The December Diagnosis Salon was generously hosted by Brendan Farmer at Capgemini, taking the medical orientated audience away from our usual surroundings of the Kings Fund and Royal Society of Medicine right into the heart of the city. Brendan was the perfect person to talk us through the process of becoming a Foundation Trust having previously led FT authorisation support across many large university teaching trusts, specialist acute trusts and several mental health trusts. He has also led FT Independent Business Reviews at Trusts at risk of breaching their terms of authorisation.
Our venue was the creative hub of the company, and Brendan explained that the room was usually chair-less, and staff encouraged to draw on the giant whiteboards to facilitate their thought processes. After a brief period of networking, we settled in for the presentation, which from the outset, was engaging and thought provoking. It was interesting to see that less than half of the audience knew whether or not they were employed by a Foundation Trust, and even fewer knew what it meant to be Foundation Trust.
Brendan set out the main differences between Trusts and Foundation Trusts, in that Foundation Trusts are public institutions not subject to direction by the Secretary of State for health, or subject to performance requirements of the Department of Health. We learnt that Foundation Trusts are able to set their own strategies and can invest their money in new patient care facilities or enter into partnerships with commissioners to improve quality of care. We also learnt that regulation of Foundation Trusts falls under Monitor, who also consider applications from NHS Trusts wishing to become FTs.
One of the important things that is considered in the FT authorisation process, and that sets FTs apart from NHS Trusts, is the engagement of the local community. Foundation Trusts must be representative of their local communities, with a governance structure that reflects this.
The majority of the rest of the evening involved an interactive walk through the FT authorisation process and financial and governance risk assessments. Credit has to given to Brendan who managed to explain EBITDA (Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) and derive a financial risk rating to an audience not normally au fait with finance. The giant whiteboards either side of the projector screen were brought alive with calculations.
I am sure that everyone left the building with a much greater knowledge of what it means to be a Foundation Trust, and a deeper understanding of the authorisation process. Thank you to Brendan for his generosity and dynamic skills in explaining complicated (to me anyway!) maths. Thanks also to Claire Lemer and Emma Stanton for organising another fruitful and enjoyable Diagnosis Salon. Here’s to a great 2012 for Diagnosis!
