Trust chair accused NHSI of ‘lacking backbone’ over estates project

Estates firm Ryhurst said The Whittington Health Trust abandoned a £300m “strategic estates partnership” because of external pressure from the Labour leader, the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, and NHSI.

In court documents the firm said the pressure resulted from its sister company’s involvement in maintenance work on Grenfell Tower.

The company presented emails between the trust’s board members as evidence, including an email from the trust’s former chair, Steven Hitchins, that said “the involvement of the Mayor for entirely political reasons and the NHSI lack of backbone” meant the trust was forced to abandon the 10-year deal.

The trust had named Ryhurst as preferred bidder for the project in June 2017, but days later, the Grenfell Tower fire killed 72 people and the trust subsequently paused its procurement process, due to scrutiny of renovation work carried out by Rydon Maintenance Ltd. Both companies are subsidiaries of the Rydon Group.

Despite the pause, the trust wrote to Ryhurst in November 2017 to say it “confirms the acceptance of your offer”, according to the submissions. Ryhurst said it believes NHSI later gave the trust the go-ahead to sign the contract in February 2018, although the trust disputes that interpretation.

Then in June 2018, the trust told Ryhurst it had abandoned the deal.

Ryhurst said pressure from local campaigners and MPs, including Jeremy Corbyn and Emily Thornberry, to abandon the SEP, increased during the 12 months after Grenfell.

In its latest filing, Ryhurst said the trust “decided to abandon the procurement as a result of ‘political’ pressure, not only directly from [the Defend the Whittington campaign group] and local MPs, but also from and/or through NHSI and/or the Mayor of London.”

The trust has rejected the claim that its decision was due to political pressure or the association with Grenfell – saying it was due to an improved financial position and stronger relationships with local partners.

Ryhurst has presented internal emails from April 2018, between Mr Hitchins and some of the trust’s non-executive directors as evidence.

In one, Mr Hitchins wrote: “We had some important discussions this week… The first, I was surprised to hear about, is a complete turnaround on the estates plan. Not only are we abandoning it and looking at alternatives, we face an expensive legal action which NHSI will underwrite only to the extent of £200,000.

“I am struggling to separate my annoyance with NHSI, the manner in which we have been marched up and down….this particular hill and how we handle the communications with the much bigger issues that this is a critical and major decision.

“The biggest reason behind this is inevitably politics with NHSI completely compromised by the possibility of any political ripples and the London Mayor’s intervention. Nothing will ever appear in writing or even be said but it has been made clear the SEP is dead!”

Tony Rice, a non-executive director, wrote apparently in response: “I fully agree. Not only do we look like complete incompetents (because of the behind the scenes machinations of NHSI, local politicians and City Hall) but a backdown now may result in us never being able to effect an estates plan of any kind, a certain path to merger and possibly closure in the future.”

The trust said the quotes presented in evidence by Ryhurst are admitted as “partial and incomplete quotations” from documents disclosed by the trust, but said it will refer to the documents “in full and in their context for their proper meaning and true effect”.

A spokeswoman said the trust “no longer needed a single commercial partner to work with us to develop plans for our estate”, as it could work independently with a range of organisations and specialists.

She added: “These, along with the fact that effective stakeholder engagement is a key part of developing any plans and additional requirements from NHSI for any projects delivered through this joint venture, all led to the conclusion that a strategic estates partnership was no longer the best option for the trust”

She said the trust would robustly defend its position to the court.

Mr Hitchins left the trust in June 2019 after NHSI told him he would not be reappointed. In September he died after suffering a heart attack.

A spokesman from Ryhurst told HSJ: “We are disappointed there has not been a resolution before this stage as we have always remained open to discussion with the trust.”

NHSI was approached for comment.