I recently stood in the Election of Council of Governors for the Royal Berkshire and Battle Hospital (RBH) NHS Foundation Trust. However, I was unsuccessful in being elected, but that is not the point of this post.
What concerns me is the small number of ballot papers that were returned! Is this just another example of the apathy and generally low turnout that seems to surround all type of elections here in the UK?
I cannot believe that this was just down to ‘low-turnout’ as the election papers were sent to electors homes and all they had to do was to complete them and send them back in a free post envelope.
So it must be down to apathy! Which is strange, as I was under the impression that with a rising number of ‘member’s’ joining the RBH trust with a view to ‘being involved’ and the Government telling us that they are ‘giving the NHS back to the people’. Why then did so many ‘members’ not bother to vote?
Some examples of this apathy:
RBH Staff Vote – Forms sent out: 4,010; Ballot papers returned: 1,076
Reading Public Vote – Forms sent out: 2,061; Ballot papers returned: 709
Wokingham Public Vote – Forms sent out: 920; Ballot papers returned: 389
Producing an overall figure of 31.09% return of ballot papers!!
I wish the newly elected members of the RBH council of governors success in their new positions, but urge them to take as a high-priority task to try and find out why so many ‘members’ of the RBH Trust did not bother to cast their ballots in the election.
In the coming months, I wonder how many people will complain about the Trust, only to forget that they themselves did not even bother to vote.
If you have a vote, use it.
Beasley's Place 