Trust membership
Membership is open to anyone aged over twelve years, within public, service user, carer or staff categories. Staff who are permanently employed by the Trust or hold a fixed term contract of at least twelve months, are automatically registered as members unless they choose to opt out. During 2023/24, no members of staff opted out of Trust membership.
Eligibility to become a member of the Trust is based on criteria as described below:
- Public member: based on local authority area in the given location.
- Service user or carer member: open to anyone who has been an inpatient or outpatient within the previous five years, or a carer of such a former service user.
- Staff member: currently employed by the Trust on a permanent contract or a fixed term contract of at least twelve months.
- Stakeholder member: represents the interests of a key partner.
The benefits to being a member of the Trust include:
- Receiving regular updates on local mental health, learning disability and autism services.
- Receiving copies of the Better Together magazine, which contains news from Lincolnshire and further afield, with the magazine available in print or online.
- Being invited to attend Trust events, open days, drop-in sessions and informational events.
- Being able to provide feedback through a range of questionnaires, surveys and consultation events (both online and in person).
- Voting on the representatives to sit on the Council of Governors or standing for election as a Trust Governor.
- Having direct contact with Governors, to ensure views are taken into account when decisions are made on the future direction of services.
The Trust strives to ensure that its membership reflects the full diversity of the local population, in terms of age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, ethnic background, religion and belief. Membership is open to all those eligible, regardless of any protected characteristic specified by the Equality Act 2010.
Our focus will always be on the quality of our engagement with members rather than quantity of members with whom we engage. The membership was impacted as a result of the pandemic (March 2020 to March 2022), whereby members were not able to join us face-to-face for any meetings, and we were not attending face-to-face recruitment events/sessions.
As more engagement opportunities, including face-to-face meetings and internal/external events, take place, we have begun to see a gradual increase in the membership.
Membership figures
The following table highlights the Trust’s membership figures from 31 March 2019 to March 2024:
| March 2019 | March 2020 | March 2021 | March 2022 | March 2023 | March 2024 | |
| Public members | 6310 | 6281 | 6128 | 5831 | 5554 | 5277 |
| Service user and carer | 1533 | 1486 | 1450 | 1374 | 1333 | 1271 |
| Staff members | 2101 | 2072 | 2126 | 2165 | 2374 | 2832 |
| Total members | 9944 | 9839 | 9704 | 9370 | 9261 | 9380 |
Membership development and engagement strategy
In 2023/24 work continued in line with the Governor and Membership Strategy and its supporting delivery
plan.
The strategy outlines the Trust’s objectives for governors and membership and the required approach to ensure the organisation continually strives to develop membership. It outlines plans for promoting membership and for the recruitment, retention and involvement of members. A detailed action plan to deliver the strategy has been developed and is monitored by the Council of Governors’ Representation Committee.
The membership database is regularly reviewed to ensure that the membership is representative in line with Census data 2021. Specific groups that appear to be underrepresented are targeted in recruitment campaigns, in order to seek to increase membership representation in these areas.
The Council of Governors’ Representation Committee logs, addresses and responds to ideas, innovations and issues raised by members and its work is publicly reported at the Council of Governors’ meetings. The Council of Governors and Board of Directors have a public question time scheduled as part of their respective meetings where Trust members and members of the public can submit questions in advance. Through its governance structures the Trust will continue to be responsive to the needs of the membership and wider community.
Public events, which are attended in person or online by governors, provide information about local mental health, learning disability and autism services. They also create a forum for both members and the general public to speak with governors regarding Trust services and any feedback.
To ensure regular communication with members, the Trust implements several feedback mechanisms, these include the Trust’s Better Together magazine, website, membership events, the annual public meeting and the use of social media. Staff members are kept up to date with the activities of the staff governors through updates on the Trust’s intranet.
Service user and carer involvement
Service user and carer involvement in the Trust has taken many forms, with the key intention of helping to shape and improve local services and the care environment. We have outlined the work of our participation team earlier in the performance section, however our membership and involvement of service users and carers in this way is vitally important.
Members can attend and contribute to a wide range of activities including staff recruitment, meetings, and working groups, bringing their particular expertise to both team level decision making and also to an organisational wide level; some of these involvement activities are detailed as follows:
- Staff employment - service users and carers are regularly involved in the recruitment and selection processes for staff - from shortlisting applicants, interviewing potential candidates to assisting with the subsequent appointment of a new staff member.
- Interest groups - individuals (not necessarily Trust members), are canvassed for their opinions through focus groups, research studies, working parties and surveys.
- Governor election information sessions - information sessions held for prospective new governors.
- Member recruitment events - range of events held throughout the county to actively promote the Trust and mental health services with a view to recruiting new members.
- New governor induction sessions - designed to support newly appointed governors immediately following their election, to help familiarise them with the workings of the Trust.
Membership information can be downloaded from the Trust’s website or by contacting:
Website: www.
Telephone: 01522 309176
Email: lpft.
Post: FREEPOST RUEL-EKKT-EBAS, Membership Office, Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust,
Trust Headquarters, St George’s, Long Leys Road, Lincoln, LN1 1FS.
