Minutes of the 2015 SAICP Limited AGM held on 23rd June 2015 at 12 noon at the Swan Hotel Lavenham.
In attendance: 36 members (attendance sheets attached).
1. Apologies:
Hilary Gibbs (Stowcare), Helen Fairweather (Headway), Paul Hayman (Suffolk Home Care), Clifford Lewis (White Gables), Ruth Sime (Cephas)
2. Welcome :
Prema Fairburn, Vice President of the Association, advised that the Association Chair Hilary Gibbs was unable to attend the AGM due to attending a memorial service for a very old and dear friend. This was the first Association she had not attended in 9 years. Prema Fairburn would chair the AGM assisted by the Association Administrator Moira Weller.
3. Minutes of the previous AGM (23rd June 2015) had been published on the SAICP web site. Nobody in attendance accepted an offer for the minutes to be read aloud. Adrian Fairburn proposed and Emma John seconded that these be accepted as a true record or proceedings.
4. Report from the Chair
Prema Dorai read out a copy of the report from the Chair written by Hilary Gibbs in her absence (copy attached).
At the end of the report Prema Dorai recorded thanks to Hilary Gibbs who had worked tirelessly for the Association over the last nine years which was endorsed by all present.
Questions were invited on the report from the floor.
Debbie McKenzie from Versa Care queried if live-in care providers should have been invited to the market engagement day relating to the tendering of services by ACS the previous week as Versa Care had not received an invitation. Prema Dorai replied that she would not have anticipated so as this event had been for residential services. Moira Weller said she would relay this to Hilary Gibbs for her to follow through.
Elaine Grace proposed and Debbie McKenzie that the report from the Chair was accepted by the meeting which was unanimously agreed.
5. Financial Report
Moira Weller recapped the Association’s financial year ran from 1st December to 30th November and Chartered Allen had audited and filed a copy at Companies House of the last set of accounts to November 2013 which were available for inspection. Work was now under way in finalising the accounts for the year ending 30th November 2014.
Association membership had grown and there were now 62 fully paid up provider member organisations but these may embrace multiple outlets. Income from membership for 15/16 was £3,800 and there had been a further £5,000 grant from ACS but it was not envisaged that this would continue. The Association generated further income from trade stands and sponsorship at the annual care conference. However without any further grants from SCC it may be necessary to generate additional income in the future.
The 2014 Suffolk Care Conference had generated slightly less than the previous year – a net profit of just over £1,000 due to fewer paying trade stands. Also because of a healthy financial situation at that time the Steering Group had agreed to discount the delegate rate for Association members.
The Association had also been part of a contract last year with Suffolk Family Carers who using a grant they had secured had paid the Association to collated bed vacancies and domiciliary capacity data twice weekly from November to March. The Association had used their mailing list to gather the information and it was hoped that some of the members would have benefitted from additional clients placements as a result. The lists originally only went to Suffolk Family Carers but eventually were sent to ACS, the CCGs and hospital discharge teams to help expedite discharges.
The Association finances were good for another year.
Questions were invited from the floor on the Finance report but none were forthcoming.
6. Revision of the Association Terms of Reference
A proposal from the Steering Group/Board of Directors had been distributed to the attendees at the AGM proposing to amend the Terms of Reference which were lodged at Companies House as follows:
Ø To introduce a limit on the number of members on both Steering Group and Board of Directors to ensure that these groups remained as workable and efficient teams.
Ø To make provision for rotation with Steering Group and Board members by implementing a clause for members to stand down after a 3 years term (although they would be able to stand for re-election). This was to encourage other providers to stand for election as new blood with new ideas was always welcome.
Ø To make the Steering Group and Directors more readily accountable to the membership by reducing the criteria (the number of members and lead time) required for the membership to call for an EGM.
Ø The original terms of reference made provision for 4 meetings throughout the year but as the pressures in the workplace and the cost of travelling to a venue had been taken into consideration, it was deemed that it was more appropriate to hold meetings on an as and when required basis.
There were no questions on the proposed revised Terms of Reference and the meeting was invited to complete their voting slips which had been handed to fully paid-up members on arrival. There was unanimous support with all 23 returned ballot papers supporting the amendments which was carried.
7. Election of Steering Group
Moira Weller read out the list of the current Steering Group:
Hilary Gibbs (Stowcare), Prema Fairburn (Cardinal Healthcare), Adrian Fairburn (Cardinal Healthcare), Alicia Wright (Bluebird Care), Brenda Bond (Crossroads) , Helen Fairweather (Headway), Clifford Lewis (White Gables), Graham Gibbs (The Paddocks), Emma John (TPIC) Simon Gibbs (Stowcare), Elaine Grace (Focus Caring) and Paul Hayman (Suffolk Home Care) who had all offered themselves for re-election en bloc. A separate nomination had been received from David Finch (Cephas).
The meeting unanimously voted to support election of the current Steering Group en bloc and also David Finch.
8. AOB
Prema Dorai advised discussions were currently under way to enable the independent sector to become part of the Suffolk Information Partnership which had been set up with the voluntary sector under the auspices of Suffolk Healthwatch.
Neil Santy pointed out that he was surprised that some of the providers who had been through the domiciliary Support to Live at Home tendering process and been successful were now expressing concerns about having the resources i.e. staff who would be able to deliver care. He wondered if the Association would consider becoming a repository for providers who may be able to offer assistance. Moira Weller explained that similar enquiries had been received. The Association had been promised details of the successful bidders once the information was in the public domain and would enable other providers to come to the Association to ask to be put in touch with successful providers with a view to working with them. Prema Dorai advised that the Association was due to meet with ACS at the end of July and this would be something which could be raised then along with any other queries.
The meeting closed at 12.30 pm prior to lunch which was followed by a care home event hosted by Barclays Bank.
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