Local people, patients and staff can become a member of our
Foundation Trust and have a say in how we develop our services. We
believe that becoming a Foundation Trust is giving us more freedom
in what we do and how we do it, bringing a range of important
benefits, such as:
- The ability to develop stronger ties with patients, carers,
local people and our staff
- Opportunities for people to be consulted on plans and to become
more involved in developing services
- Opportunities for people to have their say in improving the
services we provide
- Freedom to borrow money in order to develop better services and
to offer more choice for people
- The ability to take decisions quickly, decisively and
locally
Members tell us why they joined the FT
Vivienne Corbin has a long association with the BRI,
ever since her father worked in the hospital's boiler house, and
she and Derrick Bookham have experience of being patients here.
"In 2008 we were invited to come along to a members'
meeting, to find out how things work and contribute our thoughts on
how things could be improved," says Vivienne. "I thought: 'we are
the system, we are the patients and we can help to make things run
better'."
Derrick says: "You really can make a difference; we've found
that our suggestions have been taken seriously. We felt strongly
that the appointments system could be improved, and money saved at
the same time. We brought this up at a meeting and although it's
taken a little while to sort out, the new centralised appointment
system has made things 100% better."
