Merger trust chief tells staff to 'acknowledge contribution' of both hospitals

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital Foundation Trust took over West Middlesex University Hospital Trust after a process that also saw a bid from Imperial College Healthcare Trust.

Chelsea and Westminster chief executive Lesley Watts was asked in board meeting in March what had gone well and what had not gone well over the past year.

Board papers, published for a meeting this week, show she told directors and non-executives: “Merging of the two hospitals had been a success due to the high level of engagement that had been received from staff from all our sites.”

However, the minutes recorded her adding: “There was still work to do on developing and acknowledging the contribution made by both sites to the overall success of the trust.”

Prior to the merger in September 2015, Chelsea and Westminster was one of the best performing trusts in the capital. West Middlesex University Hospital was generally among the less well performing trusts. It was rebuilt as a PFI hospital in 2001 and makes a unitary payment for it of roughly £12m a year.

It is not clear whether Ms Watts meant the contribution of the well-regarded Chelsea and Westminster Hospital should be acknowledged or whether she was referring to the contribution made by West Middlesex, which needed regular bailouts from the Department of Health while it was an independent organisation.

The board papers said staff satisfaction scores had fallen at both sites since the merger but this was standard after organisations merged.