Three hospital trusts in the North East are to undergo a major shake-up as the government prepares to launch its 10-year Health Plan. The Newcastle Hospitals, Gateshead Hospitals and Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trusts, which together employ more than 32,000 staff, will form a new Alliance to work together “where it makes sense“, said a spokesperson.
The three trusts are responsible for major hospitals including the Freeman and Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, Queen Elizabeth in Gateshead and North Tyneside General, Wansbeck General and Hexham General in Northumbria.
“This is not a merger because we want to keep the best of our local services and facilities,“ the spokesperson told North East Bylines. “As part of an Alliance, we will keep what’s best locally, and our NHS trusts will continue to operate independently, but we will make decisions jointly and work together where it makes sense.
“We are determined this will not be a distraction from specific local actions or ambitions but will bring us together when we need to do more to support patients.”
Some questions remain unanswered, such as exactly when the Alliance will be formed and exactly what the effects will be on staff, if any.
10-year Health Plan
The government is to launch its 10-year Health Plan in the Spring, and it is possible that this will see other similar Alliances formed in other parts of England, though this is not known. According to the government:
“Through the 10 Year Health Plan, the government will focus on three strategic shifts, moving care from:
- hospital to community
- sickness to prevention
- analogue to digital
“These shifts will help to:
- cut waiting times for care
- reduce the amount of time spent in ill health
- tackle health inequalities
- reduce the lives lost to the biggest killers – cancer, cardiovascular disease and suicide
- make the NHS sustainable in the long term.”
Wes Streeting, Health and Social Care Secretary, says in a foreword to a policy paper on the Plan: “The government was elected with a mandate to get our NHS back on its feet and to build an NHS fit for the future…
“Patients are waiting too long for appointments, treatment and ambulances. Cancer care lags behind other countries. Care for cardiovascular conditions is going in the wrong direction. The NHS budget is not being spent where it should be – far too concentrated in hospitals, too little in the community, and productivity is too low. Patients and staff alike are confronted with these failures, and they are counting on us to act.
“Nothing I have experienced in my first months as your Secretary of State has shaken my conviction that, while the NHS may be broken, it’s not beaten. The NHS has extraordinary depth of clinical talent. Staff across every function in every part of the NHS are dedicated to their patients, have an unshakeable commitment to the NHS’s values, and are passionate about bringing about the change we all want to see.”
News of the North East Alliance comes on the heels of the announcement, reported in North East Bylines, that the Newcastle Hospitals chief executive, Sir James Mackey, has been appointed transition chief executive of NHS England to lead the NHS from its current crisis to getting back on its feet.
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