Governance and membership

The Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care is a charitable company limited by guarantee, and is registered as a Scottish charity with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator.

The organisation is governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association which define its sphere of activity and form its constitution. The Memorandum and Articles were adopted on 7 May 1991 and last amended on 14^th March 2018.

The Partnership is a membership organisation, and criteria for membership are defined in the Memorandum and Articles of Association. The Partnership has around 50 member organisations. Each member organisation nominates a representative to act as a formal link with the Partnership and exercise their organisation’s vote(s) in Council elections and at Annual General Meetings.

You can download a copy of the Partnership’s constitution here. An ‘easy read’ explanation of the changes that were made to the constitution in 2018 is available here: A guide to the SPPC constitution

You can view a full list of SPPC member organisations here: SPPC members.

The SPPC has the following categories of membership:

Local Statutory Organisations

For example NHS Boards, IJBs, Local Authorities.

Voluntary Hospices

3rd Sector and Social Enterprise Organisations

For example, national and local charities.

Independent Social Care Organisations

For example, care homes, care at home providers, housing associations.

Academic Institutions and Professional Associations

For example university groups, RCGP, RCN.

Regulators & other National Statutory Organisations

For example HIS, NES, NSSS, NHS Health Scotland, NHS24, SAS, Care Inspectorate, GMC, NMC, SSSC.

Associate Members (have no voting rights, open only to organisations not eligible to join as Full Members)

For example funeral services, law firms, Scotland’s Older People’s Assembly, trade unions, arts organisations, other businesses.

View a full list of SPPC Council members here: Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care Council

View current SPPC Office Bearers here: Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care | Office bearers

Council is the group of trustees with legal responsibility for overseeing the strategic direction and work of SPPC. Council has 16 members. The majority (9) of Council members are elected by SPPC member organisations, with votes taking place within the membership categories as shown in the table above. Each organisation has one vote. Council can co-opt a further 7 members. This gives flexibility to ensure that the Council has the best overall mix of perspectives and skills. Council has published a framework which it will use when making decisions about co-opting members to Council. You can download the framework here.

Council members are elected or co-opted for a period of three years, and may stand for re-election for a second period of three years. Council elects the Partnership’s three office-bearers, Chairman, Deputy Chairman and Honorary Treasurer, from among its own members and is also responsible for the appropriate appointment of Honorary Presidents, Vice-Presidents and Ambassadors.

Each member organisation may be represented in one or more of the Partnership’s constituency groups as appropriate.

Regional Groups

The three regional groups cover the same areas as the NHS Regional Planning Groups:

North of Scotland Regional Group

Grampian, Highland, Orkney, Shetland, Tayside, Western Isles

South East of Scotland Regional Group

Borders, Dumfries and Galloway, Fife, Lothian

West of Scotland Regional Group

Ayrshire and Arran, Forth Valley, Greater Glasgow & Clyde, Lanarkshire

National groups

There are two national groups:

National Charities Group

for national charities providing palliative care services in Scotland or providing care and/or support for people with life-threatening progressive conditions and their families/carers in Scotland

Specialist Palliative Care Group

for multi-professional representatives of local statutory and voluntary specialist palliative care services and professional organisations.

Member representatives

All member organisations are asked to appoint appropriate individuals to carry out the role of nominated representative to the Partnership. These nominated representatives act as a formal link between their employing organisation and the Partnership. They:

• are eligible to stand for election to the Council of the Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care
• exercise their organisation’s vote(s) in elections to Council
• exercise their organisation’s vote(s) at Annual General Meetings

Part of the Partnership’s function is to provide appropriate two-way channels of communication and distillation of information and views in order to contribute to the formulation of effective policies and the implementation of agreed strategies at national level. For these functions to be effective, the Partnership needs to have direct links, through its network of nominated representatives, to appropriate individuals with a policy, planning or strategic remit, in addition to links with multi-professional medical and clinical personnel. Such individuals should be in a position to speak on behalf of the body they represent, to report back to that body and to cascade information as appropriate.

Ad hoc working groups

Representatives of member and other organisations may also become involved by invitation in one or more of the Partnership’s short-term ad hoc working groups, set up from time to time to address specific issues or to carry out particular pieces of work. These groups have no part in the formal structures or operation of the Partnership.