18 August 2011
The special board in charge of demerging Epsom and St Helier hospitals to ensure they achieve foundation trust status has announced the criteria by which the organisations bidding to partner them will be judged.
Hundreds of public and patient representatives, as well as Trust staff, attended special events to help prioritise the criteria which will be used to measure the final bids. Their top five priorities are*:
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The new partner must deliver better outcomes and benefits for patients;
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They must provide better care for local residents;
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They must improve the way local health services work together (also known as integrated care);
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They must have plans in place for uniting the combined workforce, including managing, supporting and developing staff;
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The partner must be ready to merge, minimising uncertainty for both patients and staff.
For Epsom (including the Elective Orthopaedic Centre), the potential bidders are:
For St Helier (including Sutton Hospital), it is:
Jan Sawkins is the independent chair of the transaction board. She said: "The agreed criteria clearly shows that patients should come first, and rightly so. A bid that doesn't take this on board will fail.
"The bidders will need to put forward a vision which demonstrates how they will improve healthcare services for local people. This may mean new investment in services, sharing the expertise of doctors and nurses, and spending money on improving buildings and other infrastructure.
"It is important to remember that this process is not about service change. The organisations bidding to take over Epsom or St Helier will be required to run all of the services currently provided at that hospital, including accident and emergency (A&E) and maternity. As such, there will be close scrutiny of the bidders' plans to maintain, improve and enhance services."
Jan added: "The results also show that local people, patients and staff are keen to ensure that future partners look after staff at both hospitals. This will include bringing the newly combined workforce together, as well as plans for supporting them in the future: from training, education and development, to communication and engagement."
The bidders have until 11 November 2011 to submit their bids, which is eight weeks longer than originally planned. Final recommendations will be made by the transaction board in January 2012.
Jan said: "We have always recognised that there is a significant amount of work involved in putting together a bid. Following formal requests from the bidders, we have agreed to extend the deadline for bids with a view to ensuring the bidders put in the best, and most detailed, possible proposals.
"Extending the process will also give the bidders more time to take on board the views of local people, patients, staff, GPs, MPs, councillors and other interested parties in developing their bids. This will help reassure people who have concerns.
"In addition, it will give the bidders an opportunity to better understand the challenges facing healthcare services across south west London and how best the NHS can work together to address them (in an initiative called Better Services Better Value). This work is being led by local GPs, hospital doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals, as well as patient representatives."
* All figures are averages taken from events held at both Epsom and St Helier hospitals. Individual scores for the hospitals differ slightly but the criteria were ranked in the same order for both sites.
