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NHS Foundation Trusts

Volume 463: debated on Tuesday 24 July 2007

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of foundation hospitals whose boards met wholly in private; and what percentage this figure represents of the total number of foundation hospitals. (151511)

The Department does not hold this information. Legislation governing national health service foundation trusts allows them to open board of governors meetings to the public. There is no equivalent provision for meetings of the board of directors. The way in which these meetings are conducted is a matter for individual trusts. Directors would need to justify decisions on the conduct of their meetings with governors, who can hold directors to account for the performance of the trust and are responsible for communicating with the membership community information relating to the performance of the organisation.