The merger between the two NHS Trusts that run the Queens Medical Centre, City Hospital and King’s Mill has been called off.
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH), which runs QMC and City Hospital, published a statement on their website saying that the merger is called off because each Trust needed to focus on improving different areas.
NUH said they need to focus on improving A&E waiting times and said Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Trust (SFH), which runs King’s Mill hospital, need to focus on continuing their general improvements.
This comes after the announcement a few weeks ago that the merger between the two Trusts would be delayed with hospital bosses saying ‘it was not possible’ to do this year.
Concerns were raised last month that a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) deal could scupper the merger.
The Sherwood Trust has been in special measures since 2013 and received an ‘inadequate’ rating from Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors last year.
Full statement from Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust
It has been confirmed that Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (SFH) and Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) are no longer pursuing a formal merger and will continue to operate as standalone organisations.
Both Trusts remain committed to working in partnership where it adds value to patient care and results in better ways of working.
The main reason for this decision is the requirement for each organisation to focus on operational challenges. For NUH, this is improving 4-hour performance for emergency patients and addressing its financial challenges, whilst SFH will focus on continuing to embed and build on the significant improvements delivered over the past year.
SFH and NUH are working together with NHS Improvement (the regulator), to determine how the partnership will progress over the next few months and beyond, ensuring alignment with Nottinghamshire’s Sustainability and Transformation Plan, which describes the 5-year strategy for the health and social care system.
