Struggling trusts halt work on merger

Staff at Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust — the region’s acute provider — and Cornwall Partnership Foundation Trust — which runs community and mental health services across the county — were told by their chiefs yesterday that work to merge the organisations will be paused. They said this delay was due to the ongoing development of integrated care systems.

The trusts announced their intention to merge last September, saying the move would be a “keystone to integration”. The trusts have submitted a business case to NHS England, which included the aim of completing the merger by the end of this financial year.

However, in their message to staff, seen by HSJ, the trusts’ CEOs and chairs said they would be halting the merger indefinitely, as “increasing information will be emerging about the development of the ICS and the positioning of the health providers in the new model”.

They added: “It makes sense for us to understand these new plans, and our part in them, so we are better informed to consider our plans to create one new trust.”

In a further comment to HSJ, the trusts added they had received feedback from the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England which recommended they spent more time “developing our clinical models so these drive our joint working and integration”.

The decision comes as both trusts grapple with leadership and performance issues. HSJ recently revealed former CPFT CEO Phil Confue has stepped down amid external investigations into several finance and governance allegations. Former South London and Maudsley FT leader Matthew Patrick has been appointed interim CEO.

RHCT, which was in special measures between late 2017 and 2020, was warned in February by the Care Quality Commission about its high number of never events. It has called in two senior NHS directors — including former NHS Improvement medical director Kathy McLean — to help its leadership.

Meanwhile, RHCT’s director of people and organisational development left this week. She departed two months after branding one of her HR teams “vengeful”, which prompted a public apology by RCHT’s board.

A merger between the two organisations has been mooted twice before in the last decade without meaningful progress being made.