The Friends  of Guy’s Hospital Annual Report 2006

Chairman’s Report

There have been no major developments in thea past year. We were originally told that the new shop would be completed in June 2006, but it will not now be ready until the end of March 2007. We still do not know how much it will cost to fit out the shop in addition to the £75,000 we have agreed to contribute to its construction. I am most grateful to Tom Barr of Wragge & Co, Solicitors who are advising us on the terms of the lease. We are very grateful to our President, Lord Harris, for introducing the shop fitter, Chris Tame of Concept Projects Management Services who has been particularly helpful with suggestions about fittings, obtaining quotations and liaising with the architect and planners. We have agreed almost all the details with Thomas Hetherwick and Tom Chapman-Andrews of Hetherwick Studios who are the architects for the Face project, and we look forward to seeing it completed. It would all be for nothing were it not for the ladies who work in the shop, which makes a substantial contribution to our funds. We are very grateful for their work and I am sure they will appreciate their new working environment.

Apart from occasional bequests, which by their very nature are random and episodic, the two other main sources of income are the Galleria and the Christmas raffle. The Galleria is not as successful as it was. The changed role of activity on the Guy's site has considerably reduced the number of people visiting the Galleria and several traders have withdrawn, because they are not covering their costs. This seems likely to get worse, so we have decided to reduce the daily charge by keeping it the same throughout the year. I hope this will retain our existing traders and perhaps even induce others to return. It will reduce our income, but I hope it will prevent further erosion.

We benefited from a most enjoyable charity concert in December, organised by Rod Franks, the Principal Trumpeter of the London Symphony Orchestra and a patient of Professor Gleeson.

The Christmas raffle was one of the outstanding successes of the year thanks to Pat Hutton, who wrote hundreds of letters with a very good response. We are very grateful to all the donors for their generosity and I think you will agree that the prizes were truly amazing. The total raised with the Christmas Fair was £10,350, the best ever.

We continued with the distribution of small grants, details of which are in the financial report. This included our usual Christmas grant and contribution to flowers for the chapel. Since we had not made any major grants during the year, we increased the block grant for research from £20,000 to £43,800 and this year and we have agreed to another £40,000. A small sub-committee, chaired by Professor Challacombe, has done an outstanding job in reviewing grant applications. I think it is true to say that all or almost all were of a very high academic standard, making the choice difficult; but of one of our major criteria is the need to demonstrateof that there must be some clear benefit to patients, which as a consequence excludes much basic research. I have left the best news about our grants to last. Last year I told you that Professor Fentiman was in a position to start using the Intrabeam per-operative radiotherapy machine for breast cancer with equipment bought by the Friends in 2004. I was premature, but all the arrangements are now in place and the first patient is due towill be treated on February 14th.

I would like to announce with regret that Mr. Michael Watson has resigned from the Committee, as he felt he could no longer contribute in the way as he would have wished. I have written to thank him for his work as a member of Committee and as Vice Chairman, and I am particularly pleased to announce that Mr Omar Shaheen has agreed to become Vice Chairman, Hhe has been a great support to me in the past year.  Professor Jack Rowe and Judge Suzanne Coates have also retired from the Committee and we are very grateful for their input over the years. We welcome Ms Meg Skelly, who has recently retired from the Guy’s Dental School, and kindly agreed to join the Committee. I am very grateful to all the members of the Committee for their contribution and support, and particularly to Peter Hiscock, who has been especially helpful with our IT problems, and Keith Jeremiah who continues to keep our finances in impeccable order.

The Friends’ Shop

As the chairman says in his report, the shop generates a substantial income for the Friends. This email is from our “regulars” Winifred, who works at Borough Market:

I would just like to comment on what a delight it is to call into your shop.  I pop in most days during the week before going to work and everyone is so friendly.  I have bought several good items over a period of time and I love the variety you have to offer, you never know quite what will be available which adds to the appeal every time I visit.

It makes my morning to see the friendly staff whom I have a good rapport with before I call into work.  Keep up the good work.

And this letter is from one of our past regulars

“Why I miss the Friends of Guy’s Shop”

I no longer work on the Guy’s Campus and the thing I miss the most, as I always knew I would, is The Shop.

Why do I miss it so much?  Well, I am not denying that it was handy to have a local supply of flowers, milk, soft drinks, snacks and stamps but that is not what makes The Shop unique. 

Certainly I miss the fabulous vintage clothes.  The Shop receives many donations but only the finest reach the rails, selected from the mass by the discriminating eyes of Pat and Rene.  The quality of the clothes is exceptional and the prices affordable.  My limited clothes allowance does not go nearly so far in TopShop or H&M.

But it is not just the clothes that I miss so badly.  I miss the feeling of virtue that buying the clothes used to give me.  It was the perfect excuse to be a clothesaholic.  These days when I purchase from the high street chains I am dismally aware that the only reason I can afford to buy a jumper or skirt is that they are probably the product of cheap, sweated labour – factory conditions that I should not really support.  I am not saying that all of the clothes in the shop have been made in ideal conditions but at least I had the satisfaction of knowing that my money was going towards hospital patients’ welfare.  As if that weren’t enough, I gloried in the pleasure of recycling. Surely the world’s precious resources should be thoroughly enjoyed before being consigned to landfill.

More than all of the above I miss the people.  I used to really enjoy the great welcome I got from Pat, Rene and their family of colleagues.

My new year’s resolution (I am always a few months late) is to go to bed earlier so that I can visit The Shop before work – it opens at 7.30 am.  Things are looking up.

Liz Ivory

How the Friends’ Money is Spent

We receive thanks from those in the hospital whose departments have benefited from Friend’s donations. Here are some letters received.

Seating in the Orthopaedic Department

Thanks to the Friends of Guy’s generosity, we have been able to provide some of our Orthopaedic Patients with much more safe and comfortable seating than was previously in place. I received feedback on our old style chairs' regarding lack of arm rests to aid standing and the low height of the chairs, and I applied to the Friends for funding. Since, we have received some new and suitable chairs for Orthopaedic chairs we have had extremely positive feedback from patients.

What is more satisfying is watching patients able to stand independently without the difficulties experienced in the past.

The Orthopaedic Department is extremely grateful for the contributions made to date from the Friends as are all of our long standing patients with compromised mobility.

Regards

Sally Cooper

Sister Orthopaedic OPD & Fracture Clinic

Ground Floor TGH, Guys

Friend’s of Guy’s gift helps advance nerve research.

Last year the Friend’s of Guy’s donated £2,100 to purchase a liquid nitrogen storage cylinder for the Department of Clinical Neuroscience at Guy’s Hospital.  This cylinder allows us to carefully freeze and store the white blood cells from patients taking part in our research projects.  By gently lowering the temperature of the cells in a special preservative we can keep them alive indefinitely and then study them in the laboratory.  When the cells are thawed they still behave almost normally and respond to chemicals to which the patient is sensitive. 

We were interested to discover the cause of two peripheral nerve diseases, one called Guillain-Barré syndrome, is the commonest cause of acute neuromuscular paralysis throughout the western world.  We found that the white blood cells from patients in the acute stage of this disease were sensitive to chemicals, called antigens, in the peripheral nerve sheaths.  Interestingly the type of response was not the one which we expected.  There are two types of response, one inflammatory and the other regulatory.  We found that the response was regulatory and probably marks the attempt by the body’s immune system to put right the inflammation in the nerves.  Most recently Dr Lara Sanvito, a visiting research fellow from Italy, has repeated these experiments on a related disorder, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy.  She also found the regulatory type of response in the white blood cells from these patients, but they responded to a different antigen in the peripheral nerve sheath than those from Guillain-Barré syndrome.

Greater knowledge about the details of the inflammatory responses helps us to design better treatments for patients with nerve diseases.  Guy’s has led clinical trials in Guillain-Barré syndrome over the past 25 years.  We are now leading the major international clinical trial of an immunosuppressive agent called methotrexate for chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy.  The Friends of Guy’s Hospital have kindly supported our research on several occasions and we take this opportunity of thanking you for your support.

Ian Gray and Professor Richard Hughes

Executive Committee’s Report of the Activities

The Executive Committee is pleased to present their report together with the financial statements of the Charity for the year ended 30th September 2006.

Legal and administrative information set out on the last page forms part of this report. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in note 1 and comply with the Charity’s Articles of Constitution, and the Charities Act 1993.

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Constitution

The Friends of Guy’s Hospital is a registered Charity number 264150. The Charity was formed by an amalgamation of The Guild of Ex-Patient and Friends of Guy’s Hospital, and Guy’s Hospital Ladies Association, and traces its origin back to 1895. The Charity’s governing documents are its Articles of Constitution.

Organisational Structure

The Executive Committee who served during the year are set out in the Charity’s Legal and Administrative Information. Associate members of the Committee are appointed by the Executive Committee. The Committee meets four times a year to administer the charity and at each annual general meeting one third of committee members retire from office and may be reappointed. A secretary, Mrs Pat Hutton, is appointed by the Committee to manage the day-to-day operations of the Charity.

No Committee members had any contract or arrangement of a material nature with the Charity during the year under review.

Induction and Training of Executive Committee Members

A process of induction for new members is being devised, which will include meetings with staff and the provision of key information, including the following:

·         Mission Statement and Policy

·         Key Contacts

·         Role Description

·         Duties and Responsibilities

Relationships with Affiliated Organisations

The Charity has a wholly owned subsidiary, The Friends of Guy’s Trading Company Limited, which operates the shop in the grounds of Guy’s Hospital selling flowers, gifts, second hand clothes and sundry items in order to raise funds for the Charity.

Risk management

The Executive Committee actively review the major risks to which the Charity is exposed on a regular basis and confirm that systems have been established to mitigate those risks.  A high proportion of income arises from fundraising and the Executive Committee regularly monitor the progress of fundraising through the year.

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

The Charity provides amenities for patients and staff.  Medical research is also supported and substantial grants are made for works of improvement which benefit patients, staff and visiting relatives.  The Charity is able, from time to time, to purchase medical and surgical equipment which Guy's Hospital is not able to buy from its own budget.

Main objectives for the year

The main objectives for the year were to continue to make grants for research, medical equipment and amenities for the benefit of patients, staff and visiting relatives.  A list of grants made is shown in note 4 of the financial statements.

Strategies for achieving objectives

The strategy of maintaining a high profile for the Friends within the hospital and therefore to maximise incoming resources was achieved by various fundraising activities during the year, including the Christmas Fair and raffle, hire of the galleria and encouraging the renewal of subscriptions.

Review of activities

The main fundraising activities of the Charity during the year were the hire of the galleria to outside traders, running stalls at the Christmas Fair and other events at the hospital during the year.  Income from these activities rose by over £1,000 compared to 2005, much of which was due to the success of the Christmas raffle.

The financial statements for the year ended 30th September 2006 show net outgoing resources of £13,345 (2005: net incoming resources of £84,318). The Executive Committee closely monitor the financial position of the Charity throughout the year.

Subscriptions and donations amounted to £26,154 (2005: £32,049). £18,000 (2005: £15,000) was donated from the Charity’s subsidiary, from the sale of goods in the Friends’ shop.   The higher donation was possible due to an increase in the subsidiary’s net profit from £16,157 in 2005 to £18,760 in 2006.

Legacies receivable for the year were £19,415 (2005: £41,012) and investment and deposit account interest £28,275 (2005: £27,820).

Reserves policy

The Friends of Guys Hospital have a reserve policy of holding £400,000 because of the uncertain timing of their income and expenditure.  A large part of the income comes from legacies and donations which by their nature are irregular and uncertain.  Conversely it is obliged to manage the uncertain nature of grant applications which can include very expensive items of medical equipment where additional specific contributions can sometimes be obtained from wealthy benefactors provided the Friends themselves are in a position to match the donors funds.  Holding a substantial reserve ensures the Friends are always in a position to maximize the benefit it is able to provide to the Hospital and the Medical and Dental Faculty of the embedded University.  However the Friends are also faced with considerable expenditure in the foreseeable future in respect of the cost of reconstructing their shop premises which provides a steady core annual income for the Charity.  Reconstruction is expected to occur during 2006/07 and therefore the Charity’s unrestricted funds at the year end are at the higher level of £724,240.

Investment powers

Under the Articles of Constitution, the Charity has the power to make any investment which the Executive Committee sees fit.

Plans for future periods

The key objectives for the following financial year are to ensure the smooth transition of the activities of the Charity’s subsidiary when it starts to trade in the new shop, which is currently under construction.  Negotiations are currently taking place with the owners of the site with regard to the lease terms.

Responsibilities of members of the Executive Committee

The Articles of Constitution requires the members of the Executive Committee to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the surplus or deficit of the charity for that period.  In preparing those financial statements the members of the Executive Committee are required to:

SY  - Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;

SY  - Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

SY  - State whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and

SY  - Prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the company will continue in business.

The members of the Executive Committee are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and which enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 1993.  They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Statement as to disclosure of information to auditors

So far as the Executive Committee are aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the Charity’s auditors are unaware, and each member has taken all the steps that he or she ought to have taken as a member in order to make himself or herself aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the Charity’s auditors are aware of that information.

Auditors

A resolution for the re-appointment of Wilkins Kennedy as auditors to the Charity will be submitted to the Annual General Meeting.

Approved by the Executive Committee and signed on their behalf by:

Dr. M. O’Brien MD FRCP

Chairman

Guy's Hospital,

St. Thomas Street,

London, SE1 9RT.                

18^th January 2007                                        

Accounts

The following pages are taken from the accounts audited by Wilkins Kennedy, Bridge House, London Bridge, SE1 9QR, a copy of which is available for inspection upon request to the secretary. and which are also available on the Friends’ web site (www.friendsofguys.org.uk).

Statement of Financial Activities for the Year ended 30th September 2006

Balance Sheet as at 30^th September 2006

Approved by the committee on 18^th January 2007

Dr. M O’Brien - Chairman

K Jeremiah – Treasurer

Related party transactions

During the year the Charity received a donation of £18,000 from its wholly owned subsidiary, The Friends of Guy’s Trading Company Limited. At the year end an amount of £6,849 was receivable from The Friends of Guy’s Trading Company Limited.  The amount is interest free and without a fixed repayment date.

Non charitable trading activities - net income

The Charity has a wholly owned subsidiary, The Friends of Guy’s Trading Company Limited, which is incorporated in the UK.  The company runs a shop in the grounds of Guy’s Hospital selling flowers and gifts.  A summary of the company’s trading results and the balance sheet are shown below.

Continuing operations

None of the company’s activities were acquired or discontinued during the above two financial years.

Total recognised gains and losses

The company has no recognised gains or losses other than the profit or loss for the above two financial years.

Individual research, medical committee and amenities grants committed (unutilised / recovered) for the year ended 30th September 2006 are as follows:-

Research  grants

Medical Grants

Amenities grants

Funds

Automaton represents a grant made to the charity by Guy’s and St. Thomas’ Charitable Foundation for the purchase of an automated coin slot donations box for Guy’s Hospital.  The restricted fund reduces annually by the amount of depreciation associated with the asset originally acquired.

Joining the Friends

Anyone can join. You do not have to be an ex-patient, although many of our members are.

The minimum subscription is £5 a year, but extra donations are greatly appreciated and will enable the Charity to continue its good work in supporting the hospital, its patients and staff in so many ways that are not available though the NHS. Cheques and postal orders should be made payable to ‘The Friends of Guy’s Hospital’ and sent to

The Secretary,

The Friends of Guy’s Hospital,

Level 2, Thomas Guy House,

Guy’s Hospital,

London,

SE1 9RT.

Information regarding Gift Aid and Legacies can be obtained from the Secretary as above (Telephone : 020 7407 1058 or 020 7188 2465).

THE FRIENDS OF GUY'S HOSPITAL

LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Executive committee

President:

Lord Harris of Peckham

Vice Presidents:

Chairman:

Dr. M. O’Brien MD FRCP

Other Members:

Mrs. A. Franklin

(co-opted member until July 2006, full member thereafter)

Published by

The Friends of Guy’s Hospital

Level 2, Thomas Guy House, Guy’s Hospital

St. Thomas’ Street, London SE1 9RT

Charity Registration Number : 264150