Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Member?

A Member can be anyone in our community including patients and staff, who would like to take an active interest in our hospital and would like to have a say in how their health services are run. As an NHS Foundation Trust, we use the views of our members to shape our services to best serve the people in our community and its completely free.

Our Governors voice the feedback from our Members to the Board of Directors, to influence decision making and the Trust’s future plans.


What is a Governor?

Governors represent the interests of Trust members and hold the Non-Executive Directors to account for the performance of the Board of Directors. Governors are voted in by our Members. Governors play a pivotal role in encouraging service users and carers to become more involved in activities of the Trust, as well as sharing information about the way the Trust is developing and in the delivery of high quality and safe patient care.


What is a Foundation Trust?

Put simply, a Foundation Trust is an NHS organisation that gives greater opportunities for local people, patients, and staff to have more of a say about the way in which services are provided. An NHS Foundation Trust is still part of the NHS and follows all the same national guidelines, targets, standards and principles that have underpinned Britain’s National Health Service for over 70 years.

A Foundation Trust does however operate independently of central Government controls, giving us the ability to make our own decisions, which means we can respond directly to local needs, designing services to meet them and, if necessary, borrowing and raising money to fund them.

In other words, a Foundation Trust is accountable to patients and the community.


What does being a member mean?

Members of an NHS Foundation Trust have several important roles, including:

  • Being consulted on plans for future development of the Trust and our services
  • Electing their representatives to serve on the Council of Governors
  • Choosing to stand for election to the Council of Governors
  • Choosing to put themselves forward for appointment as a Non-Executive Director - including for the Chair of the NHS Foundation Trust.

Who can be a Member?

We welcome anyone who is over 16 years of age and who lives in Cheshire, Merseyside and the rest of England, Wales and the Isle of Man. Our vision is of a broad membership base that reflects the diversity of the communities we strive to serve.


What communities do we serve?

The communities we serve are split into constituencies and each constituency is represented by one of our Governors. As a member you will fall into one of the following constituencies:

  • Public Governor Constituencies: Cheshire West and Chester, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and Knowsley, Warrington and Halton, Wirral and the rest of England and Wales
  • Staff Governors: Doctor, Non-Clinical, Nurse, Other Clinical, Radiographer and Volunteers, Service Providers, Contracted Staff

If you would like to find out more about our Governors, please visit our website on:

https://ccc-old.franktesting.co.uk/about-centre/corporate-matters/council-of-governors


Will being a member take up a lot of extra time?

No, you can choose to be involved as little or as much as you like - from receiving regular newsletters, taking part in discussion groups, to standing for and becoming a Governor.


How can I get involved?

It’s as simple as clicking here to register to become a member and join over 5.000 current members in shaping the future of our Trust. We look forward to hearing from you.