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Fears that ‘superhospital’ merger will threaten patient services
Sophie Goodchild and Anna Davis17 Nov 2009
Two major London hospitals are holding merger talks to create a superhospital, it was revealed today.
But the move by the Whittington and Royal Free to become a single organisation raised fears that the number of patients treated could be slashed with campaigners warning there was a “real danger” of cuts to beds and staff.
The trusts are already facing cuts of up to £900 million because of changes to funding tariffs.
Senior executives at both hospitals have held meetings with staff about a seven per cent budget saving across all departments.
Both have denied that the number of patients treated could be slashed from 950,000 to 500,000 if they merge. But campaigners warned the quality of patient care would be threatened.
NHS trusts in London are already under pressure to make budget cuts with a major reduction in public sector funding over the coming years.
Geoff Martin from Health Emergency, which campaigns for local services, said: “This is a finance-driven merger and that means real cuts in services are on the way. There is a very real danger of massive bed and staffing reductions and the closure of one of the two casualty departments.”
Earlier this year, the Royal Free and Whittington abandoned bids to become independently run trusts. This failure to achieve foundation trust status has contributed to the loss of major contracts, including acute stroke services and a major trauma centre.
Former Royal Free chief executive Andrew Way told the board when he quit in April the hospital was “coming under increasing financial strain” and recommended “closer collaborative working or a possible merger.”
The hospital is funded by the Government to treat around 700,000 patients a year. The Whittington has 250,000.
David Sloman, chief executive of the Royal Free, said its board was looking at arguments for and against a merger. He said: “If progress is made and the work continues, there will be no decisions without full and thorough engagement with key stakeholders, particularly our staff.”
Whittington boss Rob Larkman said a merger was one option available in the face of government funding cuts.
He said: “Early discussions have been positive. We have asked the team of senior clinicians and managers from both trusts to weigh up the pros and cons. Any new organisation would have to be strong enough to protect our services and be financially robust.”
The merger talks have been taking place over the past three months. They will be discussed at board meetings in December.
Reader views (2)
As a long-standing cancer patient with experience of both hospitals what bothers me most is how this 'superhospital' would be run. In my experience the Whittington is well-run but the Royal Free certainly isn't, and ultimately that impacts on the patients' physical and mental wellbeing.
- Anon, London, UK, 17/11/2009 14:20
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"Whittington boss Rob Larkman said a merger was one option available in the face of government funding cuts."
And yet in the face of real government funding cuts like these in the NHS,Police Forces, Education, Military our lying dictator Gutless Brown continues to tell bare-faced lies that "Labour will not make cuts to public services and public spending will increase".
How can Brown continue to be so untrustworthy and deceitful to us?!
The Chief Executives of public service bodies are admitting that they are suffering crippling funding cuts and taxpayers are already feeling the effects of reduced services yet Liebour continue to to trot out their version of what's going on - madness!
- Anon Pc, London, UK, 17/11/2009 09:08
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