STRUCTURE: A hospital chief executive has confirmed that the decision to have his trust taken over by a Hinchingbrooke style private management franchise will be deferred until after the general election.

Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals Foundation Trust is the last trust in the country where a franchise deal was mooted and not formally ruled out.

The organisation was ordered to run a procurement exercise by Monitor in September 2013 and a private management franchise was considered to be one of the possible outcomes.

The procurement process was suspended in August by Monitor, promising a “short delay” while Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group developed a strategic plan for the health economy.

In June Monitor, NHS England and the NHS Trust Development Authority ruled that the trust was part of one of the 11 troubled local health economies to be reviewed by a team of management consultants.

The five year plans for each trust and commissioning body in the local health economy was examined to ensure they aligned. The process concluded in December.

Trust chief executive Stephen Graves this week told HSJ further work would take place on the configuration of services in the area before a decision on whether to reactivate the trust’s procurement exercise was taken. He said he expected this work to be completed in June.

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