NHS Foundation Trust application deferred
Suffolk Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust has heard from the Department of Health about its application to become Suffolk’s first NHS Foundation Trust.
The Department of Health noted the hard work which the Trust had put into its preparations, but because the Trust has recently made several changes to improve its services, they have asked that these be allowed to bed in before the Trust move forward into the next stage.
Trust chief executive Mark Halladay said: “Clearly we are disappointed by the deferment, as we wanted to achieve the special status by April next year, but this does allow us time to make sure that our application is even better and our readiness for the additional responsibilities even greater.”
“We have already had some extremely good feedback that shows that the Trust is well-run and effective. And although we’ll have to wait a little bit longer before we get the official go-ahead, we are still absolutely committed to running as a public benefit membership organisation and all that entails.”
Once the application is granted, becoming an NHS Foundation Trust will place the direction of healthcare in the hands of local people rather than central government. Members of the public can join as members, or even stand for election to become a governor of the new Trust. Already 3,600 people have joined as members [that’s excluding staff members] – a figure which demonstrates the enthusiasm of Suffolk people to see their mental health services controlled locally for local people. More information is available at
