the twenty-minute guide to being a hospice trustee

Transcription

1 the twety-miute guide to beig a hospice trustee

2 Cotets Welcome ad itroductio page 1 The five-part role of the hospice board page 5 Your resposibilities as a trustee page 12 How to get the best from beig a trustee page 16 Further advice ad iformatio page 18

3 Welcome ad itroductio This guide will help ayoe who is cosiderig becomig a trustee of a hospice. It is aimed maily at those who have ot bee a trustee before. If you already have experiece of this or of workig i a charity, you may still fid it useful to sca the guide as a quick check. what the guide does The guide: explais briefly what a hospice is gives aswers to some of the most frequetly asked questios about charities ad trusteeship looks at the goverace role of the hospice board describes the role ad resposibilities of hospice trustees suggests how to make your experiece as a hospice trustee worthwhile for both you ad the hospice. how to use the guide This guide has bee writte for use with the Trustee iductio pack. Both give a overview of the role of a hospice trustee, which remais costat wherever the hospice is located i the UK. This guide gives a quick overview of key poits while the Trustee iductio pack goes ito more detail, is desiged for dippig ito, ad sigposts where you ca fid further iformatio, from your hospice ad exteral orgaisatios. the home coutries With icreased devolutio, the legal ad policy framework i each coutry differs i some respects. Trustees i each home coutry, that is Eglad, Norther Irelad, Scotlad ad Wales eed to be aware of this. Sectio 10 i the Trustee iductio pack, provides coutry-specific iformatio about: legal structures ad regulatios for charities the regulatory regime for healthcare providers curret govermet policies relevat to the maagemet of hospices the fudig of hospices. I Eglad ad Wales charities are regulated ad supported by the Charity Commissio, with which they must register. I Scotlad, this fuctio is the resposibility of the Offce of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR), ad i Norther Irelad, the Charity Commissio for Norther Irelad. 1 The twety-miute guide to beig a hospice trustee

4 Welcome ad itroductio what is hospice care? Hospice care improves the lives of people who have a life-limitig or termial illess. It helps them to live as actively as they ca to the ed of their lives, however log that may be. It ot oly takes care of people s physical eeds, but looks after their emotioal, spiritual ad social eeds as well. The care is tailored to patiets idividual eeds ad supports their frieds ad family too. Hospice care providers offer a rage of services, which may iclude the followig: medical ad ursig care pai ad symptom cotrol rehabilitatio helpig patiets to stay idepedet ad cotiue to live their lives as they have doe before, with help from physiotherapists ad occupatioal therapists creative therapies, such as art therapy ad music therapy complemetary therapies, such as massage ad aromatherapy spiritual care family care practical ad fiacial advice bereavemet care. Hospice care ca be for days, moths or years. Most care is provided i people s ow homes, but people also visit hospices for day therapy ad stay as ipatiets. I its Strategic Pla , Help the Hospices has defied hospice care as: commuity egaged palliative ad ed of life care i all settigs for patiets, families ad carers. who provides hospice care? I the UK, the majority of hospice care is provided by Help the Hospices member hospices local charities rooted i the commuities they serve. Other providers iclude the NHS ad atioal charities Marie Curie Cacer Care ad Sue Ryder Care. Charitable hospices provide services o behalf of the NHS ad work closely with NHS service providers. However, they are idepedet orgaisatios ad are ultimately accoutable to their trustees. O average, they receive oly a small percetage of their fudig from the govermet, ad must raise 3 for every 1 of state fudig they get. 2 The twety-miute guide to beig a hospice trustee

5 Welcome ad itroductio the role of voluteers More tha 100,000 voluteers support idepedet local hospices, givig time ad effort to tasks such as supportig care staff, staffg receptio, fudraisig, gardeig, workig i the shops ad, of course, as trustees. Without voluteers, hospices could ot cotiue the work they do. hospices as charities, their boards ad trustees Every idepedet hospice is a charity, cotrolled by the board of trustees who are resposible for the maagemet ad admiistratio of the charity. The rest of this guide looks at the role of the trustees collectively, as the board, ad at the idividual resposibilities of trustees. Chief executives atted board meetigs to liste, advise ad support the board, but they are ot eligible to vote sice they caot also be trustees. aswers to frequetly asked questios what is a charity? Charities are idepedet orgaisatios that are set up for the beefit of the public, rather tha for the private beefit of idividuals. Charitable status is determied by the objects or purpose of the orgaisatio as set out i the costitutio or memoradum ad articles of associatio. Charity legislatio i each coutry determies which activities are regarded as charitable. These usually iclude activities that provide for the relief of those i eed by reaso of, eg youth, ill-health, disability or fiacial hardship. Hospices have ot experieced diffculty i beig regarded as charitable. Orgaisatios must also meet a secod criterio that they provide a public beefit ad that potetial beeficiaries are ot restricted i their access to the services provided. what are charity trustees? Charity trustees are the people who together are resposible for cotrollig the maagemet ad admiistratio of the charity. The trustees make decisios ad work together through the meetigs of the board of trustees. Boards of trustees may be kow by a umber of differet ames such as maagemet committees, executive committees, coucils of maagemet ad, i the case of those hospices which are also compaies limited by guaratee, boards of directors. The goverig documet of the charity will spell out which body is the board of trustees. 3 The twety-miute guide to beig a hospice trustee

6 Welcome ad itroductio what is the goverig documet? The goverig documet sets out the objects (purpose), the powers (what it is allowed to do) ad the essetial rules for ruig the charity. I most hospices the goverig documet will be called the memoradum ad articles of associatio (for compaies limited by guaratee) or the costitutio (for uicorporated associatios). A ew type of orgaisatio was itroduced i the Charities Act 2006 which would also be govered by a costitutio. I a charitable icorporated orgaisatio (CIO), the trustees have limited liability without the charity also havig to become a compay limited by guaratee uder compay law. A few hospices may still be charitable trusts ad have a trust deed. It is importat that all trustees read ad uderstad their hospice s goverig documet. who ca become a trustee? The Charity Commissio expects trustees to be able to brig time, uderstadig ad effort to their role of goverig a hospice, both at meetigs ad betwee meetigs, as well as useful ad relevat experiece ad/or skills. Ayoe over the age of 18 may be a charity trustee, provided they are ot disqualified from so doig. (See the sectio o disqualificatio i the Trustee iductio pack for more details.) May hospices will be lookig for a skills mix o their boards ow that goverig a hospice meas beig resposible for a multi-millio poud orgaisatio i a highly regulated eviromet. They may advertise for particular skills or experiece to fill gaps o their board, such as fiacial maagemet, marketig, medical, ursig, social work, educatio, legal, voluteerig, maagemet ad strategic plaig, fudraisig ad so o. how do you become a trustee? Trustees are appoited to the board by selectio or electio. The goverig documet of the hospice will explai how this is doe. The hospice may have a policy ad procedure for recruitmet of trustees, which describes the steps i the process i more detail. May hospices have ow made a policy decisio to recruit publicly ad trasparetly from a wide pool of potetial trustees rather tha to omiate people they, or the seior staff, already kow. 4 The twety-miute guide to beig a hospice trustee

7 The five-part role of the hospice board The board is legally accoutable for the activities of the hospice. The role of the board has five mai parts: 1. To lead the hospice, establish its missio, visio ad values ad esure it has a clear purpose ad a overall framework of policies ad stadards. 2. To develop overall strategies to achieve the hospice s aims ad esure there is a clear system to delegate implemetatio of the strategies to the chief executive ad the staff team. 3. To moitor the performace of the hospice agaist stadards ad esure that it provides the highest quality of care, balaced with the effective, effciet ad ecoomic use of the hospice s resources ad assets. 4. To esure compliace with the law ad accoutability to the hospice s stakeholders. 5. To esure that the board itself performs effectively ad cotais people with the skills ad experiece it eeds ad makes plas to esure the recruitmet, iductio ad developmet of ew trustees. We ca represet the role of the board diagrammatically. The first four parts form a cycle i which leadership is traslated ito strategy, performace is moitored, activities are checked for compliace with the law ad a accout is give of the work that has bee doe. The process of accoutig for the work doe is part of a aual review of progress, which iforms the ext roud of the cycle. The fifth part of the role appears i the cetre of the cycle. 5-part role of the board adapted from: garratt (1997) the Fish rots From the head Lodo, harper collis 5 The twety-miute guide to beig a hospice trustee

8 The five-part role of the hospice board The board s most importat job is to lead the hospice. Without clear ad effective leadership the hospice will sooer or later lose its way. Leadig a hospice meas makig sure that there is a clear visio of the type of services ad care the hospice wats to provide (ad for whom) ad motivatig everyoe to achieve that visio. The board is primarily cocered with directio, policy ad strategy. The day-to-day maagemet of the hospice is delegated to the paid professioal staff, who report back to the board. 1. settig directio, aims ad stadards The board provides leadership to the hospice by establishig the directio of the hospice ad settig its aims ad priorities for the ext period. The aims will cotribute towards achievig the visio of the hospice ad should be aliged with its values. They must lie withi the hospice s objects as set out i the goverig documet. The board will decide policy i relatio to the work itself ad the iteral policies eeded to ru the hospice ad the ostatutory stadards by which the work will be doe. There should be suffciet time at the board meetigs to discuss chages ad developmets i the outside world that may affect the hospice ad to pla resposes well i advace. These will iclude: chages i palliative care; ew cetral govermet policy ad law; chages i local authority ad health authority policy ad fudig; developmets i other hospices ad the wider hospice sector; competitio from other orgaisatios both charitable ad private; ad wider social, demographic ad political chages. If the board does ot do this, the hospice will be i dager of thikig short-term ad beig led by evets i other words, dealig with crises ad fire-fightig. A key leadership resposibility of the board is the appoitmet, support ad appraisal of the chief executive. The implemetatio of the policies is delegated to the paid professioal staff. The policies assist the trustees i esurig systems are i place to discharge their resposibilities. This is distict from checkig that detailed actios have bee doe. 6 The twety-miute guide to beig a hospice trustee

9 The five-part role of the hospice board The board is likely to develop policies o the followig: the hospice s overall values, visio ad aims The values, visio ad aims should uderpi all the work of the hospice. The type of service the hospice offers ad to whom Does the hospice cater oly for people who are termially ill with cacer or does it offer specialist palliative care to a wider cliet group? How will it reach all those i the commuity who eed its services, icludig those who do ot at preset access them? For example, people from miority ethic commuities, people with learig disabilities ad metal health issues. Is the service primarily ipatiet care or will the hospice develop a rage of day ad commuity services i respose to growig demad? I some cases there may be little choice as the goverig documet is specific about what the hospice was set up to do. The hospice s fiacial health What eeds to be doe to esure the log-term fiacial health of the hospice? This is a pereial issue. It eeds regular review as the eeds to be met chage ad the fudig regimes alter. How will suffciet icome be geerated? How will overall expediture (icludig, for example, salaries, repairs ad refurbishmet) be cotrolled? How will ivestmets ad assets be maaged? risk maagemet What will the hospice eed to do to maage risk? The board should idetify which risks potetially carry serious cosequeces. The board must esure the hospice has clear strategies to maage these risks. Risk maagemet should be applied to risks coected with goverace ad maagemet, fiace ad operatioal matters, particularly cliical oes. The strategies iclude goverace ad maagemet procedures ad systems, as well as appropriate isurace. Beig a good employer of staff ad maager of voluteers How will the hospice fulfil its legal obligatios ad be a good employer? Does the hospice have satisfactory employmet law procedures ad practices? Are they up to date with the law, for example employmet, health ad safety, equal opportuities ad data protectio? Is there a effective programme of staff developmet ad traiig with a appropriate budget? Does the voluteer policy set a framework for the most effective log-term ivolvemet of voluteers? 7 The twety-miute guide to beig a hospice trustee

10 The five-part role of the hospice board evaluatig performace agaist quality stadards What stadards is the hospice tryig to achieve i its service provisio? How are the stadards measured? What exterally imposed stadards must the hospice comply with? These iclude both stadards of care ad stadards for orgaisatioal performace. 2. developig strategy The board should oversee the traslatio of its aims for the ext three to five years ito a strategy. This strategy describes the mai areas of the hospice s activities ad sets boudaries for the coduct of the hospice s busiess. It provides the basis for developig aual plas, which are more detailed ad cotai specific targets, deadlies ad so o. The aual plas have clear budgets that provide details of the costs of the work plaed ad show where the resources to support it will come from. It is the role of the board to agree the budget. The strategy is delivered through the framework of policies that drives the work of the staff ad voluteers. 3. moitorig performace As a trustee you eed to have your figer o the pulse of the hospice. You eed a clear sese of how well the hospice is performig ad early warig of ay surprises. The board is ot expected to kow all about everythig that is goig o. It eeds to have a clear sese of the big picture ad ot get lost i detail. Like drivig a car, the board steers the hospice towards its aims. Alog the way, board members must sca the iformatio they receive about progress made ad the curret state of the hospice. The papers provided, alog with your visits to the hospice, should be like the dials o a car s dashboard. They provide the basis for buildig up a picture of what is happeig ad should ot (except i dire emergecies) lead the board to keep stoppig the car to fiddle about with the egie! The iformatio provided to the board should eable it to moitor the followig mai areas of activity. Uder each headig we list some questios that board members might ask. 8 The twety-miute guide to beig a hospice trustee

11 The five-part role of the hospice board progress towards the hospice s aims Does the hospice have a clear set of aims? Has the board agreed stadards ad performace idicators that will eable it to judge progress towards the aims? What is happeig i the wider world that will affect our aims? Do we have the resources (both fiacial ad huma) to achieve the aims? Quality of care How do we kow that the services we provide are of the highest quality? Do we have clearly defied ad achievable stadards? Are we moitorig agaist the exteral stadards that affect our work? How do we maitai stadards? Do we bechmark our performace agaist other similar hospices? Do we carry out cliical audits? Are our cliical procedures up to date? maagerial performace Do we have a effective system to employ ad appraise the performace of the chief executive? Are we cofidet that cosistet, fair employmet practice is used; that employmet law is complied with ad that staff ad voluteers work i a safe ad healthy eviromet? Are we cofidet that our staff ad voluteers have adequate opportuities to trai ad develop their skills? Do they use them? Do we have a effective ad well-used voluteer developmet programme? Fiacial performace Does the hospice have suffciet resources to meet its short, medium ad log-term plas? Is there a realistic pla to secure icome i the future? Are the hospice s assets well maaged? What are the variatios betwee the budget ad the actual icome ad expediture? Do they eed attetio from the trustees? Are there suffciet reserves to cover cotigecies? Do our reserves fall withi curret Charity Commissio guidace? 9 The twety-miute guide to beig a hospice trustee

12 The five-part role of the hospice board Legality Are we cofidet that the hospice complies with the law ad the requiremets of its goverig documet? Do we have a uderstadig of, ad policies o, specific issues that might affect us as a hospice? risk maagemet Do we have a clear aalysis of the mai risks that might impact o the hospice? (This icludes risks associated with goverace, with maagemet procedures ad systems, providig services, fiace ad health ad safety.) Do we have a clear pla to maage the risks? 4. esurig compliace with the law ad givig accoutability The board of trustees must esure that the hospice complies with the law. It must also make the hospice accoutable to regulatory bodies, fuders ad the geeral public. It reports o what has bee achieved ad shows that resources have bee used effcietly ad ecoomically. The acid test is to show that the quality of services provided has bee well balaced with their costs. The board is accoutable to: the members of the hospice (if the hospice is a membership hospice or a compay limited by guaratee) at the aual geeral meetig the charity regulators i your coutry the Registrar of Compaies (if a compay limited by guaratee) the healthcare ad/or social care regulators i its coutry, the Ilad Reveue, Customs ad Excise, ad the Health ad Safety Executive fuders, which may iclude health ad/or social care boards ad commissioig authorities (depedig o your coutry), the local authority ad charitable trusts the commuities it serves ad the geeral public. It is ot a legal requiremet to accout to the commuity, ad differet groups withi it, but it is a ethical approach ad a wise activity to udertake. Hospices are ofte depedet for a sigificat proportio of their icome o fudraisig from their commuities. Givig a accout of the use of the moey is expected ad is more likely to lead to further doatios. This ca be doe i a variety of ways, icludig the aual report, the press, local radio, etc. 10 The twety-miute guide to beig a hospice trustee

13 The five-part role of the hospice board 5. Esurig the board is effective The last role of the board is to be effective i itself by makig sure that it: is up to stregth with members who have the right mix of skills, experiece ad backgroud ad are able to work well together as a team is able periodically to review its work ad idetify areas for chage or improvemet has effective systems for the recruitmet, iductio ad support of ew trustees keeps up to date with developmets i the hospice s work is iformed about exteral developmets affectig the hospice ad its work, such as developmets i palliative care, govermet policy, fudig arragemets ad the local eviromet rus its meetigs to esure most of the work is at the strategic level ad makes best use of the time ad people available works i partership with the chief executive ad the seior maagers. These actios should esure the board really adds value to the capacity of the hospice to deliver its services. 11 The twety-miute guide to beig a hospice trustee

14 Your resposibilities as a trustee duty of trust As a trustee you are resposible, alog with other members of the board, for the activities of the hospice. You have a duty to promote the iterests of the hospice as a whole ad its beeficiaries both curret ad future. This is the duty of trust. You must also make sure that all the assets ad resources are safeguarded ad used for charitable purposes i lie with the goverig documet. Failure to comply with the relevat trustee duties costitutes a breach of trust, for which a trustee ca be held persoally liable. duty of care You have a duty of care to the hospice, its beeficiaries, its employees ad people who use the premises. The stadard of care expected of a trustee is the level that a prudet busiess perso would have i maagig her or his ow affairs. This meas trustees must have a geeral awareess of fiacial ad legal issues ad must take professioal advice i matters i which they are ot themselves competet. Where you do have a higher level of skill or a special kowledge you are expected to use it i your role as trustee to beefit the hospice. trustees are idepedet The role of trustee requires that you are able to thik ad act idepedetly, so you ca put the iterests of the hospice first, while you are workig with the other trustees to reach decisios about the hospice. Trustees are ot allowed to be directly cotrolled by others or to act as a mere represetative of the views of others. Some hospice trustees are appoited by outside bodies such as local authorities or health trusts. This does ot give the outside body the right to ifluece the perso whe they are actig as a hospice trustee. trustees as ambassadors A hospice s trustees are its ambassadors. You will eed to be cofidet eough of the work of the hospice to promote it to the people you kow ad meet i your commuity. Oe of the hallmarks of a well-ru charity is that it coducts its affairs i a way that ehaces its reputatio ad the charity sector i geeral. 12 The twety-miute guide to beig a hospice trustee

15 Your resposibilities as a trustee Coflicts of iterest Give that, as a trustee, you must act at all times i the best iterests of the hospice ad the people it serves, you should avoid puttig yourself i a positio i which your duty to act i the iterests of the hospice is i coflict with your ow persoal iterests. For example, this might be a fiacial iterest, such as a cotract relatig to a ew build project, or the iterests of a relative who works or voluteers i the hospice. If you caot avoid this, the you must declare the coflict of iterest at oce to the other trustees. Doig this is likely to mea you withdraw from the discussio i which you have a iterest. Icreasigly ew trustees are beig asked to sig a declaratio of coflicts of iterest as they joi the board, updatig it as ecessary. This goes oto a register of coflicts of iterest, which is used to guard agaist possible coflicts which may arise. Some boards iclude a item to declare coflicts of iterest i relatio to the ageda at the start of every board meetig. collective resposibility or cabiet resposibility The board is a collective decisio-makig body. Decisios ca be made by a majority uless the goverig documet specifies differetly. Charity trustees will discuss ad debate decisios to be made, advised by seior staff. Oce a decisio has bee made, the all trustees are boud by it ad are deemed to support it. Eve if a perso votes agaist a decisio, he or she must support it outside the meetig. This ca be particularly importat where a trustee also has aother role, for example as a voluteer i the hospice. The oly way that you ca cease to be resposible for the board s decisios is to resig from the board. You should first try to covice the other members of your cocers ad get the decisio reversed. Trustees do ot have the power to act idepedetly uless they are give a clear istructio to act o behalf of the board. This meas the trustees are boud to speak ad act with the voice of the board as a whole. This also applies to the Chair. Trustees should take care to relate to staff through the lie-maagemet structure of the hospice. workig i partership Hospice trusteeship is primarily about helpig the hospice to provide palliative care to people who eed it, particularly through the goverace role ad strategic lead ivolved. The role of trustees is ofte complex ad ca be arduous but the board is ot expected to carry out its work aloe. 13 The twety-miute guide to beig a hospice trustee

16 Your resposibilities as a trustee Whe hospices were i their early stages of developmet, the trustees may have bee doig most, if ot all, of what eeded to be doe. Oce staff are appoited, a partership with the seior maagers, who are resposible for operatioal maagemet ad the implemetatio of policies set by the board, is at the cetre of a successful hospice. The trustees, as the board, are supported i their goverace role by the advice of the seior staff/professioals workig i the hospice. This is importat for developmet of policies ad strategy. I additio exteral professioal advisers such as accoutats/auditors, solicitors ad asset maagers should be available to the board i areas where there is a lack of expertise. practical details how much time will it take? The amout of time spet by trustees o hospice trustee work varies tremedously. The miimum requiremet is that trustees have time to: atted the board meetigs (usually oce a moth or every two moths) read papers set out i advace ad prepare for the meetigs liaise with other board members betwee meetigs atted the AGM atted special evets put o by the hospice to which trustees are ivited maitai a good uderstadig of what the hospice does, eg through plaed visits, iformal gatherigs with staff ad voluteers or other occasioal activities. Some trustees are able to commit more time ad get ivolved i other activities, such as: workig o subcommittees or with workig groups takig part i particular projects, such as a fudraisig appeal. Some employers give their staff a allowace of work time to cotribute to the commuity, ad beig a hospice trustee qualifies for this. 14 The twety-miute guide to beig a hospice trustee

17 Your resposibilities as a trustee how do trustees raise matters? The procedures may vary depedig o the matter, the circumstaces ad the hospice. This is usually doe through talkig or writig to the Chair of the board or the chief executive of the hospice. Some boards have a space to raise items for future discussio at the ed of their meetig agedas. If the matter has arise through ivolvemet i the hospice i a role other tha that of trustee, for example as a voluteer, it must be dealt with through the usual lie-maagemet arragemets. ca i retire as a trustee? Trustees are voluteers. You ca choose to retire at ay time, provided this leaves o fewer tha three trustees. However, trustees are expected to make a real commitmet to carry out the work ad this suggests two to three years to be able to make a cotributio. May hospices ow have terms of offce spelt out i their goverig documet to esure ew blood jois the board at regular itervals ad to reassure potetial trustees that they are ot expected to serve for decades. are there opportuities to lear more about the role? Hospices vary but may provide their trustees with the chace to lear ad develop their role through a iductio process, with the support of a metor trustee, through traiig courses or the opportuity to atted cofereces or semiars. The Trustee iductio pack is a start. There are also may leaflets, books ad other sources of help o charity goverace. (Some are listed i the resources sectio at the ed of this guide. A fuller list is provided i Sectio 9 of the Trustee iductio pack.) ca trustees be reimbursed for their expeses? Yes, you ca be reimbursed for reasoable out-of-pocket expeses. Most charities have a clear procedure for trustees to claim expeses. May trustees choose ot to claim expeses, but it is importat that the cost of expeses does ot prevet ayoe from beig ivolved. Trustees may ot be paid for their role as a trustee. However, the Charity Act 2006 provides a statutory power for trustee bodies to pay remueratio to a idividual where that trustee, or perso coected with that trustee, is providig goods or services to the charity withi the safeguards that prevet misuse of the power. 15 The twety-miute guide to beig a hospice trustee

18 How to get the best from beig a trustee The role of a hospice trustee is a serious ad resposible oe. It should also be ejoyable ad rewardig. It may help to keep i mid the followig poits. Keep sight of why you are doig the work Kow as much as possible about the services the hospice provides. If appropriate, visit the hospice, although, give the ature of the work of the hospice, this should be doe sesitively, be plaed ad i cosultatio with the chief executive ad the staff. Gaiig this kowledge ad isight is distict from meddlig i the operatioal side of the work, which is ot part of your role. Accept ivitatios from staff ad voluteers to evets orgaised by the hospice. make it easy Make sure you have all the iformatio you eed. Do t overload yourself with detail but do t be afraid to ask for more iformatio if you thik you eed it. Your hospice may keep further iformatio, such as policies of the hospice ad Charity Commissio leaflets, i oe place to be used by trustees. Always check that the iformatio you receive helps you to keep a broad overview of your hospice ad to make decisios about its overall strategy ad directio. If you do ot uderstad some of the board papers or the backgroud to a discussio, do ask the Chair, aother trustee or the chief executive. Work at beig part of good, purposeful meetigs: Book time i your diary i the week before the board meetig to read the papers. Use the ageda to prepare ad to suggest items you would like to discuss. Be well prepared for your work as a trustee use ay iductio or traiig that will help you. expeses You ca be reimbursed for reasoable out-of-pocket expeses. use your talets ad those of other members Every member of the board is there to add value to the hospice. Be assertive with your views, skills ad experiece, where you thik they will help the orgaisatio. The use of a board skills audit should esure the skills ad experiece of trustees are used to the optimum. 16 The twety-miute guide to beig a hospice trustee

19 Your resposibilities of a trustee make time for iformal cotact It is much more ejoyable ad productive to work with people whe you kow somethig about them ad ca build up rapport. The system of havig a metor trustee for ew trustees as the first port of call for iformatio ad advice assists with this. Ecourage your board to allow time for iformal cotact betwee its members, the chief executive ad ay other seior staff who atted the meetigs. Do take advatage of opportuities to migle with the wider group of staff ad voluteers. This may happe at the AGM or at a hospice evet. Check to see if your iductio pack has a list of board members, a pe portrait of them ad cotact details to help you get to kow them. review regularly Review what you get out of your work as a trustee as well as the amout of time you put i ad the value you give. There should be a reasoable balace: What are the positives? Are you able to make a real cotributio? What are the egatives? Are there problems ad frustratios ca they be put right? Some boards suggest a aual review meetig betwee the Chair ad each trustee to review this balace, to look at whether the skills ad experiece of the trustee are beig fully used, ad to explore their hopes as trustee for the ext year. It also provides a opportuity for ay feedback to the Chair about how well the board is workig, icludig the meetigs, ad for suggestig developmets for the ext year. 17 The twety-miute guide to beig a hospice trustee

20 Further advice ad iformatio A few details are give here. For further cotacts i Norther Irelad, Scotlad, Wales ad Eglad, see sectio 10 i the Trustee iductio pack which ca be dowloaded from Help the Hospices website. For a fuller list of resources ad orgaisatios o goverace, see sectio 9 of the Trustee iductio pack. For hospices i the uk the Forum of chairme of idepedet hospices The Forum of Chairme of Idepedet Hospices aims to brig together Chairs, or other omiated trustees, of all charitable idepedet hospices with a view to givig leadership ad sharig experiece, kowledge ad good practice. help the hospices Help the Hospices is the UK charity supportig hospices ad champioig hospice care. We advocate for ad raise awareess of hospice care; promote ad support cliical excellece ad support those providig hospice care. As the atioal membership charity for over 200 local hospices across the UK, we work with them, ad other orgaisatios, to grow kowledge ad expertise, tackle fear ad challege taboos ad ope up hospice care to more people. Our work icludes: providig a strog voice for hospice care, showig how hospice care effectively supports patiets ad their families through death ad bereavemet providig cliical leadership to guide hospices i their delivery of high quality care ad to stregthe the care workforce ifluecig the atioal policy ageda ad providig practical support to hospices i respose to chages i the policy or regulatory eviromet developig pioeerig maagemet ad leadership traiig for hospice leaders ad trustees, preparig them to embrace the challeges ahead awardig a rage of grats for hospices ad their staff to develop ad improve their practice sharig kowledge ad expertise via ew ad accessible digital platforms 18 The twety-miute guide to beig a hospice trustee

21 Further advice ad iformatio helpig hospices adapt, thrive ad play a leadig role i providig care of the dyig ito the future by providig guidace o key areas of future activity workig iteratioally with policy makers ad pioeerig local orgaisatios to promote awareess of hospice care ad support projects which demostrate hospice care i actio. Hospice House, Britaia Street, Lodo WC1X 9JG Tel: Fax: ifo@helpthehospices.org.uk org.uk together for short Lives Together for Short Lives is the atioal voice for childre ad youg people who are ot expected to reach adulthood ad their families as well as the orgaisatios ad people that support them. The orgaisatio aims to esure that every life-limited ad life-threateed child, youg perso ad their family gets the best possible care ad support from the momet of diagosis, wherever they live ad for as log as they eed it. ifo@togetherforshortlives.org.uk For hospices i eglad ad wales the charity commissio The Charity Commissio registers ad regulates charities i Eglad ad Wales ad produces a wide rage of guidace, reports ad other resources. Tel: Textphoe: atioal coucil for Volutary orgaisatios (cvo) A umbrella body for the volutary ad commuity sector i Eglad. Useful resources iclude the Trustee ad Goverace Iformatio Cetre. The website icludes a full list of NCVO publicatios o goverace ad leadership. See also the Goverace ad Leadership Network at leadership. Tel: Fax: cvo@cvo-vol.org.uk 19 The twety-miute guide to beig a hospice trustee

22 Further advice ad iformatio For hospices i wales wales coucil for Volutary actio A umbrella body for volutary orgaisatios i Wales. It has recetly published a dedicated website offerig advice ad guidace to trustees o all goverace matters. For hospices i scotlad scottish partership for palliative care A umbrella ad represetative body of orgaisatios across Scotlad egaged i developig ad deliverig palliative care services. It seeks to promote high quality palliative care services for all patiets ad families o the basis of eed, ot diagosis. Hospices are represeted through the Scottish Hospices Forum ad by idividual hospice membership. Offce of the Scottish Charities Regulator A o-miisterial departmet ad part of the Scottish Admiistratio followig commecemet of the Charities ad Trustee Ivestmet (Scotlad) Act A idepedet regulator ad registrar for over 23,000 Scottish charities, icludig commuity groups, religious charities, schools, uiversities, grat-givig charities ad major care providers. scottish coucil for Volutary orgaisatios The atioal body for Scotlad s charities, volutary orgaisatios ad social eterprises. equiries@scvo.org.uk For hospices i irelad irish associatio for palliative care A all islad body with the purpose of promotig palliative care atioally ad iteratioally, the Irish Associatio for Palliative Care (IAPC) is a multidiscipliary membership orgaisatio. irish hospice Foudatio The Irish Hospice Foudatio (IHF) is a atioal charity dedicated to all matters relatig to dyig, death ad bereavemet i Irelad. foudatio.ie 20 The twety-miute guide to beig a hospice trustee

23 Further advice ad iformatio charity commissio for orther irelad orther irelad coucil for Volutary actio For more iformatio about palliative care the atioal coucil for palliative care The Natioal Coucil for Palliative Care (NCPC) is the umbrella orgaisatio for all those who are ivolved i providig, commissioig ad usig palliative care services ad hospice services i the Eglad, Wales ad Norther Irelad. If offers a subscriptio scheme, rus evets arisig from its policies, publishes a magazie ad mothly briefig as well as regular bulletis ad larger publicatios coverig topics across the spectrum of palliative care. NCPC was formerly the Natioal Coucil for Hospice ad Specialist Palliative Care Services. Tel: Fax: equiries@cpc.org.uk NCPC leads the Dyig Matters coalitio which aims to chage public attitudes ad behaviours aroud dyig, death ad bereavemet The twety-miute guide to beig a hospice trustee

24 Help the Hospices is the UK charity supportig hospices ad champioig hospice care. We advocate for ad raise awareess of hospice care, promote ad support cliical excellece, ad support those providig hospice care. As the atioal membership charity for 219 local hospices across the UK, we work with them, ad other orgaisatios, to grow kowledge ad expertise, tackle fear ad challege taboos ad ope up hospice care to more people. help the hospices hospice house britaia street Lodo wc1x 9Jg tel Fax Compay limited by guaratee. Registered i Eglad & Wales No Registered Charity i Eglad & Wales No Registered Charity i Scotlad No SC VAT No Registered offce as above.