26.10.15
NHS Improvement merger to cost nearly £2m in external delivery support
Merging Monitor and the NHS Trust Development Authority (TDA) will cost nearly £2m in external support in order to deliver the new agency effectively.
In a board paper set to be presented at a Monitor meeting on Wednesday (28 October), Helen Buckingham, chief of staff, said a business case had already been prepared to gather support towards the installation of NHS Improvement, a new Monitor-TDA merger scheduled to launch in November.
The total value being spent on external help adds up to £1.8m, with initial consultancy support ranging between £0.7m and £1m and interim costs adding up to £0.8m. There is also an option of further consultancy support valued between £100,000 and £500,000.
Since the total cost exceeds £1m, the regulator requires approval from its board – but it has already sent the business case to the Department of Health due to the tight schedule in which it is running, considering NHS Improvement is set to replace Monitor-TDA by April 2016.
In terms of interim staff, an internal management team is already being set up comprising 15 to 20 staff with a responsibility for overseeing the programme, guiding its key elements and engaging the broader staff bases of the organisations.
But in terms of support, Monitor has sent out an invitation to tender, taken up by eight bidders, to provide support in the following areas:
- Developing an agreed organisational structure, including overall functions and design principles
- Designing options for a new operating model to provide clarity on how NHS Improvement will deliver its functions
- Developing values and ways of working to underpin the new functions and operations
Source: Monitor papers
Monitor encouraged bids from consortia led by professional firms including partners, such as health think tanks, academics and specialists with expertise on aspects such as NHS regulation, provider policy, organisational design and development, leadership and culture change.
The tender invitation also includes optional extensions such as developing and supporting plans for leadership review and development, as well as delivering interventions or enabling actions to embed culture and values.
But despite the bids, Monitor emphasised that most of the work needed to design and develop NHS Improvement will be carried out in-house – while extra help is necessary to increase the capacity available and “provide external challenge”.
These costs are so far within the regulator’s budget, currently capped at £2m, and NHS TDA has identified £1m to contribute to set-up costs.
In September, Monitor also revealed greater details relating to the governance and structural details of the new agency. At the top of its leadership will sit a Monitor/TDA board and ministers from the department, to whom NHS Improvement’s chair, Ed Smith, will report.
And earlier this month, Jim Mackey, CEO of Northumbria Healthcare NHS FT, was named the agency’s new chief executive, set to take up this role from 1 November.
(Top image c. Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire)