Become a Governor

​What is the Member’s Council?

Foundation Trusts are based on the membership of local people. Having a say through representation on a Members’ Council. Their interests are represented through the Members’ Council. Membership is made up of elected public, appointed and elected staff governors.

The role of the Members’ Council is to ensure the Trust Board, which is responsible for the day-to-day running of the Trust, is accountable to the local communities the Trust serves through the Trust’s membership.

The Members’ Council is made up of individual governors who have all chosen to be involved for different reasons and will have different views of the Trust. This helps the Trust to be truly representative of the communities it serves and be the voice of service users and carers in their locality. As a Members’ Council, individual governors have a corporate existence and a corporate responsibility. Authority rests with the whole Members’ Council and not with any one person.

The Members’ Council provides influence and a voice for the communities the Trust serves and its staff. The Members’ Council makes sure that the Trust carries out its duties in line with its mission, vision and values, and supports the principles and values of the NHS as a whole. Governors hold the non-executive directors, individually and collectively, to account for the performance of the board of directors. Governors are not responsible for the day-to-day running of the organisation – that is the role and responsibility of the board.

Some of the duties governors are responsible for are:

• Influencing our forward plans and how the Trust provides its services
• Choosing who the Chair and Non-Executive Directors of the Trust should be
• Choosing who our auditors should be
• Talking to our members and sharing this with the Trust

 Who can be a governor?

• You can be a governor if you are a member of the Trust in the area where you live
• You can be a governor if you are aged 16 or over
• You can be a governor if you make a commitment to fulfil your duties if elected/appointed as a governor of the Trust.

Some people are not allowed to be a governor. For example, you can’t be a governor if you have been declared bankrupt or if you have received a prison sentence for three months or more. There are some other conditions and full details are available from the Trust If you have any questions about being a governor please contact the governance team by emailing swytft.membership@swyt.nhs.uk

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