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An NHS Foundation Trust is a public benefit corporation which is authorised under the National Health Service Act 2006 to provide goods and services for the purposes of the health service in England.

The Government’s intention is that NHS Foundation Trusts will be locally accountable, with services which are more responsive to the needs of the local community. As a Foundation Trust we will remain part of the NHS and continue to provide healthcare according to core NHS principles.

We will continue to be routinely inspected and our performance assessed by the Care Quality Commission and other regulatory bodies against national standards for quality and safety. NHS Foundation Trusts continue to uphold the principle that NHS care is free at the point of delivery, based on a patient’s need, not their ability to pay. However, we would enjoy greater freedom from central government control. We would be overseen by an independent regulator, Monitor, who ensures that NHS Foundation Trusts meet their obligations to patients, communities and taxpayers.

As an NHS Foundation Trust we would be more accountable to local people, we would become a membership organisation which enables local people, patients and staff to sign up as members. This gives local people more power to influence and shape how their health services are run.

We would be accountable directly to local people through a Council of Governors. The Council of Governors is made up of Elected and Appointed Governors. The Elected Governors will represent our Public Constituencies and our Staff, whereas Appointed Governors will represent our local NHS Primary Care Trusts, local authorities and our partner organisations. The Public Governors will always be in the majority.

The Governors appoint the Chairman and Non-Executive Directors and approve the appointment of the Chief Executive of the Trust. Importantly, they are also expected to express their views on the Trust’s forward planning and strategic direction.

We will have legally binding contracts with Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and NHS England who buy services from us on behalf of patients. This will give us greater financial stability and it will enable the organisations who pay for our services to monitor how effectively we are meeting our contractual obligations.

As a Foundation Trust we would also be allowed new financial freedoms to reflect local needs and priorities such as the ability to use financial surpluses and borrow money (as long as we could afford to pay it back) in order to more quickly develop new hospital buildings and services for the benefit of our local communities.