17.01.14
Mid Staffordshire dissolution plans ‘financially robust’ – Monitor
Monitor has approved the proposed dissolution of Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust. The final decision now rests with health secretary Jeremy Hunt, who will make an announcement on 26 February.
The measures put forward by the Trust’s Special Administrators (TSAs) would see Stafford Hospital run by the University Hospital of North Staffordshire NHS Trust, with the Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust to run Cannock Hospital.
The recommendations also call for maternity services to be downgraded at Stafford hospital, with more difficult births dealt with at University Hospital. Paediatric and A&E services will remain operational but reduced at Stafford, with only less serious cases served.
Hunt could require the TSAs to amend their proposals if he feels they do not secure essential services or offer good value for money, but Monitor has recommended that their report be accepted.
In a letter to the health secretary, Monitor said: “Monitor has satisfied itself that the TSAs’ proposed future care model is financially robust, and has received assurances not only that the providers who will take over existing services are sustainable, but also that the impact of the acquisitions will be cost neutral for those providers.”
Dr David Bennett, Monitor chief executive, said: “Making changes to local health care services is never easy, or necessarily popular with the general public. Neither does change in a complicated system like the NHS come cheap. Nevertheless it is absolutely essential that patients are able to access safe services today, tomorrow and well into the future.”
Meanwhile, the TSAs will continue to run the trust.
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