Mental Health Trust becomes NHS Foundation Trust

02/07/2007

Gloucestershire Partnership NHS Trust is delighted to announce that it is now an NHS Foundation Trust.

The eagerly anticipated news came from Monitor, the Independent Regulator for NHS Foundation Trusts, that the Trust’s application had been successful as part of the 3rd wave of NHS Foundation Trusts to be established in England.

Trust chairman, Robert Maxwell, commented: “This is wonderful news and is a positive step forward in our future development. We have received tremendous support from staff, service users and carers, the local community and partner organisations.

As a Foundation Trust we will be less restricted by central controls and more accountable to the community we serve. The Trust can enhance or tailor services to meet the particular needs of local people: a challenging but very exciting prospect.”

Trust Chief Executive Shaun Clee added: “A big thank you goes out to staff for their work in presenting a strong application, to the 1,200 people across Gloucestershire who have signed up to become public members and to the staff and governors for their continued interest and enthusiasm. Authorisation is a strong vote of confidence in the ability of the organisation to deliver a modern, responsive viable service. We are only the 10th Mental Health Trust to be authorised in the country and we are extremely proud of that achievement.

Becoming a Foundation Trust provides a real opportunity to make mental health everybody’s business, working with our community to take mental health out of the shadows to de-stigmatise one of the last taboos. Now our future as Gloucestershire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust is confirmed, I should like to encourage everyone across the district to sign up and become a member of the new organisation, if they have not done so already. It’s the views of local people that will help develop our services for the future so we want to make sure that we listen to as many people as possible.”

To become a member you can