Buckinghamshire trust FT bid delayed six months

The trust had originally planned to submit its bid in April 2012, but March board papers reveal this will now happen in October.

The papers say that in mid 2011-12, “our financial performance and performance against the 18 week waiting list standard slipped behind plan, not helped by the serious outbreaks of norovirus.”

The papers say: “Considerable efforts across our divisions have got our performance back on track. The slight slippage with respect to the formal launch of the Better Healthcare in Buckinghamshire consultation also put pressure on the timeline.”

The trust now hopes to be authorised as a foundation trust in “early 2013”.