Find out how to attend NHS Kent and Medway meetings in public, observe discussions, and submit agenda-related questions in advance. Meetings are virtual, non-participatory - please review etiquette before joining online.
We use Microsoft Teams for our virtual meetings which does rely on observers managing their own video and microphone settings. Please make sure your microphone and camera are switched off. This will help prevent any unintended disruptions to the meeting.
You can find the camera and microphone buttons on the Microsoft Teams toolbar. When muted or switched off, they will appear with a line through them. In the below image, the camera is off but the microphone is on.
Please note: The chat function in virtual meetings will only be used for members of the committee to signal to the chair that they wish to make a comment. Please do not post questions or comments into the chat function.
The chair of the committee or board is in charge of the meeting. It is their role to make sure members can discuss the published agenda items in the time available. The chair is also responsible for making sure it is a well-run and respectful meeting.
We will make the papers available online one week before the date of the meeting. You can find the papers to a meeting in public by searching for and selecting the particular meeting in the event section of this website.
If you cannot access the papers online, or require them in an alternative format, please contact us by emailing kmicb.committees@nhs.net.
The minutes of meetings in public will be published on our website, this is normally as part of the papers of the next meeting of the committee or board.
During virtual meetings there will be a roll call of the committee members at the start of the session and members will be asked to confirm their name and have their camera on when making comments.
Members may turn their cameras off when not speaking as this can help with connection speeds.
The event information will include a contact email for requesting a link to the virtual meeting and for submitting questions related to agenda items.
While we do not expect disruptive behaviour at our meetings held in public, we hope being clear about expectations will assist with them running smoothly.
In normal face-to-face meetings in public, the organisation has a common law power to prevent members of the public entering a meeting if they have reasonable grounds for believing they would disrupt the meeting by disorderly conduct and make it impossible for the body to conduct its business.
Also, if the chair of the meeting considers behaviours of observers are disrupting the meeting, they can exercise the power during the course of the meeting.
In virtual meetings, if there was significant intentional disruption, we may either disconnect an individual from the meeting or close the meeting and reconvene with a private link for committee members only.