Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (HUTH) and Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust (NLAG) will gradually move away from the Humber Health Partnership Group model and return to operating as separate NHS trusts, following a major organisational review.
The decision, approved by both Trust Boards, marks a significant shift in the future governance of the two organisations. While HUTH and NLAG will have their own executive teams and boards, leaders have stressed that collaboration between the trusts will continue wherever it benefits patients, services and workforce sustainability.
Importantly, the move will have no immediate impact on patient care or access to services. Patients will continue to receive care through the same hospitals, services and referral routes.
The organisational review was backed by NHS England through the Intensive Recovery Programme and included independent expertise from healthcare consultancy Carnall Farrar. It forms part of a broader improvement programme that began in autumn 2025.
Since then, clinicians and staff from across the Partnership have worked together to better understand the long-standing operational, workforce and structural pressures facing both organisations. This work informed the publication of Humber Health Partnership's first clinically led Improvement Plan in January, which set out shared priorities for sustainable improvement.
The subsequent review examined whether the current Group structure offered the best framework for delivering high-quality care, improving accountability, ensuring financial sustainability and supporting long-term organisational improvement.
According to the review, HUTH and NLAG largely serve different populations and operate within distinct local health and care systems.
Urgent and emergency care demand is primarily local to each organisation, while both trusts work with different local authorities, community and mental health providers, ambulance services and place-based healthcare partners.
The review concluded that separate governance and leadership arrangements would provide greater clarity and enable each trust to focus more effectively on the needs of its population, local partnerships and improvement priorities.
However, NHS leaders have been clear that this is not the end of collaborative working across the Humber region.
Clinical networks, shared learning opportunities, specialist expertise and integrated patient pathways will continue. In areas where services need to operate across the wider Humber population of 1.8 million people, formal commissioner-led arrangements will be developed under the leadership of the Integrated Care Board (ICB).
Non-clinical functions may also continue to be shared where this delivers better value for money and improved operational effectiveness.
Commenting on the outcome of the review, Alan Downey, Chair of Humber Health Partnership, said:
“The purpose of this review has never been to pursue organisational change for its own sake.
“It has been to look honestly at the evidence and identify the arrangements most likely to support patients, colleagues and sustainable services over the longer term.
“The review’s outcome shows that the challenges reflected in our performance and in the external scrutiny of both trusts are symptoms of deeper underlying issues – including the way the Group was originally conceived and established in the first half of the decade, the historic challenges facing both trusts before its formation, and long-standing pressures across the wider health and care system.
“It has found that these challenges are structural, not simply operational, and that HUTH and NLAG should operate as two separate trusts rather than through the current Group structure, while continuing to work together where that benefits patients and services. That is why the Boards have accepted its recommendation.
“There is now important work to do to develop the detailed arrangements and ensure that any transition is carefully planned.”
The next phase will focus on developing the governance, organisational and collaborative arrangements required to support the transition.
Trust leaders have emphasised that improvement work across both organisations will continue throughout the process, with patient care and service development remaining the priority.
The decision represents a significant milestone in the Humber region's healthcare improvement journey, with leaders aiming to create governance structures that better reflect local healthcare needs while preserving collaboration where it adds value for patients and staff.
Image credit: iStock
