Trust holds CEO post to consider ‘integration’ with neighbour

Wirral Community Health and Care Foundation Trust has not advertised its CEO post since long-serving chief Karen Howell announced her departure in March. Finance director Mark Greatrex has been promoted to the role on an interim basis.

HSJ has learned Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board has commissioned consultancy firm The Value Circle to look at the potential integration of acute and community services in Wirral.

Well-placed local sources said this would likely result in a joint CEO post with Wirral University Teaching Hospital FT, eventually leading to an organisational merger in the longer term. WUTH is led by Janelle Holmes.

WCHC is one of the NHS’s smallest providers and recently handed back social care services to Wirral council after an integration contract was deemed not to have brought the benefits envisaged.

A recent ICB board paper said the review will initially focus on ways to improve unplanned care pathways, but would also review other clinical, operational and financial issues.

The review would “develop a way forward for the collaborative and integration opportunities for WCHC and WUTH”, the paper added.

WUTH has had relatively high delayed discharge rates in recent years, and any integration would be aimed at improving this.

The ICB said in a statement: “There are clearly opportunities with regards to closer collaboration and integration of hospital and community services in Wirral – which will not only make best use of resources, but that will also lead to improved care for patients.

“We’re encouraged by the early and positive discussions that both trusts and wider partners are engaged in, as part of the ongoing review of Wirral services.”

This echoed a statement issued last month by the same ICB, concerning the future of Bridgewater Community Healthcare FT, another small community provider that operates in Warrington.

WCHC would not answer questions about organisational form or leadership structure. It said in a statement: “Following Karen’s departure we [will] have an interim chief executive in place, with effect from 1 June 2024.

“There is a strong established partnership in place between the trust and WUTH, and the aim of the Wirral services review is to strengthen that collaborative working. We are currently in the earliest stages of discussions.”

WUTH said the review was intended to explore the opportunities, but would not answer specific questions.