6 November 2009
In late 2008, the Trust announced plans to review the way it is shaped to see if there was a better way to structure and manage the hospitals.
The review, called Local Needs, Local Health, was a joint initiative with the Trust's strategic health authority, NHS London, and has been run in partnership with NHS Surrey, NHS Sutton and Merton and NHS South East Coast. It has also involved Trust staff and volunteers, as well as patients, members of the public and other key stakeholders, including MPs and councillors.
At its meeting today (6 November), the Trust's Board received a paper concluding the review, including a recommendation for the future shape of the organisation.
The review assessed three options:
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Status quo – the Trust remaining as it is;
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De-merger – Epsom and St Helier hospitals de-merging to become two separate NHS trusts;
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Divestment – the Trust transferring ownership of part(s) of the organisation to another NHS body.
The recommendation discussed and accepted by the Board is that the Trust should remain as it is (status quo) at this time. However, they countered this by saying that the Trust should, like all other NHS organisations, keep a close eye on its longer term future and be prepared to adapt in the best interests of patients, local people and staff.
Key to this is how the NHS is changing nationally, regionally and locally, with a drive across the England, including Surrey and south west London, to further improve the care provided to patients. This includes making sure it is delivered closer to where people live or in more specialist centres, and to reduce unnecessary hospital admissions.
These changes include work being jointly undertaken by clinicians from across south west London, including senior doctors from the Trust, to look at how the local NHS hospitals can work more closely together to further improve the services they provide. This initiative is called Healthcare for South West London.
Other similar work is taking place in Surrey, including the Trust working more closely with local GPs, to see if there are services they can provide, saving patients from having to come into hospital. Work is also underway in Epsom Hospital's Accident & Emergency (A&E), with GPs taking a more significant role in caring for patients after they have been discharged from the department and helping to prevent them from having to be admitted to hospital.
Samantha Jones, Chief Executive, said: "The Local Needs, Local Health review has allowed us to assess and challenge the structure of the Trust to see if there was a better way of managing the two main sites.
"A lot of work has gone into the review and we are grateful to all of the partners, as well as staff, volunteers and other key stakeholders, who have taken the time to get involved and let us know their views.
"The Board believes that status quo is the correct recommendation for the Trust at this time. However, we must keep abreast of the changes that are taking place to the way that the NHS delivers care to patients – whether locally, regionally and nationally – and be ready to adapt should we need to. This will include continuously reassessing from today onwards how we could divest both main hospital sites.
"Being involved and helping to shape any changes will help us to ensure that the residents of Surrey, Sutton and Merton continue to receive the highest standards of care in a place that best suits their needs, whilst making sure our hospitals have long, bright futures.
"The local NHS must also be mindful of how any future changes to the amount of money spent on the NHS in Surrey, Sutton and Merton – in light of the global recession – could impact on the services it provides."
