You know how it is; you’ve sent out all the wedding invitations,
you’ve booked a horse and carriage, there are geese at the front door, you've been given a lot of nice presents, all your family and friends are
assembled in the church to watch you get married in a silly suit….and then the
vicar asks if anyone has any objections to the marriage.
Oops!
No one noticed the ex-girlfriend who just burst in through the door;
This time last year Ashford and St. Peters announced its
proposed merger with The Royal County Hospital, Guildford.
It’s a merger no one wants – as I reported before; a survey
of consultants at Guildford showed that over 70% felt there would be no
advantage for patients.
Obviously there won’t be – mergers just don’t work. All the
scientific research shows that hospital mergers result in poorer outcomes and increased
management costs….whatever they say.
The proposed merger is all about closing departments, laying
off workers and ultimately selling off precious land to balance the books.
Now, embarrassingly, the Competition Authority has put the
whole process on hold to investigate whether this will actually work in the
interests of patients;
Royal Surrey
and Ashford & St Peter's hospital merger delayed for more assessment - Get
Surrey
Plans to
merge two Surrey hospital trusts have been delayed after the Competition and
Markets Authority (CMA) decided to carry out further investigations.
The Royal
Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, in Guildford, and Ashford and St
Peter's Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust were hoping to receive the go-ahead to
merge on Thursday (February 19).
However,
the CMA has decided to refer the merger to a second assessment phase, which
will take six months to examine the plans.
It comes
after the authority said it had "found that the merger could result in
adverse effects for patients by reducing choice and competition across a range
of elective specialties".
Nick
Moberly, chief executive at the Royal Surrey, said: “We’re obviously
disappointed with this decision as we believe a merger would result in a number
of positive benefits for patients."
Management
boards at both hospitals were set to discuss the latest turn of events at
meetings next week.
Ashford and
St Peter's chief executive, Suzanne Rankin, added: "Although this was not
the decision we were hoping for, we understand that the CMA needs to carry out
a more in-depth analysis of our plans to ensure this is in the best interests
of patients.
"Unfortunately
this means we will need to wait longer until a final decision is reached.”
The trusts
hope the merger will save an estimated £10m-£20m and have said patients will
not notice any changes in services in at the three hospital sites.
However,
staff expressed their concerns about the plans in a questionnaire seen by the
Surrey Advertiser.
Results
showed 72% of consultant staff at the Royal Surrey did not believe care for
patients would be improved in the proposed partnership, while 74% said they did
not think the merger would benefit their department.
Andrea
Coscelli, executive director for markets and mergers at the CMA, said: “Our job
is to look at the evidence and examine the impact that a proposed merger could
have on patient choice and the quality of healthcare services provided.
"Tens
of thousands of patients a year are treated by the trusts in the specialties
we've looked at and could be potentially affected by the loss of choice they
currently have.
"If
the trusts no longer have to attract patients who might choose to go elsewhere,
it could mean their incentive to maintain and improve quality in those
specialties is reduced.
"We
acknowledge that there may be some benefits which result from the merger but
given the extent of our concerns and the number of specialties and patients
involved, we feel it is necessary to look at this merger in greater depth to
ensure that it is in patients’ interests."
If you want to know more about the destructive effect of
mergers over the last 30 years have a look at my ‘Merger Mania’ pages.
Neil Harris
(a don’t stop till you drop production)
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com
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