Uncertainty over Wye Valley future

In March last year the Herefordshire trust – which runs hospital, community and adult social care services – said it believed it could not achieve foundation trust status as a stand-alone organisation.

The trust produced a shortlist of three options which it hoped would allow it to meet the required foundation trust standards.

These were acquisition by a foundation trust, being taken over by a public or private sector organisation as part of a franchise, or reconfiguring the services the trust provides.

However the trust’s most recent board papers state that “an exhaustive examination of the options” to test their financial and clinical viability “found that none of them appeared to meet the stringent criteria required”.

The trust said none of the options offered “financial stability” and that they all “failed to deliver a long term business case that is robust enough to meet national NHS requirements”.

In a statement Wye Valley chief executive Derek Smith said that “doing nothing is not an option”, and that the trust remained “committed to finding a solution that secures its long-term future”.

In the board papers, the trust said it was working with Herefordshire Clinical Commissioning Group, NHS England and the NHS Trust Development Authority “to look at possible further configurations of the three options, alongside other possible solutions, to address the financial challenges facing healthcare in Herefordshire”.

While it would not be adopting any of the three options, the trust said the work carried out over the last 12 months had been “invaluable”.

Speaking to HSJ, a spokeswoman for the TDA said the body was currently working with the trust as part of its planning for the next two years.

She said this would be aligned with commissioner plans in the months ahead, and that the two planning processes would “inform the discussions that need to take place regarding clinical and financial sustainability going forward”.

The spokeswoman said: “Our priority remains to continue work with the trust to help them secure sustainable, high quality services for local people and long term financial stability.”