Kingston Hospital Trust has deferred its application for foundation trust status until February 2011 after failing to win backing for the bid from its primary care trust.
It had been aiming to achieve FT status by October 2010, but negative official feedback after a 12-week public consultation forced a strategic rethink.
Trust chief executive Kate Grimes described NHS Kingston’s response to the bid as “non-committal”.
She told the hospital’s board that although the public response was generally positive, “that received from Kingston on behalf of all our commissioners was non-committal, indicating that they were unable to provide a more positive response in light of the south west London whole systems review”.
A spokesman for NHS Kingston said: “As part of the Healthcare for London programme, we are looking at a number of options to improve local services, and until this work is finished, unfortunately we cannot take a position on the hospital’s application to become a foundation trust.
“We completely support the principle of provider organisations becoming foundation trusts, and we are committed to working with the hospital to deliver the best possible services for Kingston residents.”
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