Groundbreaking research and education took centre stage at this year’s Royal Free London (RFL) annual members’ meeting.

Members of the public, as well as staff and patients, packed into the Sir William Wells Atrium at the Royal Free Hospital (RFH) for the event, which is one of the highlights of the trust’s calendar.

Attendees heard from Professor Alan Salama, consultant nephrologist, and Nicole Matthew, a RFH patient. They discussed how Alan’s research into a vaccine that protects kidney transplant patients against urinary tract infections (UTI) has made a real difference to Nicole’s life.

Shortly after receiving her new kidney, Nicole began experiencing recurrent UTIs and was admitted into intensive care.

After joining the research trial last year, the number of UTIs Nicole faced dropped significantly from six each year to one or two. She said: “My quality of life has improved immensely. I had accepted I would be in and out of hospital for treatment, but since being vaccinated, it’s just not the case.”

Attendees also had the opportunity to hear first-hand about how the trust’s apprenticeship programme is benefiting staff. Satianand Groodoyal, endoscopy nurse, shared his inspiring journey from healthcare assistant to registered nurse.

The event was chaired by lead governor, Sneha Bedi, who was joined by group chair, Mark Lam, and group chief executive, Peter Landstrom.

Sneha discussed how the Council of Governors had carried out their statutory duties, such as engaging with members and providing feedback to the trust’s board. She shared their highlights of the year, which included helping to develop the trust’s new public website and welcoming six new governors to the council.

Mark and Peter reflected on the recent unrest across the country.

Mark said: “This shocked us all and I would like to reassure our staff, communities and those of you with us this evening, that we stand together against any form of discrimination, including Islamophobia, antisemitism, or racial hatred of any kind.

Peter added: “I have been in the NHS for 22 years - the racism that we saw is the absolute antithesis of what our NHS is about – caring for patients regardless of their skin colour, their beliefs, their gender, or their sexuality.

“At the Royal Free London this will only serve to strengthen our resolve for rooting out these abhorrent behaviours and to ensure that our hospitals are welcoming places for the thousands of people who work and receive treatment here.”

Discussing our trust’s new five-year clinical vision, Peter said: “We’ve done a lot of thinking on our future direction of travel as an organisation and earlier this year we launched our clinical vision – an ambitious plan which will support our staff to deliver the very best of the NHS.

“It is designed with the needs of our local populations in mind to ensure we deliver the best possible health outcomes.”

Attendees were also able to ask our executive directors questions and share their views.

The final message from the speakers was one of appreciation for the trust’s staff. Peter said: “We have fantastic equipment and amazing developments, but none of it would be possible without our staff – they are the life blood of the Royal Free London.”

You can watch a recording of the event below.