About Monitor

Monitor authorises and regulates NHS foundation trusts making sure they are well-managed and financially strong so that they can deliver excellent healthcare for patients.

Monitor was established in January 2004. You can find out more about Monitor's functions and powers, as detailed in the National Health Service Act 2006, in the Links section.

Authorising NHS Foundation Trusts

Monitor receives and considers applications from NHS Trusts seeking foundation status. If satisfied that certain criteria are met, we authorise them to operate as NHS Foundation Trusts.

The terms of their formal authorisation set out the conditions under which a foundation trust is required to operate and covers such things as:

• Description of the goods and services related to the provision of healthcare that the foundation trust is authorised to provide
• Limits on the amount of income that the foundation trust is allowed to earn from private charges
• Limits on the amount of money that the foundation trust is allowed to borrow
• Financial and statistical information the foundation trust is required to provide

Monitoring and Regulating NHS Foundation Trusts

Once NHS Foundation Trusts are established, we monitor their activities to ensure that they comply with the requirements of their terms of authorisation.

Inspection of the performance of a foundation trust against healthcare standards is carried out by the Healthcare Commission, which will send us copies of their inspection reports.

We have powers to intervene in the running of a foundation trust in the event of failings in its healthcare standards or other aspects of its activities, which amount to a significant breach in the terms of its authorisation.

For more information about Monitor, please have a look at our leaflet About Monitor: Effective Regulation, Better Patient Care.