Live Q&A: making a merger work

Readers' comments (28)

• Joe S | 17-Oct-2012 10:54 am

  Interesting - what do staff think? Is that being measured? What's the impact been?

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• Anonymous | 17-Oct-2012 11:26 am

  We are probably going to be going through the same in near future. Did you have a plan in case not everyone had agreed to the same merge partner?

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• Library y | 17-Oct-2012 12:04 pm

  how are the clinical changes being plannedand communicated?

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• Anonymous | 17-Oct-2012 2:30 pm

  how many staff lost jobs

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• Anonymous | 18-Oct-2012 12:36 pm

  How did non-clinical members of the board feel about participating in a process that would leave them jobless?

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• Joe S | 18-Oct-2012 4:10 pm

  Also, what has been the impact on performance?
  

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  Stephen Gardner | 19-Oct-2012 9:00 am

  Joe S raises a good point about staff opinions and whether they are being measured. I'd have to say that we haven't established any separate mechanism to "measure" staff opinion as such. We've out a great deal of time and effort into communicating with staff. At the point of acquisition, we were conscious that THT (the previous organissation) had set the bar fairly high on staff engagement and communication, and we have tried hard to maintain this since 1 April 2012. We are also working as closely as possible with staff-side organisations.
  In terms of what staff think, the majority are very realistic and reasonably positive, but I am sure there are some who have doubts and misgivings.

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  Rachel Purkett | 19-Oct-2012 9:03 am

  Thanks Stephen. Welcome to you and Jessica and to anyone else watching this Q&A. The work you've done is very interesting and we hope others will be able to learn from you.

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  Stephen Gardner | 19-Oct-2012 9:05 am

  On the planning and communicating of changes to clinical services [Library Y], we could write a whole separate (series of) articles. The acquisition, as described in the article, was on an "as is" basis, although it was always clear communicated that this would be followed by a service redesign exercise. The service planning was undertaken on a multi-agency, multi-disciplinary basis between about Sept 2011 and May 2012. This included extensive public listening exercises. A formal public consultation on proposed changes commenced in July, and is due to conclude at the end of October.

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• S Baxter | 19-Oct-2012 9:07 am

  Were the legal aspects hard to get to grips with?

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• Anonymous | 19-Oct-2012 9:10 am

  In response to the question regarding what staff felt and thought about the process of acquisition, the leadership team of Trafford were very clear that we must be open and honest with staff about our position and chosen strategy to be acquired. We understood that this would cause uncertainty and anxiety but staff had been experiencing uncertainty for five years as the future if the organisation had been in question. We built a strong relationship with the staff side organisations and ensured that we communicated constantly throughout the process. This took the form of weekly written and face to face briefings and an open approach to all staff and their questions. We acknowledged staff anxieties but also made the point that acquisition represented the best opportunity for high quality services for the people of Trafford and a new level of security for the majority of staff. Many staff indicated that despite their anxiety they understood and supported the logic of our strategic choice. We constantly sought feedback from staff throughout the process and put in place support arrangements to respond to this feedback. The staff survey that reported just before the acquisition took place had the best results that Trafford had ever seen. This reflected staff's confidence in communications from the leadership of the organisation and their involvement in the process impacting the organisation. My understanding is that Central Manchester has continued this approach.

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• Mike Hobday | 19-Oct-2012 9:11 am

  How do you ensure that merging hospitals doesn't divert attention from the parallel reconfiguration of primary and community services to address the changing patterns of acute based treatment and support? Surely the same clinicians have to be involved in both?
  Mike Hobday
  Macmillan Cancer Support

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  Stephen Gardner | 19-Oct-2012 9:18 am

  I'll try to respond to the two questions about job losses. The level-headed approach taken by the Board of THT was one of the most striking aspects of the exercise. I know that at least one of the Board posts was being filled on an interim basis, and the situation is a bit different for people like medical directors, but there were still a number of individuals who were party to the decision, knowing that it placed there own future in question. Jessica was on the inside of this debate, and may be able to add some insights. From my perspective, the amazingly positive approach of the Board was one of the key factors in making the whole process work.
  The acquisition itself only really affected the Board, but in terms of job losses more widely, we have managed to keep these to an absolute minimum. There has been some integration of corporate teams. However, immediately after selection as preferred bidder we agreed a process whereby both organisations would sit on vacancies in corporate teams, to allow the flexibility to integrate post-merger. This process is nearly complete. Some people have chosen to leave but pretty much everyone who wanted a job has got one.

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• Library y | 19-Oct-2012 9:19 am

  Thanks Stephen, helpful

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  Rachel Purkett | 19-Oct-2012 9:20 am

  The comment at 9.10 was from Jessica Bradshaw, former director of human resources at Trafford Healthcare Trust and acquisition project director

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• Jessica Bradshaw | 19-Oct-2012 9:21 am

  In response to the question regarding what you do if there are disagreements regarding the acquisition partner, managing the potential for this upfront is really important. The key to success here is to ensure that the criteria, process and decision making responsibilities for selecting an acquiring partner are clearly established with stakeholder at the beginning of the process. If the process and criteria for selection are signed up to by all parties then the outcome will emerge fro the application of this process and disagreements are less likely to arise. Whilst it is not easy to align all stakeholders, the time invested in doing this before you start the process is invaluable.

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  Stephen Gardner | 19-Oct-2012 9:25 am

  Joe S has asked about performance. The short answer is that the acquisition has not had any impact on performance. However, the services are still running in exactly the same way as they did prior to acquisition, so there should be no reason for performance to change. There is always the possibility that a merger exercise can cause a distraction and people could "take their eye off the ball". However, the smooth transition of operational management arrangements meant that this risk was minimised.

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  Rachel Purkett | 19-Oct-2012 9:27 am

  Good question, Mike. Did you work with primary care partners when going through this process, Stephen and Jessica?

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• Anonymous | 19-Oct-2012 9:32 am

  How did you communicate the financial issues that led up to the merger to staff/public? & could you give more details about the public consultation

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• Jessica Bradshaw | 19-Oct-2012 9:33 am

  The question of how non clinical members of the Board felt about this is really important. As a senior team we felt that it was our job to find a way for the people of Trafford to get some certainty about the future of health services in Trafford and to provide the opportunity for staff who work so hard to deliver those services to have a more secure future. Neither of these things could be achieved by us continuing to try to make a financially unsustainable organisation work. We were alos keen that we should take cotrol of the organisations own destiny rather than have choices made for us. Regardless of the personal consequences, our obligation was to make the right strategic choice and then lead the organisation through the process in a positive way. We needed to ensure that we showed strong leadership to the organisation, maintained clinical performance and delivered the acquisition transaction in the best possible way. This was a task we took pride in and we all learnt valuable skills as a result, which have proved to be very transferable.

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