The Trust Board, which comprises individuals from a range of backgrounds, disciplines and areas of expertise provides leadership and direction to the organisation and has a key role in ensuring that the Trust has sound governance arrangements in place. The Trust Board also ensures that it has an open culture and high standards in the way that its work is conducted. The Trust Board brings together individuals from a variety of backgrounds and together Board Members share corporate responsibility for all decisions and play a key role in monitoring the performance of the organisation.
The Board is responsible for the Trust’s overall system of governance and control, which includes robust risk management, and therefore must seek and be provided with assurance on the effectiveness of the systems and processes in place for meeting the Trust’s strategic objectives. To support this, the Trust Board Meeting agenda are developed to reflect key risks of the Trust.
The Trust Board is also responsible for debating and discussing its strategic objectives and any associated risks and for reaching agreement on those risks set against the high level objectives and priorities for the Trust. The Trust Board’s assessment of progress against its strategic objectives and its strategic risks will inform operational planning and delivery of services to ensure Trust objectives are being met. The Board has a key role in deciding the level of risk that is acceptable or not acceptable and reviewing its performance and achievement against its objectives.