Trust Board Meeting

Our Trust

Next Board of Directors meeting

Please note that the next Board of Directors' meeting will be held on Wednesday 5th November 2025 at 9am (click to join). The agenda and reports will be uploaded on the website before the meeting.

In order to meet our requirements to conduct the meeting in public, we are allowing the public to attend virtually to observe the meeting, together with a recording of the Board of Directors meeting being posted on our website.

Next Council of Governors meeting

Next meeting dates (click links to join): 

Council of Governors meeting - 18 November 2025, 2-4pm

Council of Governors meeting - 10 February 2026, 2-4pm

All questions should be emailed to The Office of the Company Secretary at least 2 working days in advance of the meeting.

Responses to questions will be provided to the individual following the meeting and published within the minutes, once approved.

For upcoming meeting dates, visit our Events page.

Trust Board meetings are held in public ten times a year.

Staff, patients, the media and members of the public are welcome to attend these meetings but must be aware that although the meeting is held in public, it is not a public meeting. Members of the public and media do not have speaking rights. Public members and the media do not sit at the Boardroom table, allocated seating is provided. For more specific information regarding the Code of Conduct for public members at Board meetings, please contact the Company Secretary on 01539 716684.

In relation to posting agendas, all matters to be acted on by the Board will be posted on the Trust website at least three working days prior to the Board meeting. In urgent cases, when a subject matter needs immediate action or comes to the attention of the Board subsequent to the posting of the agenda, the Board may act on an item that was not on the posted agenda under ‘any other business’. Any supplementary agenda items will also be posted on the Trust’s website.

There are occasions when the Board will need to consider agenda items which are confidential and cannot be discussed in public and this will be explained on the agenda and by the Chair of the meeting.

Should you require any further information regarding the Trust Board meetings, please contact the Company Secretary on 01539 716684.

Meeting agendas and papers

We are aware that the meeting paper and reference pack PDFs are not accessible. If you would like to request an accessible version, or if you would like a copy of any previous board papers, please contact the Company Secretary's Office.

5 November 2025, Westmorland General Hospital, Burton Road, Kendal LA9 7RG & virtual meeting

3 September 2025, Westmorland General Hospital, Burton Road, Kendal LA9 7RG & virtual meeting

2 July 2025, Westmorland General Hospital, Burton Road, Kendal LA9 7RG & virtual meeting

7 May 2025, Board Room, Westmorland General Hospital, Burton Road, Kendal LA9 7RG & virtual meeting

5 March 2025, Board Room, Westmorland General Hospital, Burton Road, Kendal LA9 7RG & virtual meeting

8 January 2025, Board Room, Westmorland General Hospital, Burton Road, Kendal LA9 7R & virtual meeting

6 November 2024, Board Room, Westmorland General Hospital, Burton Road, Kendal LA9 7R & virtual meeting

4 September 2024, Board Room, Westmorland General Hospital, Burton Road, Kendal LA9 7R & virtual meeting

3 July 2024, Board Room, Westmorland General Hospital, Burton Road, Kendal LA9 7R & virtual meeting

1 May 2024, Board Room, Westmorland General Hospital, Burton Road, Kendal LA9 7R & virtual meeting

6 March 2024, Board Room, Westmorland General Hospital, Burton Road, Kendal LA9 7RG & virtual meeting

7 February 2024, Damson Meeting Room, Junction 36 Rural Auction Centre, Crooklands, Milnthorpe, Cumbria LA7 7NU & virtual meeting

Older Trust Board meeting agendas

The Council of Governors meetings are open to Foundation Trust members and the public.

Whilst it is not possible for you to participate in debates, in the interest of openness and transparency, members and the public have the opportunity to ask any questions at the start of the formal agenda provided that the Chair has been notified in advance. We ask that you give details of any questions 2 working days in advance in order to allow time for a thorough response to be provided.

If you have any questions or urgent business to raise then please contact Paul Jones, Company Secretary at least 2 working days prior to the meeting of the Council in order to avoid disappointment.

Council of Governors' meeting agendas

We are aware that the meeting paper PDFs are not accessible. If you would like to request an accessible version, or if you would like a copy of any previous meeting papers, please contact the Company Secretary's Office.

19 August 2025, Council of Governors' meeting

20 May 2025, Council of Governors' meeting

18 February 2025 Council of Governors' meeting

2024 meeting agendas

2023 meeting agendas 

Constituency meetings are attended by the Governors representing that constituency, Andrew Stephenson CBE, UHMBT Chair, and a Non-Executive Director.

These meetings are all held on Teams and are open to the public and members for the last 20 - 30 minutes of each meeting. More meetings dates will be shared soon. 

The 2025 Annual Members' meeting recording can be viewed on our Youtube channel.

Annual Members' meeting questions and answers 

What on earth is the point of having allegedly independent Governors if they get marginalised and sacked for raising important matters and asking pertinent questions?

Numerous complaints about the two individuals led to their suspension, an independent investigation and a decision by the Council of Governors to remove them from office - all of this under external legal advice to ensure process and the requirements of the Constitution were followed. This was reinforced by NHS England who stated they were satisfied and assured that there was no failure of governance or deviation/ breach from the Constitution in any of the three rounds of voting. 

To be clear, the suspension and subsequent investigation and outcome were related to complaints about behaviour and conduct; and in no way linked to the two Governors raising questions about any issues at our Trust. We actively encourage Governors to raise issues and seek assurance that we are learning and improving, and our current Governors do this regularly. We appreciate that the outcome is difficult for the individuals to accept. However, the decision to remove the individuals from office was made by the Council of Governors. It is essential that our Governors are allowed the space and opportunity to self-govern. Interventions from the Chair or any other Trust colleague or external organisation would undermine the sovereignty of the Council and their ability to fulfil their over-riding role in holding the non-executive directors to account for the performance of the board of directors and to represent the interests of NHS Foundation Trust members and of the public. 

Mr. Peter Duffy was voted Morecambe Bay's most popular doctor. What reason was given by the twice disgraced CEO Ms. Daniel for his constructive dismissal?

Mr Duffy was not voted the most popular doctor; he won a staff award after being nominated by colleagues. He resigned in July 2016. While he won a case for constructive dismissal at an Employment Tribunal it is important to note that the tribunal dismissed a complaint by Mr Duffy of detrimental treatment for making protected disclosures.

Who recommended her for ennoblement and precisely why, having wrecked the reputation of two prestigious NHS Trusts?

Pearse Butler, former Trust Chair, submitted the nomination. We do not have any further details of the nomination that we can share with you. 

Westmorland General Hospital in Kendal is excellent, why is it not used for more patients? Why has it no A+E operating fully? Whatever is the reason that surgeons give for not wanting to be full-time available for the WGH? WGH is underused while Lancaster Royal Infirmary is overcrowded!

WGH does not have (and never has had) a fully functioning A and E. It may have been named as such in the past, but does not have all the necessary support services, nor see enough serious patients to ensure colleagues would remain skilled enough to treat people safely. However, we are planning to expand the use of WGH for day surgery/elective care to make full use of the excellent facilities we have there. 

Whilst the proposed ICU closure, resulting from the Enforcement notice issued in March by NHS England against LSCICB, is rightly a hot local issue, you will be aware that those with complex needs whose care is funded by CHC are being targeted by a private profit-making company acting for the ICB, evidently incentivised to impose savage cuts. There appears no parity of esteem, with the autistic and learning disabled evidently being disproportionately targeted, their Well Managed and complex care needs being re-assessed away, becoming social care needs at the touch of a keyboard 200 miles away, thereby freeing the ICB of their financial obligation. What please is the view of the trust? 

As you note, we are a local service provider and as such the Trust has not been asked to provide any opinion on the ICB or their conduct. We are commissioned by the ICB to provide hospital and community services to all the public across the Morecambe Bay area but have not been asked to provide an organisational opinion. 

We will work with the ICB to secure the best outcomes we can for all patients.  

Here is some information about work around the ICB and health inequalities. See page 7 of the document: Work around health inequalities 

There is also some information on the ICB website around health inequalities and this page specific to Autism and Learning Disabilities.LSC Integrated Care Board: Learning disabilities and autism 

My question relates to the closure of the ICU at Furness. I have had many complaints from former constituents, and members of the armed forces family. Also from elderly residents who are unable to get to Lancaster easily. 

The ICU at Furness General Hospital is not closing. It has temporarily reduced its care to Level One and Two ICU care only, not level Three care, the most serious level of care requiring support to two or more organs that have failed. 

This was a temporary measure put in by the Trust due to the inability to recruit enough consultant specialists to run an eight-person rota (we only have three full-time members of the team). The ICB have expressed an intention to make this a permanent commissioning position, after two independent reports, but have begun a series of engagement events across the community to speak to the public about this issue.  

The Trust and ICB are attended the Westmorland and Furness Council’s Health Overview Scrutiny Committee on 24 September to present the evidence used to base the intention on. 

How can UHMBT influence the Dept of Health to provide more resources to run our local hospitals? Local managers are making cuts to service, (specifically ICU at Barrow), at a time when the area's population is going through a growth spurt. This places managers in an impossible situation, trying to reduce services, consult with the public, whilst the demand for services will grow. 

The ICU at Furness General Hospital is not closing. It has temporarily reduced its care to Level One and Two ICU care only, not level Three care, the most serious level of care requiring support to two or more organs that have failed. 

This was a temporary measure put in by the Trust due to the inability to recruit enough consultant specialists to run an eight-person rota (we only have three full-time members of the team). The ICB have expressed an intention to make this a permanent commissioning position, after two independent reports, but have begun a series of engagement events across the community to speak to the public about this issue.  

The Trust and ICB are attended the Westmorland and Furness Council’s Health Overview Scrutiny Committee on 24 September to present the evidence used to base the intention on. 

1. What assessment has been undertaken of the impact on interdependent services at FGH (maternity, acute paediatrics, full A&E), and what mitigation measures are proposed? 

2. How will the removal of Level 3 provision affect the sustainability of Level 1 and 2 care at FGH? 

3. Has the new stabilisation-and-transfer service model been fully defined and tested with the Clinical Senate? 

4. What recruitment strategies have been tried to sustain Level 3 staffing, and what further options remain? 

5. Why was capacity prioritised at RLI over FGH, given Barrow’s geographical isolation? 

The ICU at Furness General Hospital is not closing. It has temporarily reduced its care to Level One and Two ICU care only, not level Three care, the most serious level of care requiring support to two or more organs that have failed. 

This was a temporary measure put in by the Trust due to the inability to recruit enough consultant specialists to run an eight-person rota (we only have three full-time members of the team). The ICB have expressed an intention to make this a permanent commissioning position, after two independent reports, but have begun a series of engagement events across the community to speak to the public about this issue.  

The Trust and ICB are attended the Westmorland and Furness Council’s Health Overview Scrutiny Committee on 24 September to present the evidence used to base the intention on. 

There have been several questions relating to the removal from office of two UHMB Governors including from the former Governors themselves, David Wilton and George Butler. 

Response to Questions relating to their removal from office were raised at the AMM last year. The questions are essentially repeating the comments of previous correspondence or matters to which the Trust has already replied, including responses to our Local MPs. Therefore, we will not be responding to any of the specific points raised. 

Numerous complaints about the two individuals led to their suspension, an independent investigation and a decision by the Council of Governors to remove them from office - all of this under external legal advice to ensure process and the requirements of the Constitution were followed. This was reinforced by NHS England who stated they were satisfied and assured that there was no failure of governance or deviation/ breach from the Constitution. To be clear, the suspension and subsequent investigation and outcome were related to complaints about behaviour and conduct; and in no way linked to the two Governors raising questions about any issues at our Trust.  

We actively encourage Governors to raise issues and seek assurance that we are learning and improving, and our current Governors do this regularly. We appreciate that the outcome is difficult for the individuals to accept. However, the decision to remove the individuals from office was made by the Council of Governors. It is essential that our Governors are allowed the space and opportunity to self-govern. Interventions from the Chair or any other Trust colleague or external organisation would undermine the sovereignty of the Council and their ability to fulfil their over-riding role in holding the non-executive directors to account for the performance of the board of directors and to represent the interests of NHS Foundation Trust members and of the public. 

David and George raised a series of questions regarding the disclosure of the Inquest into Ida Lock

The Ida Lock inquest was opened in 2021 and concluded in 2025. In that timeframe there were other reviews taking place, including Trauma and Orthopaedics, Niche Review into Urology and CQC Inspections and Well led Reviews. In summary, the questions seek to clarify if details of the ongoing Inquest were shared with the reviewers.  

The amount of information we can share depends on the timing and the sort of information. 

It is the Coroner’s role to reach a conclusion about the medical cause of death and how the Deceased came about their death and the role of the parties involved to provide any relevant evidence to assist them in this task. 

It would not be appropriate to make any comment that might be perceived as ‘putting a case’ or undermining the coronial process. 

Under the Trust CQC Registration and in accordance with its provider Licence, the Trust shared that an Inquest was ongoing with both the CQC and NHSE. The Coroner gave an instruction that placed limitations on how much information NHSE, CQC and UHMB could share. This was because NHSE, CQC and UHMB were all interested parties to the Inquest, who submitted written evidence and attended to give oral evidence 

The Terms of Reference for the Trauma and Orthopaedics review, the Niche Review into Urology and the Well led Reviews were very specific and the fact that there was an ongoing Inquest was not material to this work, and I would repeat my earlier comments not to act in such a way that might be detrimental to the coronial process. 

The Trust has published responses to the Trauma and Orthopaedics Review, Niche and the recent Inquest and these can all be found on the UHMB website.

The final question from David and George relates to recommendations made by the Niche Review regarding the Council of Governors.

Recommendation 50 related to Governor Development and reviewing the process for how Governors raise concerns. A programme of development has been completed and details of how to raise concerns are covered in the Governor Handbook and form part of the Governor induction. If any member of the public would like details of the escalation policy for Governors, we would be happy to share it. 

The Trust was promised a new hospital to replace RLI. The hospital will require extensive additional maintenance over the next 10 years. How will the maintenance budgets from FGH and WH? 

This remains a significant challenge for us. As we've stated publicly, the delay to the New Hospital Programme as it relates to the Royal Lancaster Infirmary (RLI) is deeply concerning — both for our local population and for us as a Trust. 

In response to the question, we are still in the early stages of addressing this. As Helen Cobb, Chief Financial Officer referenced in the financial report, our annual capital allocation typically ranges between £17 million and £20 million. However, we currently face capital demands in the region of £200 million — a tenfold difference. This means we must take a highly agile and risk-based approach to how we allocate our capital. 

We begin each year with a capital plan that is scrutinised by our Board in public, but we remain flexible throughout the year to respond to emerging risks. The long-term condition of the RLI estate is a concern, and should we begin to see signs of deterioration, we may need to re-prioritise our capital investments accordingly. 

That said, we will not simply divert all capital from Furness General Hospital (FGH) or Westmorland General Hospital (WGH) to RLI. Any decisions will be made based on assessed risk at the time. 

In parallel, we are working closely with national teams and exploring alternative approaches to address the challenges at the RLI site. This includes engaging with partners to identify opportunities that could help mitigate the estate risks over time. 

What we can assure is that there will be no stockpiling of capital for RLI. All decisions will continue to be made in a transparent, risk-based, and balanced manner.

Some of the questions were very personal questions about a patient experience – these were passed to the patient experience team to be responded to appropriately and are not included here.