Four trusts to form single ‘board in common’

The move will see each of the four providers – Chelsea and Westminster Hospital Foundation Trust, Imperial College Healthcare Trust, The Hillingdon Hospitals FT and London North West University Healthcare Trust – establish their own committee of board directors to meet four times a year in public.

The group, which has a combined income of more than £3bn, has worked closely together as an acute provider collaborative for some time and accelerated this during the pandemic.

They are also exploring whether to set up a new elective orthopaedic centre in the region to help boost their recovery from covid.

Each individual trust will meet in public at least once per year, while their joint chair Matthew Swindells, alongside their respective chief executives and vice chairs, will meet as a cabinet to consider “key decisions” between board meetings.

The trusts’ board subcommittees are also expected to continue taking place as their reports will be presented at the board in common meetings, alongside the newly formed cabinet.

An announcement stated all four trusts would remain independent organisations and continue to publish trust-level data.

The new arrangements were formally agreed upon by each trust’s board, alongside the governors of the two foundation trusts, at their public board meetings in late July and early August.

NHS England is now going through the “final administrative processes” of the agreement.

Mr Swindells said: “Our trusts worked together with extraordinary results during the height of the pandemic. These partnerships are helping us to see our patients more swiftly and reduce waiting times.

“The new board in common will now help us make strategic decisions together, so we can share best practice, use our resources in the best way for all our patients, and develop consistently high-quality services.

“Our employees, patients, communities and other local stakeholders have a vital role to play in helping to define and shape improvements. Our new governance will help us do this – both locally and across north west London.”