Trustee - Cancerkin
Vacancy reference:
Trustees 2012
Sector:
Health
Organisation name:
Cancerkin
Date added:
24/04/2012 - 10:38
Vacancy type:
Treasurer
Location:
London
Vacancy background:
Cancerkin’s mission is to provide support to those living with or affected by breast cancer. We believe that in addition to medical treatment, breast cancer patients and their families and friends need emotional and practical support through the trauma of diagnosis, treatment and its aftermath. We know that a breast cancer diagnosis is disturbing and life-changing, damaging not only the physical but the mental wellbeing of the patient, and so it is very much our ethos to treat the patient and not just the cancer. We do this by providing complementary therapies, one to one support from Experienced Patients, a patient support group and a library of information. We also run the only clinic providing treatment for breast cancer related lymphoedema free of care.
At Cancerkin, we pride ourselves on our range and quality of services. All of our services and treatments are provided free of charge and we receive no income from the NHS. We believe that treatment should be available to anyone who suffers with breast cancer regardless of their home hospital, ethnicity or financial situation and thus we provide our free services to all patients referred from 38 different hospitals. In 2011, we provided over 3920 episodes of care to our patients across a variety of methods.
Primary duties:
We are looking for a trustee with an accountancy background who could be the charity’s Hon. Treasurer.
Their role as trustee would be as follows. Trustees have overall legal responsibility for the charity. Their duties are:
a) to ensure that Cancerkin complies with its governing document, charity law and any other relevant legislation or regulations.
b) to ensure that the Cancerkin pursues its objects as defined in the governing document.
c) to ensure the organisation applies its resources exclusively in pursuance of its objects.
d) to contribute actively in setting overall policy, giving strategic direction to the charity, setting goals and targets and evaluating performance against agreed targets.
e) to safeguard the good name and ethos of Cancerkin.
f) to ensure the effective and efficient administration of the charity.
g) to ensure that Cancerkin remains solvent and is not exposed to undue risk.
In addition to the above statutory duties each Trustee is expected to use any specific skills, knowledge or experience they may have to help the Board reach sound decisions. This may involve leading discussions, focusing on key issues, providing advice and guidance on new initiatives, evaluation or other issues in which the Trustee has special expertise.
Required qualifications:
In addition to the experience already referred to above, the applicants should be able to demonstrate they meet certain key qualities, including to:
- be committed to the purpose, objects and values of the organisation
- be constructive about other trustees’ opinions in discussions, and in response to staff members’ contributions at meetings
- be able to act reasonably and responsibly when undertaking such duties and performing tasks
- be able to maintain confidentiality on sensitive and confidential information
- be supportive of the values (and ethics) of the organisation
- understand the importance and purpose of meetings, and be committed to preparing for them adequately and attending them regularly
- be able to analyse information and, when necessary, challenge constructively
- be able to make collective decisions and stand by them
- be able to respect boundaries between executive (staff or day to day) and governance functions.
Additional information:
Cancerkin houses the only fully functioning clinic in the UK for breast cancer related lymphoedema, an often debilitating condition. From in 2011 the clinic gave 1019 episodes of care which ranged from 15 minutes to one hour.
A diverse range of complementary therapies are available to all our patients, designed to enhance their mental, emotional and physical wellbeing. On a weekly basis, we offer 11 different one-to-one therapies, including acupuncture, massage and reflexology. Each patient is entitled to up to 4 sessions of each treatment. Group sessions of Pilates, tai chi, and yoga are held every week. Monthly ‘Look Good, Feel Better’ sessions for 15 people are open to patients with any kind of cancer and offer practical image advice to help combat the visible-side effects of treatment.
One-to-one support sessions with trained ‘Experienced Patients’ who have themselves recovered from breast cancer, enable patients to discuss their fears and anxieties with someone who has been through a similar experience. Around 10 patients use this service a week. Monthly patient support groups provide up to 30 patients and their partners with the opportunity to share support and advice, and to attend talks and lectures given by guest speakers on a wide range of topics relating to the disease and to their general wellbeing.
A patient library provides valuable information and books about breast cancer and associated problems, and education and training for health professionals and our ‘Experienced Patient’ volunteers.
Cancerkin’s East London outreach programme is extending our services to patients in East London, an area with one of the highest breast cancer mortality rates in the UK. We are working in partnership with the Newham, Homerton, Whipps Cross and St. Bartholomew’s hospitals, St Joseph’s Hospice and Bromley by Bow Health Centre in East London to provide our complementary therapies and raise awareness about the disease and to offer patient support. We have just recruited students from the University of East London, Health Promotion Programme, to become Awareness Ambassadors, taking important information about the warning signs of breast cancer and the importance of early diagnosis to hard to reach communities where fear lack of information are greatest. Our lymphoedema clinic receives increasing numbers of patients referred from East London as a result of our Outreach Project.
- Post to:
Advice and support
- Funding and finance
- Coping with cuts
- Addressing needs
- Strategy
- Impact
- Managing change
- Planning for the future
- Involving people
- Public Service Delivery
- Governance and leadership
- Compact Advocacy programme
- Campaigning and influencing policy
- Collaborative working
- ICT (information and communication technology)
- Climate change
- Infrastructure
- Innovation
- People, HR and employment
