Heart of England Foundation Trust is planning a major expansion involving the takeover of another hospital. It plans to become a “healthcare corporation” offering high levels of autonomy for member organisations.
Heart of England was formed out of mergers between Birmingham Heartlands Trust, Solihull Hospital and Good Hope Hospital and received £495m in revenue last year. Chief executive Mark Newbold confirmed to HSJ that his organisation hopes to take over George Eliot Hospital Trust.
Last month George Eliot, which had a revenue of £98.8m last year, said it was considering putting itself up for private management or takeover by a foundation trust in order to gain foundation status.
George Eliot Hospital Trust was red-rated for quality and finance by NHS West Midlands in the first quarter of 2011-12 and was one of 20 trusts named last week by the government as being unsustainable due to deep-rooted financial problems.
Dr Newbold said his board would discuss with Monitor the possibility of excluding George Eliot’s performance from Heart of England’s compliance ratings for a defined period, in the event of a takeover.
HSJ understands a second FT considering a takeover, in the North, is planning to approach Monitor about the same issue.
Monitor’s compliance framework already contains a mechanism for adjusting ratings of strongly performing foundations that take over smaller trusts, but it does not allow organisations to produce entirely separate reports.
If a takeover went ahead, George Eliot would retain its own management team, including a senior doctor and nurse, with support functions run centrally.
Dr Newbold said: “We’re trying to turn it [Heart of England] into a healthcare corporation that will enable an increasing number of semi-autonomous organisations.”
This would give each site the freedom to act in the best interests of local populations, he said.
He added: “George Eliot is a hospital that’s not viable on its own. Their big worry is that if they’re taken over, will they be mast-strapped? We’re saying we wouldn’t do that.
“Essentially, getting bigger and doing more work preserves and protects them. We’re trying to lever the economy of scale but not offer less [to patients].”
The trust also hopes to provide reablement services in patients’ homes and, separately, create an off-tariff, integrated care service for frail, elderly patients in Solihull, using a model imported from the US.
Under this “accountable care partnership”, budgets and risks would be shared by the trust and commissioners, as would any surplus or deficit at the end of the financial year.
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