Council of Governors

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We are directly accountable to the local public through our Council of Governors, which includes 21 members of the public and 12 staff and volunteers and 5 appointed.

Meet your Governors! Below are links to the Council of Governors in each constituency:

Members elect the governors. We currently have 38 governors who represent the interest of the members and the wider community.

What is involved in being a Governor?

NHS Foundation Trust Governors are the direct representatives of local interests within foundation trusts. Governors do not undertake operational management of NHS foundation trusts; but they challenge the board of directors and collectively hold them to account for the trust’s performance. It is also the Governors’ responsibility to represent their members’ interests, particularly in relation to the strategic direction of the trust.

The Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Council of Governors has 21 Public Governors, elected from four constituencies (Luton; Central Bedfordshire ; Bedford Borough ; and the Hertfordshire), together with 12 Staff Governors elected from five classes, and five appointed governors.

The forthcoming election provides an opportunity for you to stand for election as a Governor to represent the interests of the members of your constituency.

The specific statutory power and duties of the Council of Governors are to:

appoint and, if appropriate, remove the chair;
appoint and, if appropriate, remove the other non-executive directors;
decide the remuneration and allowances, and the other terms and conditions of office, of the chair and the other non-executive directors;
approve the appointment (by the non-executive directors) of the chief executive;
appoint and, if appropriate, remove the trust’s auditor; and
receive the trust’s annual accounts, any report of the auditor on them and the annual report

In addition:

in preparing the trust’s forward plan, the board of directors must have regard to the views of the council of governors
governors must act in the best interests of the trust and should adhere to its values and code of conduct
the council of governors should hold the board of directors collectively to account for the performance of the trust, including ensuring the board of directors acts so that the trust does not breach the terms of its authorisation
governors are responsible for regularly feeding back information about the trust, its vision, and its performance to the constituencies that elected them.

Other duties:

patient and service user liaison regarding patient experience
providing a governor perspective on trust performance
developing and reviewing the membership strategy
working with other representative bodies
attend council of governor meetings and seminars and the annual members meeting
undertake such functions as the board of directors’ request
attend other events and subcommittees based on their area of interest

Governors do not get paid, but are reimbursed expenses.

Eligibility:

To stand for election you must be aged 16 or over and live in the relevant constituency (i.e. if you live in Luton you can stand for election to a seat in the Luton constituency, but you cannot stand for election for a seat in the Central Beds, Bedford Borough & Herts constituency). Only Foundation Trust staff & volunteer members can stand for election to the staff constituency.

Find further information about the role of a Governor and Foundation Trusts or email the Membership Department at FTMembership@bedsft.nhs.uk .