Information for public members

Become More Involved – Stand for Election as a Governor

All our members are equal, but the Trust recognises that some members may wish to become more involved in the life of our NHS Foundation Trust than others. One of the biggest ways that you can get involved is to put yourself forward to stand for election to our Council of Governors.  You do not need specific qualifications for the Governor role, other than a commitment to representing constituents (members and the public) to the best of your ability.  An induction programme and on-going training is provided to Governors upon being successfully elected.

Standing for Election as a Governor of our NHS Foundation Trust

Our Trust has 32 elected and nominated (appointed) Governors who together make up our Council of Governors.  The majority of our Governors (24 out of 32) are directly elected from and by our members (public and staff).  All qualifying public and staff members, that are aged 16 years or over, are able to nominate themselves to stand for election as a Governor during the election process.

Governors are responsible for representing the interests and views of our public and staff members alongside the general public, seeking performance assurance from our Board of Directors, and helping us to shape the Trust’s future priorities and plans:

• On behalf of members, the Council of Governors sit around table with the Board of Directors to share both their and member’s views during decision-making processes and when formulating future plans
• Members therefore have a voice, through the Council of Governors (their elected representatives), which ultimately helps us to shape our future service provisions to more meet our members’, and their family’s needs.

Why are Governor Elections held?

The Trust holds Governor Elections each year to fill any vacant seats on our Council of Governors and/or to open up seats for Governor positions whose term of office is coming to an end.  Our elections are run by an independent, external organisation with members (public and staff) voting for the candidate(s) that they wish to be elected to our Council of Governors using the ‘Single Transferrable Voting’ (STV) system.

Over the years, many of our public and staff members have been interested in standing for election as a Governor with some of their key motivations being:

• Having a passionate commitment to the NHS and to the Trust’s hospitals and a desire to make a difference alongside giving something positive back to the NHS.
• To make a positive contribution to ensure patients and carers get the highest quality of care at the Trust and, on their behalf, seeking performance assurances from the Trust’s Board of Directors.
• To use their personal experience as a patient/carer to help improve standards of care quality and safety, and the care environment.
• To help the Trust to consider patient/staff views when responding to any challenges it faces e.g. finance, restructuring, increasing demand etc.
• To be a voice/advocate for what matters the most to patients and their families, and to the wider community.
• To be a voice/advocate for staff and share their perspective with the Board of Directors.
• To give a voice to particular communities/groups e.g. minority groups, people with learning disabilities etc.
• To support the Trust in putting patients at its core and foster a culture of valuing and engaging staff.

If you would like to find out more about the Governor role or election process, please contact Donna Beddows, Foundation Trust Membership Manager, via e-mail donna.beddows@mft.nhs.uk

Become a member

We are committed to establishing a truly representative membership and welcome Members and Governors from all backgrounds, religions, beliefs, race, colour, gender, marital status, disability, sex, sexual orientation, age, social or economic status or national origin.

If you are not currently a Member and are interested in standing for election as a Governor, please complete an on-line Membership Application Form, scan the QR code below, or alternatively you can contact the Foundation Trust Membership Office (contact details below) for a paper form.

As part of the NHS membership application process, you will be asked to supply your personal data, with any data that you supply being used only to contact you about the Trust’s Membership and/or other related issues and will be processed for these purposes only, will not be shared with third parties and will be stored in accordance with the Data Protection Act.  A copy of MFT’s privacy notice can be found on the Trust’s website https://mft.nhs.uk/privacy-policy/

If you would like to discuss membership and/or if already a member the information that you supplied as part of your initial membership application process has changed or changes in the future, or if you wish to cancel your membership, please contact the Foundation Trust Membership Office:

By Post:

Freepost Plus RRBR-AXBU-XTZT
MFT NHS Trust
Oxford Road
Manchester M13 9WL

By Phone:

0161 276 8661

(office hours 9.00 am to 5.00 pm, Monday to Friday; answering machine outside these hours)

E-mail: ft.enquiries@mft.nhs.uk