NHS trust

A National Health Service trust is an organisation within the English NHS generally serving either a geographical area or a specialised function (such as an ambulance service). In any particular location there may be several trusts involved in the different aspects of healthcare for a resident.

Nature of a trust

NHS Trusts were established under the National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990 and were set up in five waves. Each one was established by a Statutory Instrument.

The trusts are not trusts in the legal sense but are in effect public sector corporations. Each trust is headed by a board consisting of executive and non-executive directors, and is chaired by a non-executive director. There were about 2,200 non-executives across 470 organisations in the NHS in England in 2015. Non-executive directors are recruited by open advertisement. The Trusts which have not achieved Foundation status are now managed by the NHS Trust Development Authority. Board members are, from November 2014, subject to a Fit and proper person test.