Pause in integration with Medway NHS Foundation Trust
Last week, Monitor, the regulator of NHS Foundation Trusts, agreed to Medway NHS Foundation Trust’s request to temporarily pause the assessment of our plans to become one organisation.
You may already be aware that Medway NHS Foundation Trust has been named as one of fourteen trusts subject to a National Commissioning Board (NCB) review of Hospital Standardised Mortality Ratios (HSMR). They decided to pause the Monitor assessment of integration to allow themselves the time and space to fully focus on this review and ensure that integration with our Trust is based on solid foundations.
They have already made progress against their own plan to drive down HSMR and welcome the NCB review as an opportunity to build on the progress they are already making.
At present, it is understood that this review is likely to take 3 to 4 months. When the structure of the NCB review is clearer, we will be better able to consider when we could resume the Monitor process, although this will not be before June 2013.
We will continue to keep you updated with our progress and plans. In the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact us at bettercaretogether@nhs.net or call 01634 830000 ext.6761 with any queries relating to integration. Please also visit the integration webpages on our website www.medway.nhs.uk to find out more about our plans.
Cheryl Lee
Integration Director
