What are NHS foundation trusts?

NHS foundation trusts are not-for-profit, public benefit corporations that are part of the NHS and created so that local communities can make decisions about healthcare services in their area.

Leeds Community Healthcare will be called an NHS community foundation trust as our services are delivered in community settings, rather than a hospital environment, for example.

How are foundation trusts different to any other NHS organisation?

The great way that foundation trusts work means that they have membership schemes that local people can join.  Being a member of a foundation trust provides lots of ways for local people and other organisations or groups to get involved and have their say on the services delivered by that foundation trust.

What are the benefits of being a member?

For people in Leeds who become a member the benefits of being a member include:

• Have a say in what we do
• Be consulted on future plans for our services
• Receive free newsletters and invites to free events
• Take part in focus groups or surveys about our services
• The chance to be involved with our work as much or as little as you like
• You can event stand for election to the Council of Governors

All in all, NHS foundation trusts can be more responsive to the needs and wishes of their local communities – anyone who lives in the area, works for a foundation trust, or has been a patient or service user there, can become a member of the trust and get involved.

How much does being a member cost?

Being a member is FREE.

However to help us keep costs down if you’re happy to receive information from us by email, please let us know when you join as a member.

What is the Council of Governors?

Members of our community foundation trust can also stand for election to our Council of Governors.

The Council of Governors is made up of representatives from local organisations, our patients, and people in Leeds and their role is to hold the Board of Directors to account.

Being a Governor also means you can get involved in working groups across the trust on subjects such as patient information; member events and benefits; and service developments, for example.

We’ll tell you more about what being a member and a governor means as we develop the plans for our community foundation trust.

Why should I get involved?

If you care about NHS healthcare services as much as we do and you feel it’s important that services stay in the community, closer to peoples’ homes, then please support our plans.

You may use community healthcare services now, or know someone who does.  You never know when you might need them in the future, so this is a great opportunity to find out more now.  Health needs are constantly changing, so it’s important that everyone helps community healthcare services in Leeds to meet the needs of people across the city.

How can I get involved?

Later this year we will be asking everyone in Leeds to comment on our plans.

We will be holding a 12 week public consultation when we will ask you what you think about community healthcare services in Leeds and our plans to create an NHS community foundation trust to run them efficiently.

You may also have links or work within an organisation in Leeds that has an interest in health and social care, so you could think about how your organisation as a whole could also respond to the consultation.

During the consultation we would like to get out and about and meet as many organisations and groups as possible so if you’d like us to come and talk to you, please get in touch and let’s get a date in the diary.

Full details of the consultation will be available here on our website. You can register your interest now and when the consultation opens we can send you the information or a link to it.

During the consultation you can also sign up to receive information about becoming a member and be one of the first to join us.

We look forward to hearing your views.

Get in touch!

Keep looking at our website to find out more about what we do. 

You can email us from there to register your early interest in our consultation or to become a member.

You can also email us at comms.nhslch@nhsleeds.nhs.uk