dorothy Griffiths opens the CNWL AGM

01:40 Remembering staff lost to Covid-19 with a moment’s silence

03:15 Prof Dorothy Griffiths presents the Annual Report and Summary to Governors

04:08 CNWL’s highlights from the past year

07:51 Prof Dorothy Griffiths gives the Chair’s Address

18:00 Hannah Witty, Chief Finance Officer, presents the Financial Report

24:52 Dr Cornelius Kelly, Chief Medical Officer, presents the Quality Improvement and the Quality Account

33:34 Cllr Ketan Sheth, Lead Governor, gives his response from the Governors

41:27 Claire Murdoch CBE, Chief Executive and Registered Nurse, gives her Report and Forward View

1:08:52 Robyn Doran, Chief Operating Officer, presents our film about our experiences with Covid-19

1:29:23 Prof Dorothy Griffiths closes the CNWL AGM

Please provide your feedback to the AGM here: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/NZSZ9FY