Foundation Trust Board Membership - Plymouth Hospitals

Item 10
Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust
Report to: Trust Board – 25 January 2008
Report of:
Subject:
Status:
Chief Executive
Foundation Trust Board Membership
For Information and Discussion
_____________
1. Introduction
Whilst the Trust is some months away from being authorised as a Foundation
Trust, there is a commitment to work in a way that anticipates this change.
Business planning, strategic planning and budgetary management, for
example, are being conducted in the way that mirrors that of a Foundation
Trust.
The Foundation Trust Board will also function differently from an NHS Trust
Board. It will be more focused on the strategic issues and assurance of the
performance of the organisation and less on operational issues.
The executive membership of the Board needs to reflect these changes and
the approach agreed by the Chairman, Non-Executive Directors and Chief
Executive is described below.
2. Executive Management
Over the last year the Trust has built up a cadre of senior managers and
‘directors’ below Trust Board level who are members of the ‘Trust Directors’
group. Trust Directors meet in rotation through five different Boards:
• Finance and Performance Board
• Operations and Operational Strategy Board
• Planning and Strategy Board
• Safety and Quality Board
• Workforce Board
Trust Directors has a core membership and there are also senior staff who
join for particular Boards. As a Foundation Trust these Boards and the senior
managers, clinicians and directors who sit on them, will be an increasingly
important part of the executive management of the organisation, assisting the
Executive Directors in exercising their devolved responsibilities.
These Boards will deal with many of the operational and planning issues on a
week-to-week basis. The ‘Directors’ who sit on these Boards will be key
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executive leaders. There will be around seven of them in addition to a
number of senior clinicians and managers; they will be expected to join the FT
Board for particular relevant items.
3. Executive Directors
There will be six Executive Directors joining six Non-Executive Directors and
the Chairman on the Foundation Trust Board. They will all be full voting
members, as follows:
Chief Executive – Paul Roberts
Deputy Chief Executive – Paula Vasco-Knight
Finance Director – John Yarnold
Human Resources Director – Christine Lloyd-Jennings
Medical Director – Alex Mayor
Medical Director – James Palmer
In the interim, between now and the establishment of the Foundation Trust,
Nick Thomas will continue as a non-voting Executive Director because of his
role as Foundation Trust Project Director. Also, as there are currently only
five Non-executive Directors only one of the Medical Directors will be a voting
member until the sixth Non-Executive Director is appointed.
4. Implementation
These arrangements involve changes to a number of current responsibilities
for Executive Directors and some of their immediate reports. The
implementation of these changes is being led by Christine Lloyd-Jennings. A
more detailed paper is being produced on these arrangements.
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