Annual General Meeting 2025

Hello, my name is Antony and it’s both a privilege and a pleasure to be speaking to you as the new Chair of Leeds Teaching Hospitals. In the past two months since I’ve joined, I’ve been making it my priority to see first hand the great work going on across our seven hospitals. In every conversation with colleagues I’ve had since arriving here, I’ve been struck by consistent themes: resilience, compassion, determination. It’s these qualities that drive our people to provide the very best for their patients. It’s this spirit that gives me great confidence about our future. I want to share some of the insights I’ve learned from my meeting with teams during my first few weeks. It was a real opportunity when I got to speak to staff at the Emergency Department at St. James’s. I heard how teams are driving down ambulance handover times so that patients get timely care in their moment of greatest need. So much so that, within paramedic circles, our hospitals are gaining a reputation for really speedy transitions. At Seacroft Hospital, I was amazed by my visit to the site for the new Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease. This will be a truly world-leading facility. Every detail of this space has come about through an ongoing consultation so that this centre won’t just meet the needs of people with MND and their families, but will set a new national benchmark for care that others will follow. This is a national story, but it’s a dream that belongs to Leeds, and it’s one that Leeds deserves. Something else that’s special: our community diagnostic centres. I visited the centre at Seacroft to find out more about how it works there. But we also have others and Armley and Beeston, all of them serving the communities where they’re based. It’s a model that’s easy to understand: local care for local people. Why travel to our city centre sites when important diagnostic tests can be delivered in your own neighbourhood? It means we’re playing our part in the NHS 10-Year Plan, shifting care from the hospital to the community, making more options available on people’s doorsteps. I know our maternity and neonatal services are facing challenges, and it’s an area in which I’ve been working really hard to get up to speed on since I started. I’ve made it a priority to visit those services and to talk to the teams, the patients, and the families in person. I want to thank all my colleagues who shared with me openly the challenges that you face and the improvements that you’re driving. With our New Hospitals plan on hold, it was valuable to see how both services currently operate and how better estate layouts could further improve safety and patient flow. Visiting our wards looking after our older generation of patients, I learned how the nursing and catering teams have completely revamped meal times into a patient-centred service. Who knew that Doris’s Diner might become a hub of social activity for our patients and even recognised in national awards? I’ve been overwhelmed not only by how hard people are working, but by the creativity and the optimism that shines through. Staff want to do their best for their patients. And in my role as Chair, I’m determined to support that ambition in every way that I can. Reform is happening all around us and at scale. And we must see this as an opportunity to change to meet the challenges of the future to be a forerunner in the 10-Year Plan. In our journey ahead, we must continue to focus on what matters most: patient safety, the quality of care we provide, and pursuing our ambition to deliver services that are truly world-class. Our patients and their families deserve nothing less. At the same time, we must recognise that the best care comes from staff who feel supported, valued, and are empowered to thrive in their roles. My job is to make sure that every colleague across the Trust has the backing they need to deliver their very best work. There are great opportunities here. We have world-leading clinical expertise, pioneering research and staff with the energy and determination to make a real difference. Thank you.

Hello, my name is Brendan Brown and I’m pleased to introduce myself as the Chief Executive for an interim period here at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
 
I’d like to begin by acknowledging that the past year has brought significant challenge for our patients, for all of our services, and for our colleagues.
 
My role is to listen, to respond to the concerns that have been raised with us, and to lead the organisation forward.
 
I join the Trust with fresh eyes and ideas at this pivotal time and I really look forward to leading our teams into the next chapter, one where we focus on listening to and engaging with our patients and our colleagues.
 
In my short time in the Trust I’ve seen inspiring examples of real innovation and dedication.
 
It’s important that the many achievements over the past year should also be recognised.
 
But what I want to do is start with by recognising our significant maternity and neonatal challenges.
 
I’m going to begin by speaking directly to the families affected by poor maternity and neonatal care in our services in our hospitals. The stories that you’ve shared in the media are heartbreaking and I want to thank those families for their courage in sharing their story as I appreciate it cannot have been easy.
 
Whilst I’ve only just joined the Trust, I am now responsible for ensuring that we learn, improve, and rebuild trust. I am deeply sorry for the experience some of you have faced and I want you to know that improving quality and experience for our families and communities is my ultimate goal. This isn’t a platitude and it’s not something I’m saying lightly.
 
As a Trust we need to act on the concerns of the regulatory bodies that have been involved in our services including the Care Quality Commission and NHS England’s Maternity Safety Support Programme, and we welcome the announcement that we are one of the 14 Trusts taking part in the government’s maternity and neonatal investigation being led by Baroness Amos.
 
The most urgent actions from these reports have already started to be addressed which includes a focus on strengthening and increasing our maternity staffing levels and fixing key parts of our estate.
 
Over the next few months, we have more than 60 additional midwives joining us, including some extremely enthusiastic student midwives, who I’m pleased to say  are eager to make their mark in the profession.
 
Our Director of Midwifery Rukeya Miah, is going to detail more about the perinatal improvement plan that we have in place, together with first-hand accounts from a midwife and neonatal nurse in our video titled ‘Improving maternity care together’.
 
Please do take a moment to watch this if you can.
 
What I can say is that it’s our commitment to ensure every family feels safe, supported, listened to, and respected throughout their maternity journey, and we will work hard to make sure this happens. I am aware this hasn’t always happened before.
 
The challenges in maternity and neonatal care have rightly demanded our focus this year, and I know we have significant work to do to rebuild the trust of our communities.
 
I also want to draw attention to other aspects of the services that we offer to the people of Leeds and West Yorkshire. Whilst I reference numbers, behind every number is a patient, and their family, and their loved ones and I’m pleased to say we’ve delivered more than 1.2 million outpatient appointments across our seven hospitals and supported around 100,000 inpatient admissions over the past year.
 
More than 1,300 live research trials are ongoing, which is an incredible accomplishment, which means that patients are getting greater access to innovative and potentially life-changing treatments.
 
These are numbers to be proud of, and I’d like to take a moment to highlight some of our achievements during the year. Patient quality and safety is one of our main priorities and during the year, I can say that we have lowered waiting list numbers by 10,000 creating more opportunities for people to get seen far sooner and far quicker.
 
We’ve opened a new Centre for Laboratory Medicine at St. James’s creating a central diagnostic centre for the region that improves the speed and accuracy of patient tests.
 
Our aim is to be the greenest NHS Trust and during the year we’ve made great progress with what we’ve described as our Green Plan.
 
This included making it easier to return and recycle medicines and inhalers which alone has saved over 16 tons of CO2.
 
We’ve strengthened our partnership with Leeds City Council waste management sites so that more of the mobility aids we give to patients can be retrieved and then can be fixed and returned to good working order.
 
Not only is this greener, but it saves money and means patients have better access to equipment. Partnerships, alongside prevention, are key to supporting our patients through their healthcare journey.
 
And we’ve developed many important partnerships from frontline healthcare to inspiring innovation.
 
Embedding the HomeFirst programme has been one of these innovations, working with our community healthcare provider colleagues to provide more support to people in their own home, which is often the place that is best for their care. 1,200 hospital admissions weren’t needed and people needed to stay for less time in hospital with a reduction in and reducing length of stay by 17%.
 
We opened a £12 million elective care hub at Wharfedale Hospital in partnership with Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust. This creates more capacity for elective surgery away from the pressures of our two main sites.
 
This is just a snapshot of some of the work taking place in our hospitals and none of it would be possible without our 20,000 colleagues. Their resilience, compassion, and commitment to our patients, is central to everything that we do.
 
 And whilst I’ve yet to meet many of them face to face, I want to thank all of them for their continued support and dedication to striving to provide the best possible care for our patients, particularly through what has been an unstable time recently. I believe our people must be, and are, our greatest asset, and we as a Trust must support them to carry out their work to the best of their ability.
 
Leeds in my opinion is a vibrant and diverse city and our workforce reflects those that we care for.
 
Our multiple staff networks, including our BME staff network and the LGBTQ staff network, to name just two, all have a vital role to play in representing our diverse workforce.
 
I’m looking forward to seeing the work around equality, diversity and inclusion develop over the next year.
 
I believe Leeds Teaching Hospitals is at the turning point, which I hope you will feel able to support as we move forward in serving our communities.
 
As I draw to a close, I want to say that with challenge comes opportunity, and I truly believe that by working with our colleagues, our partners, our patients and their families, we can build a brighter, healthier future for the communities that we serve.
 
Thank you.

Despite another year of pressure on NHS finances nationally, we’ve worked hard to maintain financial discipline while continuing to invest in patient care, essential services, and staff well-being. The financial year has been another challenging one for the trust with the ongoing impact of inflation resulting from worldwide events, the changing government and senior NHS leadership, drugs costs, and staffing costs.
 
Despite these pressures and changes, the year has seen continued strong financial results. We have achieved our financial plan through the delivery of a revenue surplus for the eighth consecutive year. We delivered an adjusted financial performance surplus of 19.8 million. Our underlying financial strength remains solid.
 
We generated 2.1 billion pounds in operating income which allowed us to continue delivering high-quality care while also funding important developments in infrastructure, technology and workforce support. This pie chart illustrates how a single pound of NHS funding is distributed across different areas. The largest share 43p and 41p comes from NHS England and NHS West Yorkshire integrated care board respectively. Education, training, research and development and clinical trials generates 8p while other integrated care boards and non-patient care services to other bodies brings in the equivalent of 2p.
 
And here this graphic shows how we spend every pound. The largest portion 49p goes towards clinical staff pay highlighting the importance of frontline healthcare workers. Drugs costs account for 16p followed by clinical supplies at 11p ensuring the availability of essential medicines and equipment. Nonclinical staff pay receives 10 p covering administrative and support roles.
 
As a Trust we’ve delivered a waste reduction program of £110.4 million this year. Of this £42.2 million came from programmes across our clinical teams. A further £21.4 million was delivered from productivity initiatives across the organisation, including in theatres, outpatients and diagnostics, length of stay, and the introduction of robotic process automation in several areas.
 
The balance was delivered from other Trust-wide cost savings programmes and cost-based reviews. None of this would have been possible without the tremendous contribution of all members of staff across the Trust. This is an achievement that reflects the creativity and commitment of our teams to reduce costs whilst maintaining high quality patient care.
 
We’ve made real progress in reducing waste across our organisation and it’s delivering results through initiatives like reusing part open medicines, switching to biosimilar drugs, and choosing reusable clinical equipment. We’re cutting costs and cutting waste. We’re reducing our carbon footprint, strengthening our supply chain, and generating real environmental benefits, all while keeping patient care and safety at the heart of everything we do. In 2024-25, capital investment continued to be underpinned by our previous year’s surpluses. We invested £76.5 million in capital schemes transforming care for our patients. Key projects include the Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease at Seacroft Hospital, the electronic health record, and the elective care hub at Wharfedale Hospital.
 
It’s important to recognise that we’ve achieved all of this against the backdrop of continued clinical pressures and rising costs. That resilience is thanks to the hard work of colleagues across clinical and corporate teams and the strength of our partnerships both locally and nationally. I’d like to thank all members of staff for everything you’ve done to help deliver this financial position whilst keeping patient care at the heart of all we do.

Hello, my name is Magnus and I’m the Chief Medical Officer at Leeds Teaching Hospitals.
Every year, we have the absolute privilege of supporting around 9,000 births across our maternity units, and caring for more than 1,600 newborns in our neonatal services – many of whom need intensive care or surgery. It’s a responsibility we hold with great respect and commitment.
Over the past year, we’ve faced some difficult challenges. The Care Quality Commission’s reports earlier this year highlighted areas where we need to  do much better. NHS England’s Maternity Safety Support Programme Team also made recommendations for improvements. And most importantly, we heard directly from families who shared experiences that fall short of the standards we strive for. To those families, we are truly sorry.
We now have a real opportunity to look at our services with fresh eyes and renewed determination. With the support of external partners, we’ve developed a comprehensive improvement plan and it’s already making a difference.
 
My name is Rukeya Miah, I am the Director of Midwifery and Deputy Chief Nurse at Leeds Teaching Hospitals. We know that pregnancy, birth, and the early days
of parenthood are some of the most important moments in life. Families place enormous trust in us during these times, and we are committed to providing care that is safe, inclusive, compassionate, and of the highest quality.
Since autumn 2024, we welcomed 55 new midwives to our teams, and between September to the end of this year, more than 60 midwives will be joining us. We’ve also recruited 25 neonatal nurses to strengthen our services in the care of our babies.
We’re creating more space for staff to speak up through regular meetings, open forums, and listening sessions with senior leaders. The voices of our staff are vital to shaping the care we provide.
We have also established a new Maternity and Neonatal Improvement Programme Board, independently chaired by Birte Harlev-Lam OBE who is a nationally respected leader in maternity and neonatal care. Her guidance will help ensure our services are meaningful and lasting.
But perhaps most importantly, we’re committed to listening – really listening – to our families. Their experiences, concerns, and hopes are at the heart of everything we do. We want every family to feel safe, respected, and supported from the very first moment of care.
 
Hi, I’m Gemma, one of the preterm birth specialist midwives in Leeds. I’ve been a midwife here in Leeds for the last 23 years and I adore my job. Currently I work looking after women that are at high risk of having early babies, and also women that have actually had early babies in this current pregnancy.
It’s a really rewarding role and we absolutely love our job. I want to play my role in improving our maternity services for the women in our local area and I’m really looking forward to working with the new midwives that are going to be joining the Trust.
New equipment, in addition to new staff, will help us do our jobs more effectively, and will help us provide better care to the women in Leeds and the surrounding areas.
We want all of the families that access care in Leeds to have the best possible experience. It’s really important to us as staff that that is at the centre of the care that we give, and we’re all really determined to make that happen.
Together with my colleagues, I welcome the national maternity investigation. It will be good to get fresh eyes on the service again, and to highlight the changes we need to make.
The last year has been incredibly hard for midwives working at Leeds. We’ve been under increasing scrutiny, and nationally maternity services are really under the spotlight. But it’s providing an opportunity to improve the services we all provide, to make sustainable changes, to make sure that we are giving the best care to the women in this country, not just in Leeds, and that’s at the heart of the care that we give, and that’s what we’re all passionate about.
 
Hi, I’m Hannah, I’m a staff nurse here on L43, the neonatal unit here at Leeds Teaching Hospitals. Here on the unit we look after the sickest babies, providing the most professional care. It’s not just babies from the Leeds area, it’s from all over the region, Yorkshire and further afield, because we are so specialised, a lot of the babies come to us for that complex specialist care.
It has been very difficult hearing the criticism of our services but I am glad to work with such a supportive team that are helping us get through this time.
We are working our way through the recommendations that have been put in the report, and I myself have seen improvements already on the neonatal unit. We continue to develop our care to give the best specialist care to all the babies and families that come on to our unit.
We are determined to keep on improving so we can give the best possible care to the babies and all our families.
 
We’re confident that the steps we’re taking will lead to the kind of care every family deserves – safe, high-quality and compassionate care.
We know there’s work to do – and we’re doing it. We’re listening, learning, and acting. And we’re committed to making sure every family who comes through our doors feels safe, every family feels respected, and every family feels cared for.
We’re here for those families and we’re moving forward together.

Hello, my name’s Esther Wakeman. I’m the Chief Executive of Leeds Hospitals Charity. Our ethos is all about doing good together so that we can make Leeds Teaching Hospitals one of the best hospitals in the UK. It’s fantastic to be presenting at the Annual General Meeting today. Last year, we funded 232 incredible projects, all of which helped to make things a little bit better for patients, families, and staff working in our hospitals. Today, I’m going to tell you a little bit about some of these projects and the work we do to try and raise enough money to keep on providing that vital support. Over the last financial year, thanks to our generous donors and supporters, we raised £7.2 million to support our hospitals. Nearly a million of this came from our charity lottery and our retail stores, which has helped stabilise our income. We’re also incredibly grateful to all of the people who left a gift in their will last year, which amounted to £1.4 million in legacy donations. An example of this is Patricia and Tony Flynn, a wonderful couple who met when they worked together at Cookridge Hospital in the 1970s. After decades of dedicating their lives to helping people with cancer, Patricia found herself on the receiving end of cancer care in Leeds and she sadly died in 2023. After Tony died, they left £400,000 in their will to Leeds Hospitals Charity to benefit the Radiotherapy department. A gift we were able to use to fund the latest equipment for surface guided radiotherapy. Alongside our generous donors, last year, we also saw huge growth in our wonderful volunteer team with volunteers giving nearly 17,000 hours of their time to support our hospitals. We introduced two new hospital roles, a trolley service and our welcome volunteers, who’ve been busy transforming the experience for patients. We’ve also had a host of new volunteers join our retail shops, helping support our stores in Horsforth and Guiseley. Over the year, we continued to support projects that would have the greatest impact for our hospitals, addressing health inequalities, investing in innovation and health technologies, and treating rare conditions. As you can see from this chart, over half of our charitable funding last year supported projects that will help improve health inequalities. Our largest grant last year was to invest in the play team, supporting them to deliver a seven-day a week play service. This will help thousands of patients and families a year, but particularly those who need complex care like two-year-old Robin. Robin has leukaemia and has spent the last five months in hospital. Playworker Sharon, whose role is entirely funded by the charity, has been a lifesaver for the family, providing rest by entertainment, and a much-needed distraction from scary procedures. At Leeds Cancer Centre, a grant of nearly £100,000 is helping to connect complex cancer data sets and use the power of AI to predict how patients will respond to radiotherapy. The funding will be used to fund a full-time data scientist working alongside Professor David Sebag-Montefiore to help clinicians to tailor treatment plans, choosing the right dose, duration, and combination of therapies for each individual. At the paediatric research facility a grant for £154,000 for the Neuromuscular team will provide additional research capacity to help more children like Austin. Austin has Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a muscle wasting disease that limits mobility and causes premature mortality. Extra funding will enable more trials to search for kinder treatments and hopefully get us closer to a cure. Alongside projects for patients and families last year, we’re also incredibly proud to fund additional support for our hardworking NHS staff. From staff room refurbishments to free tea and coffee, and funding staff award nights, we’ve given £360,000 to recognise and reward NHS workers, something that’s really important to our donors. All in all, it’s been a brilliant year to be part of Leeds Hospitals Charity. We’ve had the privilege of sharing some amazing stories of the work that happens right here in Leeds. From helping to build the Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease to funding ground-breaking research. Over the last five years, we’ve provided an extra £6 million a year in additional funds for our hospitals. We’re really proud of that, but also we’d like to do more. We want to be able to offer more themed funding calls and work closely with the hospitals on large-scale projects that truly transform care for patients. To do this, we need the generous people of Yorkshire to keep on supporting us, to keep playing our lottery, shopping in our charity shops, and making a monthly gift. All of these small acts of kindness can add up to make a huge difference to our hospitals. We wouldn’t be able to do any of our work without the incredible support of our donors, fundraisers, and volunteers. Thank you so much. Let’s keep doing good together.