The best-performing hospital in Oxford could soon turn to hundreds of people from all walks of life for advice on key decisions.

The Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre is hoping a new board of governors, which will help run the hospital under foundation status, will not just include volunteers with "time and money on their hands".

They want recruited members to include a cross section of Oxfordshire residents and NOC patients, as well as people who work at the Windmill Road site, even if they are not directly employed by the hospital trust.

Jo Sheehan, NOC foundation status project manager, said: "We want to encourage people from a wide range of backgrounds, not just those normally involved in health, who are people with time and money on their hands.

"Members would receive information and, at the other end of the extreme, have full participation on the board of governors.

"I think they'll have a huge say. Foundation status is about looking to the community instead of looking to the Department of Health. It's the biggest change we'll make under foundation status."

The members' group would be represented by a smaller board of about 50 elected governors, called a membership council.

About 35 would be members of the public and patients, eight would be hospital workers -- ranging from cleaners to consultants, while another eight would represent organisations which work closely with the NOC, like primary care trusts, councils and the city's universities.

The council would advise the board of directors, and elect non-executive directors.

Details of membership will be included in a 10-week public consultation about the trust's foundation status plans, which is being launched on Monday. Ms Sheehan said: "The responses will be considered by the board in November.

"Our final application for status will be submitted in mid-December, and if we receive foundation status it will come into effect next April."

The NOC has been able to apply for foundation status because it is ranked as a top-performing three star hospital.

If it was awarded the flagship status, it would be freed from Whitehall control and have the ability to raise extra funds through loans.