Our website contains information about every NHS foundation trust within two main sections: the NHS foundation trust directory; and the section on NHS foundation trust performance.
For each NHS foundation trust, the directory includes the terms of authorisation, a list of the members of the boards of governors and directors, the latest annual report and accounts and the annual plan.
The terms of authorisation set out the obligations under which each trust must operate. Monitor requires foundation trusts to assess their own compliance with these terms, as part of our risk-based approach to regulation. NHS foundation trusts submit an annual plan, quarterly and ad hoc reports to us and, using this information, we assign annual and quarterly risk ratings, monitor actual performance against plans, and identify any steps that need to be taken to address problems. If a trust is in significant breach of these terms, Monitor can intervene. More information on how we regulate NHS foundation trusts is available here and in our Compliance Framework.
The foundation trust directory shows Monitor’s current governance and financial risk ratings for each foundation trust. The risk ratings page shows the ratings for all foundation trusts. Those NHS foundation trusts in significant breach of their terms of authorisation and those that have been removed from significant breach are also listed.
Each trust’s terms of authorisation includes the constitution for that particular trust. This sets out the trust's own governance structure. Although each constitution will be unique to each trust, there are legal requirements that apply to all NHS foundation trusts. These requirements are set out in Monitor’s Model Core Constitution on which all foundation trust constitutions must be based. Governors should refer to their trust’s constitution to best understand the particular arrangements adopted by their organisation to ensure that the statutory duties are met.
This section of the website presents an overview of the planned performance of NHS foundation trusts. It also provides an overview of their actual performance each quarter, in the form of quarterly reports - these provide a summary of the performance of the foundation trust sector, and also give individual NHS foundation trusts the opportunity to understand their own performance in relation to other foundation trusts.
The quarterly reports are a vital part of our annual reporting cycle, along with the publication each year of the consolidated accounts of NHS foundation trusts.