Homerton Public Governor raises national alarm over possible abolition of NHS Councils of Governors

Former Hackney councillor and health scrutiny member Claudia Turbet-Delof warns that patients could lose a vital democratic voice without consultation or any clear replacement proposals to date.

As a Public Governor at East London’s Homerton Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, I am raising the alarm with fellow governors, public-health cabinet members, health scrutiny committees, mayors and healthcare organisations in London and across the country over the proposed abolition of NHS Councils of Governors.

I am genuinely shocked by the speed at which this proposal under the Ten-Year Health Plan appears to be advancing. Councils of Governors are being potentially abolished, patients seem largely unaware that their formal representation within local NHS foundation trusts is being dismantled, and no clear alternative has yet been presented by national government.

Some NHS trusts are already deciding not to recruit replacements for governors whose terms will end soon. This has alarmed many governors because a proposal that has not yet been properly introduced or communicated appears already to be influencing decisions about the future of local NHS governance.

Councils of Governors connect NHS foundation trusts with the patients, staff, partner organisations and communities they serve. Public and staff governors are elected, while appointed governors bring the voices of local councils, universities and community partners into NHS governance.

Governors represent trust members and the public, hold non-executive directors to account, receive annual reports and accounts, appoint external auditors, and question budgets, investment priorities, waiting times, staffing, service cuts, patient safety and the quality of care.

The highly controversial Palantir contract—which I hope will soon be fully withdrawn from our NHS—is perhaps the clearest example of why Councils of Governors matter. Across the country, they have provided a democratic space in which patient representatives can raise serious concerns and demand accountability over how contracts affecting patient care, public data and NHS services are introduced into their local hospitals.

The role of Councils of Governors is established under paragraph 10A of Schedule 7 to the National Health Service Act 2006: Paragraph 10A(a) requires governors to hold non-executive directors, individually and collectively, to account for the performance of the Board. Paragraph 10A(b) requires governors to represent the interests of trust members as a whole and the interests of the public.

Official guidance also states that governors should seek the views of members and the public on material changes and communicate important information to them.

The possible abolition of the Council of Governors is unquestionably a material change. Governors therefore have both a right and a duty to inform the people we represent, seek their views and communicate their concerns.

I am urging patients and NHS members to contact their local NHS foundation trust, their mayor and councillors, their public-health cabinet member, health scrutiny committee and Member of Parliament. I also hope that patients and trust members across the country will feel empowered to request urgent information from their local NHS foundation trust about :

● what is happening to their Council of Governors;

● whether governor recruitment is continuing;

● what alternative form of representation and scrutiny is being proposed;

● how the voices of patients, members, staff and the public will be protected;

● how local NHS leaders will continue to be held publicly accountable; and

● what their Trust is doing to protect democratic spaces where local people can raise concerns and influence decisions about their healthcare.

Patients and trust members have a right to ask questions, receive clear information and be involved in decisions that could fundamentally change how their voices are represented within their local NHS.

Claudia Turbet-Delof is a former Hackney councillor (2022 to 2026) who served on both the Health in Hackney Scrutiny Commission and the Inner North East London Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee, scrutinising health services locally and across East London.

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