Trust Board

Dorset HealthCare's activities are overseen by the Trust Board. The Trust Board works with the Council of Governors to agree the future plans of the organisation.

The Trust Board's key responsibilities are to:

• Set the strategic direction for the Trust
• Agree the organisation's annual objectives and ensure they are achieved
• Ensure effective financial control is in place
• Ensure high standards of corporate governance are maintained.

The Trust Board comprises a Non-Executive Chair, seven Non-Executive Directors who are not employees of the Trust, and seven Executive Directors including the Chief Executive. The members of the Board share a corporate responsibility for all decisions made by the Board. Our Trust Governance Structure chart illustrates the structure of the Trust Board and Council of Governors.

The Trust Board approves a schedule of matters which include the power to set the vision, strategic aims, objectives and budget for the Trust. Other matters are delegated to Board Committees, which operate within defined terms of reference.

Meetings of the Trust Board

Meetings of the Trust Board are held in public and anyone is welcome to attend. Meetings are generally held on the first Wednesday of every other month – see the calendar of events for details on forthcoming meetings.

Find out how to submit questions or petitions to the meetings.

You can download agendas and papers for Trust Board meetings below. If you would like to read the minutes of a particular Board meeting, these can be found in the papers for the following month's meeting.

Board Self-Certifications 2023

NHS foundation trusts are required to self-certify whether they have complied with certain conditions of the NHS provider licence. These include General Condition 6 (Systems for compliance with licence conditions and related obligations) and Continuity of Services Condition 7 (Availability of Resources). The aim of self-certification is for providers to carry out assurance that they are in compliance with the conditions.

The Board of Directors, on 7 June 2023, certified that it was compliant with the conditions, however, it highlighted specific factors that could affect the availability of resources in 2023/24, reflecting the risks described in its annual financial plan, namely:

• the achievement of the Trust’s cost improvement programme
• unfunded inflationary risks, primarily utilities costs
• agency staff costs to cover staff vacancies supported by the recruitment of substantive staff to fill vacant posts
• a reduction in the number of out of area placements in mental health inpatient services.