The NHS Trust Development Authority (NHS TDA) has a unique opportunity to provide leadership, support and development for those providers that remain NHS Trusts. The document Introducing the NHS TDA provides an outline of the kind of challenges we face as an organisation, how we are structuring ourselves to meet that challenge and how we are going to work in a different and creative way.
The NHS TDA will play its part in safeguarding the core values of the NHS, ensuring a fair and comprehensive service across the country and promoting the NHS Constitution. It will be accountable nationally for the outcomes achieved by NHS Trusts and for financial stewardship within the NHS Trust system as it is wound down.
It brings together a number of functions which are currently carried out within the Department of Health, by SHA clusters and the Appointments Commission which have the core objective of supporting NHS Trusts and ensuring that services to patients are of the highest possible quality.
In particular, these include:
- performance management of NHS Trusts;
- management of the Foundation Trust pipeline;
- assurance of clinical quality, governance and risk in NHS Trusts; and
- appointments to NHS Trusts eg of chairs and non-executive members and trustees for NHS Charities where the Secretary of State has a power to appoint.
Timeline
Following Royal Assent to the Health & Social Care Bill, the following is the timeline for the establishment of the NHS TDA:
- June 2012 - established as a Special Health Authority
- October 2012 – taking on responsibility for non-executive appointments to NHS trusts and for overseeing the 2013/14 planning round
- April 2013 – fully operational
