Hospital chiefs give go-ahead to trust merger

Woolwich’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital NHS Trust is set to merge with Bromley Hospitals NHS Trust and Queen Mary’s Sidcup NHS Trust in April next year.

At a Queen Elizabeth Hospital NSH Trust meeting yesterday (November 6) a consultation on the merger was unanimously backed by members of the board.

The trust’s financial director David Wragg claimed the hospital’s deficit could rise to an estimated £7.3m by the end of the year and the merger would help alleviate some this debt.

But according to a report by the trust a merger would result in the loss of some clinical services at the hospital, meaning patients would have to travel to other hospitals for some services.

Trust board chairman Councillor Colin Campbell said: “We know we will not be able to fund everything in the one place, but it’s about putting quality before geographical convenience.

“I suspect people will want to travel for better quality services. However, it is important to support Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup.

“If we expect patients to go to Bromley hospitals they will end up travelling to London instead. We need to ensure that we can keep our patients coming here.”

Mr Campbell added that the biggest strain on hospital finances is the employment of temporary staff.

He said: “A merger would also allow us to save on management costs with one single management for the whole organisation rather than three.”

The combined trust would have an annual income of £400m - almost equalling that of south east London's major health organisation, King’s College Hospital.

While agreeing there was a need for change at the meeting, other board members questioned how the trusts would be able to realistically merge in time for April 1.

There was also concern the 12-week consultation involving MPs, councils and staff will not formally include members of the public.

The board are set to make a final decision on the merger in February.