On 6 September we held our Annual General Meeting (AGM) covering 2011-12. The event was held at the Kassam Stadium in Oxford and was well attended by over 100 members of the public and staff.

The event began with an opportunity for people to look at displays from a range of services across the Trust.  These included Artscape, services for older people in the community, our new mental health developments in Aylesbury and Oxford and smoking cessation services.  Almost 20 services were represented and staff attended from each one to talk to people about what they have been doing over the past year and their plans for the future.  Attendees commented on how informative this part of the AGM was and the buzzy atmosphere.

After a short refreshment break, the evening continued with our formal AGM presentation of the Annual Report and Accounts for 2011-12 to our Members’ Council. We are required to do this as part of our duty as a Foundation Trust in line with the guidance set out by Monitor, our regulator.  After presentations by Dr Clive Meux, Acting Chief Executive, and Mike McEnaney, Director of Finance, the meeting was opened up to questions from the audience.  We were asked about a wide range of topics including patient involvement, challenging mental health stigma and possible impacts of the financial challenge faced by the NHS on the quality of services.

Our Annual Report and Accounts are available on our website via the following link: https://www.oxfordhealth.nhs.uk/publications/.  We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who attended and we look forward to seeing you at future events.