Meet the governors: Have your say on multi-million pound rebuild of KGH

KGH's lead governor is urging people to get involved and have their say as the hospital prepares for its multi-million pound redevelopment.

The governors at KGH have teamed up with the Northants Telegraph to give our readers an insight into their role and the work they do.

Lead governor Professor Peter Woolliscroft, who looks after the Kettering area, has written the fourth in a series of pieces about the governors which we will be bringing to you in the coming weeks.

Talking about the re-development of KGH, Prof Wolliscroft said: "In this our fourth edition, we would like to talk a little about a significant change to our hospital and that is the re-development of KGH.

"The government has provisionally set aside over £350 million for the job of developing the existing site on Rothwell Road, Kettering.

"To help the hospital in this mammoth task a team of hospital planners have been employed and are busily looking at how best to achieve this task so proper consultation can take place prior to the hospital board making the decision later in the year.

"It is key that you, the citizens who use the service, have an opportunity to offer your views and to achieve this a specialist firm of communication experts have been employed and will

in due course be providing opportunities for everyone to participate.

"This exciting opportunity comes on the back of funding for a new Urgent Care Hub which we hope will overcome the present shortcoming with the existing A&E physical layout and

capacity, despite which the A&E service performed exceptionally during the peak of the Covid outbreak.

"Governors will be deeply involved over the coming months working with the trust to ensure members and users' views are presented in the most effective manner so please make sure

you contact your local governor and make your views known, also watch out for consultation opportunities from the trust.

"It’s your hospital, make sure you have your say."

There are 25 governors on the KGH Council, including 13 public elected governors representing the four districts in which the majority of patients live: Kettering, Corby, Wellingborough and East Northants and one governor representing the rest of the UK.

A key role of the council of governors is to hold the non-executive directors, both individually and collectively, to account for the performance of the board of directors and to represent the interests of NHS foundation trust members, staff and the public.

To read last week's piece with the governors, click hereThe Northants Telegraph will be hearing from more of the governors in the coming weeks and if you have any questions to put to them, email them to [email protected]

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