Join us as a member

Our members make us stronger

As a member of University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust, your views can help to influence developments and improvements to our services and hospitals.

As a Foundation Trust, we have more independence than other parts of the NHS and as a member, you will have an important role to play.

We share regular updates with our members and seek their views on key issues, services and new ideas. This means that our members have a say in our future and can shape how services are provided and developed.

Why become a member?

As a member you can:

• have your say about your hospitals and community services
• vote to elect the governors who represent you
• express concerns, highlight good practice and benefit from collective influence through your elected governors
• stand for election as a governor to have even more involvement
• receive a regular newsletter
• have free attendance to interesting meetings and events
• apply for NHS discounts

You can become a member if you are aged 16 or over and live in England. If you work for us, you automatically are a member and don't need to fill in a form.

If you would like to become part of our University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust family then please complete this form or call us on 0300 019 8723 and ask for membership services.

Why become a Governor?

Governors have an important role in making our Trust publicly accountable for the services we provide and bring a valuable perspective to all of our activities.

Our governors play a vital role in helping us to connect with our members, staff, stakeholder groups and our local communities.

Together the Governors bring a wealth of expertise, experience, ideas and views which are essential in ensuring the continuing effective development of our Trust. Governors have an important role in holding the Non-Executive Directors to account and advising the Board of public and staff opinion.

The work of the Council of Governors is extremely interesting and rewarding.

Council of Governors election 2025

Our 2025 Council of Governors election is now underway, with nominations closing on Thursday 23 October 2025.

We currently have the following Governor vacancies available:

Public:

• Bournemouth (1 vacancy)

• Christchurch, East Dorset and Rest of England (4 vacancies)

• Poole and Rest of Dorset (5 vacancies)

Staff:

• Clinical - which comprises the former Allied Health Professionals, Scientific and Technical, Medical and Dental and Nursing, Midwifery and Healthcare Assistants Classes (2 vacancies)

• Non-Clinical - which comprises the former Administrative, Clerical and Management and Estates and Ancillary Services Classes (2 vacancies)

Meet your current Governors!

Our Governors are holding drop-in sessions across all three hospital sites. These sessions are a great opportunity to hear directly from current Governors about:

• What it means to be a Governor
• The types of activities involved
• The time commitment required

You'll also have the chance to ask any questions you may have.

So why not come along and say hello? We’d love to meet you and share more about how you can get involved.

You can meet the existing Governors here:

• 1 October 2025 1pm-4pm Atrium at Royal Bournemouth Hospital
• 6 October 2025 9am – Atrium at Royal Bournemouth Hospital
• 8 October 2025 10am-12pm Outpatients at Christchurch Hospital
• 10 October 2025 1pm-4pm Dome at Poole Hospital
• 13 October 2025 1pm-4pm Atrium at Royal Bournemouth Hospital
• 15 October 2025 12pm-2pm Outpatients at Christchurch Hospital
• 17 October 2025 9am-12pm Dome at Poole Hospital

The dates for the drop-in session in Christchurch Hospital will follow shortly.

To find out more

If you would like to find out more about the role of a Governor, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Please watch our video to hear from our existing Governors on why they applied for the role here and then hear from our existing Governors on why they applied for the role here.

You can also click here to understand why Sharon Collett, former Lead Governor became a governor and what she thinks of the role.

You can hear what a previous Staff Governor for Admin and Clerical, Marie Cleary had to say about the role by watching the video here.

How we use your information

We will hold your personal details on a membership database should you become a member and this information is shared with Civica with whom we have a contractual relationship to assist us with fulfilling our obligations and with the returning officer for governor elections in which you are eligible to vote. The following link will take you to the Civica Privacy policy if you require additional information https://www.civica.com/en-gb/policies-and-statements/privacy-notice/

The database holds the name, address, email, telephone number, ethnicity, date of birth, gender and constituency. The legal basis for processing this information is as follows "Processing is in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the Data Controller".

We use your information to inform you of governor elections and voting information, to distribute membership newsletters and general hospital updates. The information on the membership database is also used to provide a demographic analysis of membership in our annual report and accounts, as required by our regulator, NHS Improvement. This allows monitoring, in the public interest, of the legal requirement to ensure that the actual membership of any public constituency is representative of those eligible for such membership.  Your personal details will remain on our database until such time as you advise us that you no longer wish to be a member. The Trust’s updated privacy policy can be found here.