‘Better value’ health if hospitals join together

WARWICK Hospital hopes to be involved in the running of the George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton, which will have to be taken over unless it changes its management within the next two years.

The Government has set a deadline of 2014 for all hospital trusts to achieve ‘foundation’ status - which gives local people more control over how they are run - something the Nuneaton hospital will not be able to do.

South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust - which runs Warwick Hospital - has offered to acquire George Eliot to ensure it can stay open. Separately, the trust has already proposed to provide consultant paediatricians to the Nuneaton hospital to allow it to maintain its maternity services.

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George Eliot’s management team has now formally invited organisations to put forward proposals and it must now consider whether it is to be taken over by one single body or open out a bidding process.

SWFT’s chief executive Glen Burley said: “I would very much expect that whichever route George Eliot takes, we would still be considered because I think ours is a strong proposal.”

Under the proposal, Warwick and George Eliot would work under a new county-wide board made up of governors from both parts of the county, but continue to operate as two separate hospitals - under the single direction of the south Warwickshire trust.

Mr Burley said: “The main strength of the coming together of Warwickshire providers is that we would provide a bigger organisation that would be able to compete more with Coventry. We could work more closely with social services as well.”

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He pointed out the trust has already taken on the running of community healthcare services across Warwickshire, meaning it is in a good position to work with George Eliot.

He said: “We are similar-sized organisations so if we worked together we could make some savings. We could make ourselves a bit more lean for the money we get.

“I have explained that it would need to be an acquisition rather than a merger, because for us to merge would mean we would have to disestablish our foundation trust, which does not make any sense.

“We would look into reviewing our board to include more representation from the north. We would try to make it as close to a merger as possible.”

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He added: “George Eliot’s plan is to try to get to foundation status by 2013. It will need to work quite fast from now.

“It’s a major undertaking. If we are involved we need to start reorganising our staff to ensure that we don’t take our eye off the ball on delivering patient care in south Warwickshire while working on the takeover.”