F IS FOR: FOUNDATION TRUSTS

The mounting cost of the consultant contract and the squeeze anticipated due to Agenda for Change is starting to focus greater board attention on gaining efficiencies through human resources reform and practices.

And nowhere are these concerns more keenly felt than at aspirant foundation trusts.One HR manager from such a trust revealed concern at the consultant contract's potential to unbalance the books when they sought reassurance from Bill Moyes during an 'audience with the foundation trusts regulator'at this year's HR in the NHS conference.

Although Mr Moyes agreed that it is a concern among many trusts (adding that he had come across significant underassessment of the financial impact of the contract and the European working-time directive in first-wave applications), he pointed out that he could 'offer no comfort' - it was a matter for policy makers and local negotiations between acute and primary care trusts.

Mr Moyes stressed the integral role HR should play in a trust's preparation for possible foundation status.

A trust's HR strategy can come under the regulator's microscope as part of a bid to tackle financial deficit - such as a switch from agency to bank nursing staff.HR should also be playing a key role in 'shaping the board' for foundation status - evaluating roles and responsibilities of executive and non-executive directors and governors.