Final Report > Chapter 5: Management in Bristol > The role of the Trust Board

The role of the Trust Board

18 The Trust Board came into being in 1991 and comprised a Chair, appointed by the Secretary of State for Health, five non-executive directors, two of whom were appointed by the Regional Health Authority and the remainder by the Secretary of State, and five Executive Directors including the Chief Executive, the Director of Finance, and the Medical Director. The following table describes the arrangements:

Figure 3: The UBHT Trust Board in 1992 [15]

19 Mr Peter Durie was the first Chair of the UBHT. He was succeeded in July 1994 by Mr Robert McKinlay. Mr Durie stated that the role of Chair of the Trust was `ill defined', [16] but neither he nor Mr McKinlay felt that they had a managerial role. [17] Dr Roylance told us that the Chair and non-executive directors set policy which was then implemented by the executive directors. The NHS Code of Accountability for NHS Boards, [18] which came into effect in 1994, advised that the non-executive directors were responsible for monitoring the executive management of the organisation.

Footnotes

[15] Derived from WIT 0108 0042 Dr Roylance

[16] WIT 0086 0002 Mr Durie

[17] WIT 0086 0002 Mr Durie; WIT 0102 0007 Mr McKinlay

[18] `Corporate Governance in the NHS, Code of Conduct, Code of Accountability', Department of Health, 1994