Shropshire and Birmingham hospital alliance hailed as ‘relief’ by NHS chiefs
The announcement of a new alliance which aims to improve services at Shropshire's major hospitals was a 'relief' and a 'very positive step', health commissioners have said.
The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) has formed an alliance with University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) to address the governance and leadership issues needed to improve services.
The Shropshire trust has been in special measures since 2018 and the alliance, which came into force on Tuesday, will be time-limited, aiming to deliver a "rapid quality improvement plan".
Welcoming the move, Dr Julian Povey, joint chair of Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Groups, said: "It is a very positive step.
"For a long time the CCG has been highlighting concerns around quality.
"These were subsequently picked up by the Care Quality Commission.
"We have been working with the hospitals to address them but for whatever reason they've not managed to address them satisfactorily despite some input from external bodies.
"So I think it was quite a relief in some respects that NHS England/Improvement have coordinated UHB coming in to form this improvement alliance with the hospitals.
"And we are hoping that will bring about the positive improvements on patient care that we would like to see."
A new director of nursing has also started at SaTH, which runs Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Princess Royal Hospital in Telford.
Hayley Flavell has joined from UHB, where she had been carrying out the role of deputy chief nurse.
Complex
There will be a number of people from UHB who will form a key part of the targeted support to improve services for patients at SaTH.
These include Cherry West, chief transformation officer at UHB and Richard Steyn, associate medical director at UHB.
SaTH's chief executive Louise Barnett has also welcomed the appointments, saying it will be crucial in helping to improve patient safety and quality of care for patients and families.
UHB runs the biggest hospital in the Midlands – Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham – along with Good Hope, Heartlands and Solihull hospitals.
It was announced last month that SaTH's chairman, Ben Reid, was also stepping down and Dr Catriona McMahon, non-executive director and senior independent director at UHB, would be taking up the role to lead the board of the hospitals.
Dr Nigel Sturrock, regional medical director for NHS Improvement in the Midlands, said the challenges facing SaTH were "complex and substantial" and the trust needed the "strong support of the surrounding system".
UHB is a leading teaching hospital rated outstanding for leadership by the Care Quality Commission.
