New trust chair signs off review of proposed merger

The terms of reference for the review have been signed off by the new chair of Queen Victoria Hospital Foundation Trust, Anita Donley, after the review was jointly commissioned by the trust and NHS England South East. It will be carried out by management consultants Carnall Farrar.

The small specialist FT is due to merge with the neighbouring University Hospitals Sussex Foundation Trust. QVH faces significant financial and clinical challenges which has led its board to conclude it needs to merge with another organisation — but this has faced stiff opposition locally, including from some of the governors.

The review will: 

• examine the board’s handling of the merger and its relations with the council of governors,
• provide clarity around roles and decision-making, particularly the respective roles of the board and council of governors,
• make recommendations to help resolve conflict within the trust and to build a consensus to allow it to make progress “effectively and at pace”, while ensuring the trust has a long-term and sustainable plan for its services and staff.

In her first report to a trust board meeting, Dr Donley said a summary of the review — including conclusions and recommendations — would be shared with governors. However, she said the full report would not be circulated, as contributors needed to be able to discuss confidential and sensitive issues. The trust has not yet committed to making the review summary public. 

The trust had additional conditions on its licence  imposed by NHS England and Improvement which require the council of governors to work effectively with the board. Dr Donley said the review would help deliver this requirement. The conditions were imposed after governors called for a halt on work towards a merger.

A pressure group opposing the planned merger – Save Our Specialist Services at QVH – said there were concerns about the neutrality of the review.

“This is just a box ticking exercise and we suspect it will be used to stop hard scrutiny of the merger process by reporting on governors’ behaviour rather than the important issues they raise,” it said in a statement.

Trust facing service loss

Meanwhile, QVH has moved a step nearer to losing its inpatient services for adults burns patients with the launch of an options appraisal by NHS England’s specialised commissioning team. This will look at finding a provider which is co-located with acute emergency, medical and surgical services.

QVH, which currently operates the service under a derogation — meaning it does not meet all required standards — does not have all of these services onsite around the clock, and sometimes has to transfer inpatients to other trusts because it cannot meet their needs.

Updated 10 January 9.55am: The original headline and copy of this story said Dr Donley had ordered the review. After publication, the trust contacted HSJ and said the review was in fact “initiated” before the new chair joined, but that she signed it off. The headline and copy have been updated to reflect this.