Our Governors act as guardians of the organisation by engaging with Trust Members, our patients and the public. They are the link between them and the Trust, and represent the wider public interest.
Their roles include:
- giving advice for consideration by the Board of Directors when making strategic decisions on matters affecting patient care
- monitoring the performance of the Trust to hold the Board of Directors to account
- contributing to the achievement of the Trust’s vision, values, aims and objectives, ensuring we deliver high quality services
- acting as ambassadors for the services of the Trust.
Governors have these responsibilities to enable them to contribute and input to the information needed by Directors, so they can take decisions on patient care at a strategic level.
Who are our Governors?
We have a total of 36 Governors – 31 elected by the public and staff, and the others appointed from a diverse range of partner organisations.
You can find out more about our Governors in the ‘Meet our Governors’ section
Council of Governors meetings
The Council of Governors meet bi-monthly throughout the year, in the alternate months to the Board of Directors meetings, with wide ranging debate on a number of areas of interest.
Regular reports are presented from the council’s working groups, each with a distinct area of focus:
- quality of patient experience
- business and development and
- people, engagement and membership
Each of the working groups is aligned to a specific committee of the Trust’s Board of Directors and the chairs of the working groups attend the committees annually to gain further assurance.
Governors also attend a number of other groups within the Trust’s governance structure, such as the clinical effectiveness and audit guidelines group and the patient experience steering group.
You can find the meeting papers here:
Council of Governors papersGovernor roles and responsibilities
Our Governors:
- act as guardians of the organisation by engaging with Trust Members, patients and the public. They are the link between them and the Trust, and represent the wider public interest
- give advice for consideration by the Board of Directors when making strategic decisions on matters affecting patient care
- monitor the performance of the Trust to hold the Board of Directors to account
- contribute to the achievement of the Trust’s vision, values, aims and objectives, ensuring we deliver high quality services
- act as ambassadors for the services of the Trust.
Governors have these responsibilities so they can contribute and input to the information needed by Directors so they can take decisions on patient care at a strategic level.
Statutory responsibilities
Governors also have statutory responsibilities to fulfil:
- appointing the Chairman and Non-Executive Directors
- appointing the Trust external auditor
- ratifying the appointment of the Chief Executive
- making decisions on remuneration for Non-Executive Directors (including the Chairman).
Ambassadorial role
In the competitive environment in which the Trust operates, Governors act in an ambassadorial role – both on Trust business and generally as representatives of the Trust.
Contact our Governors
You can contact your governor via email:
Alternatively you can call our Corporate Services office on:
Freephone: 0800 0150136
If you’d prefer to write you can use this freepost address:
Chief Executive’s Office
The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
FREEPOST NAT18163
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE7 7BR
Latest news
You will find some of our latest news stories under our ‘Related content’ below and in our News section