Foundation Trusts
Q:To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will change the relevant rules to give members of Governors Councils of Foundation Trusts who are not members of committees of the Council the right to attend meetings of those committees.
A:The circumstances of each national health service foundation trust (NHSFT) are different, which is why the legislative framework for NHSFTs gives them freedoms of local flexibility to tailor their governance arrangements to their individual circumstances and those of their community, over and above minimum legal requirements.
It is up to each NHSFT to consider whether to set up committees or sub-committees of its board of governors and determine the circumstances under which these should operate. Schedule 1 of the Health and Social Care Act 2003 states that the constitution of each NHSFT must include details on the practice and procedure for the board of governors, and may also make other provision about the board of governors as the trust sees fit. Reasons for exclusion from meetings are determined locally. (Andy Burnham, Minister of State (Delivery and Quality), Department of Health)
Q:To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will change the relevant rules to give members of Governors Councils of Foundation Trusts who are not members of committees of the Council the right to attend meetings of those committees.
A:The circumstances of each national health service foundation trust (NHSFT) are different, which is why the legislative framework for NHSFTs gives them freedoms of local flexibility to tailor their governance arrangements to their individual circumstances and those of their community, over and above minimum legal requirements.
It is up to each NHSFT to consider whether to set up committees or sub-committees of its board of governors and determine the circumstances under which these should operate. Schedule 1 of the Health and Social Care Act 2003 states that the constitution of each NHSFT must include details on the practice and procedure for the board of governors, and may also make other provision about the board of governors as the trust sees fit. Reasons for exclusion from meetings are determined locally. (Andy Burnham, Minister of State (Delivery and Quality), Department of Health)
Comments
It is self evident that good clinical care is achieved if there is a stepwise level of accountability. The Department of Health emailed me about a year ago about Foundation Hospitals being responsible for their own investigations etc.
I suspect it would be easier to conceal their errors.