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Becoming an NHS Foundation Trust

Foundation Trust Status Explained

The prospect of NHS Foundation Trust status signalled the most radical and exciting opportunity for hospitals since the NHS was set up in 1948: a chance to be at the forefront of major change which would deliver a responsive, accessible, inclusive health service accountable to the local community and free from central government control.

In July 2004 the Trust embraced this new future as Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The reputation, excellence and spirit of the two hospitals in the Trust, Addenbrooke’s and the Rosie, have helped to lay the foundation for the development of the new Trust.

Becoming an NHS Foundation Trust has allowed us to progress projects more speedily. It has allowed us to:

introduce the role of senior clinical nurse (modern matron)

involve our members and governors to inform service development

develop and open our new £10 million Emergency Assessment Unit (EAU)

progress with the £85 million Addenbrooke’s Treatment Centre (the first PFI project for an NHS Foundation Trust)

invest in new equipment and new services including a state-of-the-art neuroangiography suite and the new Picture Archive and Communications System (PACS)

invest in six new cots to our special care baby unit

maintain our financial balance at year end

Being Accountable to our patients, our public and our staff

Accountability to the public we serve has been one of the defining characteristics and benefits of becoming an NHS Foundation Trust and it has also given us a new freedom to set our own priorities for improving services for our patients.

As a public benefit corporation, we are owned by our 24,000-strong membership of patients, public and staff, who are represented by the Board of Governors (the majority of whom are elected by the membership). Our governors provide a direct link to our local community and represent the interests of members and the wider public in the stewardship and development of the Trust. They also advise the Board of Directors , who have the operational responsibility for running the hospital. In this way the population served by the Trust is directly involved in the governance of the Trust.