Hospital trusts 'need to explain decisions'

NHS organisations should disclose more information relating to the performance of their board members, according to a new report.

Advisory firm Grant Thornton has conducted a study into NHS trusts, but found that very few included the required detail to explain how performance was measured, the Guardian reports.

Paul Hughes, public sector governance lead at Grant Thornton, said more than half of the trusts did not reveal how they are measuring the effectiveness of work undertaken by the board and its members.

"That can't be right. These are public bodies spending public money. There's a duty for them to take more care and ensure proper, good-quality descriptions in their annual reports," he added.

Mr Hughes acknowledged the trusts often have to make unpopular decisions and said they should use annual reports to explain these decisions.

The actions of NHS trusts are likely to come under closer public scrutiny in the coming weeks, with the publication of the Francis Report into the Mid-Staffordshire Trust scandal due to be published tomorrow (February 6th).

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