Foundation Trust

Croydon Health Services (CHS) aims to become a Foundation Trust

Why do we want to be a Foundation Trust?

• Becoming an NHS Foundation Trust (FT) will mean that the Trust will have greater accountability to the public through its governors and members. 
• FT status will enable CHS to retain its independence and be able to protect its primary focus of providing community and hospital-based healthcare services to the local population of Croydon and surrounding areas. 

How will it benefit the public?

• FT status will ensure that health services in Croydon are managed and governed by a committed Trust Board, Governors and management team whose sole focus is on providing high quality care to the local population of Croydon.  
• Becoming a membership organisation enables the Trust to continue to listen to the public and its key partners and actively seek their views to improve services.
• Independence through FT status will ensure the Trust remains an Integrated Care Organisation (ICO) providing healthcare services which are focused on the people who live locally and it will allow the Trust to retain its financial surpluses to reinvest back into further developing services in Croydon to meet the needs of its diverse local population.
• It will enable us to continue to work in close partnership with our voluntary, business, health and social care partners to deliver the local vision for Croydon to be a vibrant and sustainable City.

How will it benefit patients? 

• Being a provider of local healthcare services with a sole focus on Croydon will enable us to continue to deliver and shape services to meet the specific and complex needs of the diverse and in some cases deprived local population.
• FT status will enable us to continue to work in close partnership with our voluntary, health and social care partners to develop care pathways and provide care closer to home. 
• Greater financial flexibility will allow us to seek funding from different sources to develop our clinical services.

How will it benefit staff?

• Staff will have an even greater say in the organisation as there will be staff governors representative of all staff groups. 
• The current economic climate and financial regime for all trusts remains challenging and CHS does not expect Foundation Trust status itself to provide additional security but our five year planning will demonstrate that the Trust is sustainable and will continue to be a major employer in the borough.

How are we doing?

The Government has said that all trusts should become foundation trusts, and so the Department of Health has developed a programme of work (the single operating model - SOM -  for foundation trust applications) to achieve this target.

We send them a report each month to provide information about the progress of our foundation trust application, together with details about our management arrangements, clinical standards and finance performance. Copies of these reports are available at Board meetings.

January 2013 Single Operating Model (SOM)

How can you be more involved?

Foundation Trusts are different because they are membership organisations, like the National Trust or a co-operative society. Members are local people who want to offer a commitment to the Trust to help ensure that we remain in touch with what local people want.  Members have the chance to vote a number of local public governors onto the Council of Governors.  In the future this body will help guide the Trust and hold the Trust Board to account.

You can register to become a member.  Membership is free. If you live outside Croydon but have been a patient at Croydon University Hospital in the last five years, you can still register for membership.

You can apply online by visiting Become a member.

If you have already signed up, visit the Members section and if you interested in standing for election as a governor visit the Governors section.