Bognor Regis hospital launches consultation

The Sussex Community NHS Trust, which runs Bognor War Memorial Hospital, has begun a twelve-week consultation process to ask the people it serves to back its bid to become an independent community NHS foundation trust (FT) by 2014.

Jo Habben, SCT hospital matron at the hospital, said: “We want to become an FT so we can make full use of the benefits FT status brings to improve the ways we serve our local communities.

“Becoming an FT will enable us to maintain a clear focus on community healthcare and strengthen our commitment to put our patients at the heart of all we do. It will help us to build on the work we are already doing to make our services more sensitive to patients’ needs and wants.”

NHS foundation trusts are high-performing NHS organisations, and already provide over half of all NHS services in England. FTs work within the framework of the NHS Constitution, providing health and care services that are free at the point of delivery.

One of the key benefits in becoming an FT is that they have more freedom from government than standard NHS trusts. This gives them greater scope to decide their own future, and more financial autonomy through which they can invest to improve services for patients.