02.02.15
St George’s becomes England 149th foundation trust
Health regulator Monitor has awarded foundation trust (FT) status to St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust, freeing it from central government control and allowing it to decide how to improve its services.
To reflect the achievement, the trust’s formal title will change to St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which will provides a range of specialist, local hospital and community healthcare services to five million patients in south west London, Surrey and beyond.
Before allowing St George’s to become a FT, Monitor rigorously assessed the trust and found that it is ‘well-led’, and the Care Quality Commission rated the quality of its services as ‘good’ overall.
However, the regulator said St George’s needs to continue reducing the number of patients waiting too long in A&E. It will also be closely monitoring the trust’s performance against its agreed action plan.
Miles Scot, chief executive at St George’s, said: “This is a great day for our staff, our patients and the communities we serve. Achieving FT status is a recognition of the high-quality services and safe care we provide in hospital and in the community.
“Our success is the result of a long period of improvement from a workforce whose energy, commitment and compassion is outstanding. We have had to prove that we can live up to our values; Excellent, Kind, Responsible and Respectful. That work does not stop now that we have FT status. In fact, it becomes even more important as our accountability to our communities increases.”
There are now 149 FTs in England, representing more than 60% of all trusts in the NHS. As an FT, St George’s will be able to retain any surpluses it generates to invest in new services, and borrow money to support these investments; it will also be accountable to its local communities, with local people represented as members and governors.
Miranda Carter, executive director of provider appraisal at Monitor, said St George’s had worked very hard to achieve FT status and should feel proud of its achievement.
“This is great news for the trust, which benefits from new freedoms, but even better news for its patients, who can have a greater say over their health services,” she said.
“We hope that St George’s will use its new freedoms to continue to deliver quality care and keep looking for ways to improve its services for patients.”
(Image: c. John Stillwell)
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