The Trust Board is committed to openness and transparency, and members of our local communities are welcome to observe meetings of the Board of Directors that are held in public.

Please read the important information here on options available for observing our Board meetings in public, noting in particular the advance registration requirement for observing in person.

We welcome questions from members of the public arising directly from the papers presented to each Board meeting, which can be submitted via the Trust’s website following each meeting. To ensure we manage the questions in as timely a way as possible, the following arrangements will apply:

Any questions that do not relate directly to a Board agenda should be addressed to the Freedom of Information Office – please email sath.foi@nhs.net.

Please use the form above or send your question by post to:

Trust Chair
The Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital NHS Trust
Trust Headquarters Office
Mytton Oak Road
Shrewsbury
SY3 8XQ

The Chair will decide whether a question/response needs further discussion or clarification at a future meeting of the Board of Directors.

The questioner’s name and question and the Trust’s response will be published on the Trust’s website.

The decision of the Chair on whether to accept a question and how it should be answered will be final.

It is important that the questions we receive from our public are not only answered but are also used to inform the way we engage with our communities going forward. To this end, a summary of questions and themes will be presented to Trust Board as part of our regular Public Participation update.

Furthermore, the Trust has engaged with the public on the development of a Public Participation Plan. From this, a Public Assurance Forum has been established with public representative and Trust members. Summaries and themes from public questions are also taken to this group to help shape future developments and strategies at SaTH. This allows informed and engaged discussions between representatives of the public and senior leaders at SaTH in a truly meaningful way. The work of this Group is also reported back to the Board each quarter.

A question may be rejected if it:

1. is not about a matter relevant to the previous Board of Directors’ meeting
2. is about a matter for which the Trust is not responsible
3. is defamatory, frivolous or offensive
4. it would be too expensive or take too much staff resource to deal with the question (as per Freedom of Information guidelines)
5. is substantially the same as a question asked within the last six months (in which case the questioner will be directed to the previous response)
6. requests the disclosure of information which is confidential or exempt by virtue of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
7. names, or clearly identifies, a member of staff, patient or any other individual.
8. Is an issue about an individual’s patient care. Where appropriate the patient will be asked whether they are happy for this to be directed to the Trust’s PALS team or Complaint’s Procedure
9. requests the disclosure of information which is confidential or exempt by virtue of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
10. names, or clearly identifies, a member of staff, patient or any other individual. Where appropriate these may be directed to the Trust’s Complaint’s Procedure