2008 Annual Review. Page 3. Chairman's and CEO's Reports
CHAIRMAN'S REPORT
It is a pleasure to introduce the Annual Report for 2008 because I believe despite a number of serious challenges we have emerged as a stronger organisation. During the year the Trustees made a number of strategic decisions which affect the future of St Luke's.
A decision was made in the autumn to withdraw our bid to purchase Clock Cottage because of a number of changed circumstances. It was discovered in July that the cost of refurbishing the cottage, to the same standard as the Grange, had risen during the time of my chairmanship by over 50% to something in the region of £8m. In addition, our reserves fell significantly in line with the general reduction in the value of investments due to the global recession and it was therefore decided that we could not embark on a large capital appeal to refurbish Clock Cottage.
St Luke's was unable to recruit sufficient nurses during 2008. By December we had eleven vacancies and in order to maintain the high standards of patient care the Trustees agreed to a reduction of some of our clinical services. At the same time, because our nursing salaries were uncompetitive for the area, significant increases in salaries were made to attract new nurses. This has resulted in improved recruitment during the first part of 2009.
Despite the global financial problems we were still able to maintain our main sources of income, except for legacies which fell by over £500K compared to last year. Our shops and fundraisers had to meet increased targets and still exceeded them. Donations continued to flow in a time of global recession. We were therefore, despite our many challenges, able to produce a small surplus for the year.
My thanks and congratulations to everyone involved in any capacity at St Luke's. Trustees, employees, volunteers, supporters and donors all had to make special efforts this year and I am proud and privileged to be Chairman of the Board of Trustees at this very important stage of St Luke's development.
John Carling
Chairman
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER'S REPORT
The embodiment of St Luke's is the dedication and commitment of its people, who have ensured that whatever the vicissitudes that we have had to face in the past months, the standard of care given to our patients and their families remained second to none. In this I pay tribute to all members of the multi-disciplinary clinical team and to those who support their work directly or indirectly. We have to work interdependently and everyone has risen magnificently to the challenges.
Despite the unremitting diet of gloom in the press and headlines of failure and despondency, the atmosphere at St Luke's has been one of cheerful determination to continue with our core mission, notwithstanding the set back of the decision to withdraw our offer for Clock Cottage. Much of our planning had been predicated on that acquisition and we have been preparing our strategies to take account of this significant change of direction. Elsewhere, we have achieved success in raising additional monies with new activities and through the unrelenting hard work of our shops company. We have had a clean bill of health from external inspections and assessments. There has been a welcome influx of new volunteers, bringing new talents and fresh enthusiasm for what we do.
I must echo the Chairman's thanks to everyone who has contributed to St Luke's success in 2008 and do so with confidence that the support of all of our people in whatever capacity will remain the bedrock for success in 2009.
Mike Coward
Chief Executive