Introduction

The James Paget Healthcare NHS Trust became the first Foundation Trust in Norfolk and Suffolk on 1st August 2006 and is now known as the James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

They employ 3,380 staff. The 544 bedded acute hospital at the James Paget University Hospital in Gorleston is supported by services at Lowestoft Hospital, the Newberry Centre Children’s Clinic and other outreach clinics throughout the area.

As a University Hospital, they train over one third of the medical students from the University of East Anglia. They have a strong national reputation for research and excellence in the quality of our training facilities.

As a Foundation Trust, they are more able to develop services that meet the needs of our local community. This means local people and staff are directly involved in decisions about their hospitals, and influence the future.

About Foundation Trusts

NHS Foundation Trusts are a key part of the reform programme in the NHS. They are autonomous organisations, free from central Government control.

They decide how to improve their services and can retain any surpluses they generate, or borrow money to support investments.

They establish strong connections with their local communities; local people can become members and governors.

These freedoms mean NHS Foundation Trusts can better shape their healthcare services around local needs and priorities. NHS Foundation Trusts remain providers of healthcare according to core NHS principles: free care, based on need and not ability to pay.

The process for becoming a Foundation Trust is long and arduous and only the most successful hospitals achieve this status.

How NHS Foundation Trusts Work

As a Foundation Trust, we are governed by a Board of Directors and the Governors Council.

Like all NHS Foundation Trusts, there are three components:

• Membership Community: This includes staff, patients and carers and the public.  Membership is open to anyone over 16 who has either been a patient or carer at our hospitals, is a member of staff, or who lives in our defined catchment area. We have over 9,800 public members plus 3,380 staff members.
• Governors Council: 35 governors, including staff governors, NHS partner and local authority representatives.
• Board of Directors: This includes Executive and Non Executive Directors.