The event is organised annually to share updates and information about the Trust's performance. Members, patients, staff and the local community are all welcome to attend.
The agenda is delivered by the Trust's executive team with special presentations from guest speakers and an update from the Governors. Guests can submit questions in advance.
This year’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Marketplace took place on Tuesday 30 September at Southend Hospital’s Education Centre
The meeting included a showcase presentation about the Innovation Fellowship. Nurse Gemma Read, who saw her innovative idea brought to life in the form of an App for Health Care Assistants, explained how this had been developed and implemented. We also heard updates on developments in Robotic Surgery and Acute Medicine.
Has the Trust introduced a system to ensure all clinic letters are delivered to their patients’ general practitioners?
There is continuing improvement work to digitalise and automate timely clinical correspondence.
There are 7 legacy dictation and letter systems in place across MSE. These are being decommissioned with the rollout of a new software platform for digital dictation and letter generation (DIT 3). The Digital Dictation and Speech recognition (DDSR) project board is overseeing the digital transformation and decommissioning of the legacy systems.
The Trust generates a very large volume of clinical correspondence with some variability in performance amongst divisions. The oversight of any backlog/delays in the sending of clinical letters takes place within the regular divisional accountability meetings.
Will the Trust ensure that cancer patients are given suitable supportive care after their discharge from hospital?
We consider continuity of care from hospital to the community as a central part of the cancer care journey. Many patients admitted to hospital are unwell from their cancer symptoms and or the treatment side effects, impacting them physically and mentally with many other factors affected that impact on the quality of life. Much input is needed from the whole multidisciplinary team across both the acute trust and out into the community in order to ensure that patients have a good experience. There are currently several avenues of work being curated to ensure that we review pathways and work collaboratively with the patients in codesigning cancer services.
Immediate focus is being placed on the ‘Improving Cancer Journeys’ a programme led by Macmillan and UCL Partners in conjunction with MSE and the community services. For both health and social care – the main focus is seamless pathways, end to end care, designated (and available/responsive) points of contact, bolstered cancer information and support services - all supported with a digital undertone to assist the transition through the journey. We understand that being a cancer patient is not a straightforward process - we want to be able to offer personalised cancer care.
The Cancer Patient Experience Survey for 2024 results have just been launched- we will be working with a patient led focus group to analyse the findings and review areas of practice that need to be improved upon, duplicate areas of care where practice is good - whilst looking for ideas and innovation from our patients and their loved ones in shaping the services you know are needed.
The Cancer Stewardship programme will support the collaborative working.
Does the Trust have a timetable for the implementation of ‘The Insightful Provider Board’ as described on the NHSE 12/12/24 – if so, how will the Trust involve patients and governors in the monitoring process?
The Insightful Provider Board is guidance aimed at supporting boards, to turn data into useful insight. The guide was developed to help boards act on the information they receive, and how they may use it for planning, monitoring and seeking assurance about progress. The suggested measures include performance against the objectives in the strategy and annual plan, contributions to local system plans, and compliance with regulatory requirements and others.
The following are some examples of the Trust’s practices in line with the guide:
The Trust is also in the process of completing an annual self-assessment which assesses the organisation’s capability against a range of expectations based on the Insightful Provider Board guidance. The self-assessment will be submitted to NHS England on 22 October 2025.
The Council of Governors receives Trust Performance Reports at its formal meetings, Governor Observers attend Committee meetings, governors were involved in Trust strategy sessions and will have a dedicated session on annual planning.
The Patient Engagement Group (which governors also sit on) focuses on listening to patients, carers and the wider community about their experiences and monitors progress against Trust’s Patient and Carer Experience Strategy. The Patient Experience Team run a Patient Listening Event Every Month, and work with individual services developing bespoke surveys for patients where needed, to ensure that the patients voice is heard.
What bereavement support is offered to families by the Trust?
At MSE Hospitals, we pride ourselves on the bereavement support available to relatives. If a loved one has died within MSE hospitals, a bereavement care pack is given to their relatives at the time of death. This pack contains a detailed booklet of the next steps involved including obtaining the death certificate and helping families navigate the immediate process.
We have a dedicated family telephone line, which means that our bereaved families can call us directly instead of having to go through switchboard. This streamlines communication and reduces additional stress for families. All our staff within our bereavement team have completed the advanced communications course with Saint Francis Hospice which has provided us with the skill set to talk to bereaved families.
Our support is flexible and varies per person. We offer ongoing telephone contact for as long as the relative feels it is helpful. If during this time, it becomes clear that their needs go beyond what we can provide, we will signpost them to appropriate counselling services. Where needed, we can also assist in completing referrals. Often relatives will say that they have found our conversations really helpful and supported them in their early stages of grief, and they are able to go onto using community services.
We work closely with the charity ‘The Good Grief Trust’ which is a national charity that provides a wide range of bereavement resources and access to local and national support services via their online platform. We provide additional support to relatives who are identified as being particularly vulnerable or in need of extra care following a bereavement.
To ensure families are well supported within their communities, we have compiled a comprehensive directory of bereavement support services available across the MSE area. This includes face to face bereavement peer support groups. Relatives often find this helpful to meet others going through the same as them, and we can guide and support them into attending.
You can view historical slide packs and our annual reports on our publications and reports page.
Please email mse.members@nhs.net if you are interested in becoming a member and attending this event in the future.