Two NHS trusts in the North East are set to strengthen their ties, after an agreement was reached for them to come together as a hospital group.
Last year, South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust opted to create a Joint Chair for both organisations, as well as a Joint Partnership Board to further deepen the two trusts’ relationship.
Consequently, the board has now decided to form a new hospital group for the two NHS trusts in a bid to support both organisations’ shared vision to improve outcomes for staff, patients, and other service users.
The trusts emphasise that the new partnership is not the equivalent of a merger and thus the organisations will remain as their own statutory entities, but will work together to develop the partnership over the next few years.
The trusts also say they expect that, by formalising this partnership, they will be better equipped to attract and ultimately retain specialist doctors and nurses, via improved workforce planning and revitalised collaboration.
South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s Chief Executive, Sue Page CBE, said: “Together our two trusts are the area’s largest employers, with almost 15,000 staff and by formalising the way we work together beyond the pandemic, we hope to make a bigger and lasting impact for our patients, service users and fantastic colleagues.
“Formalising the way we already work together by creating a hospital group is also essential if we are to retain the specialist clinicians we have today, recruit those we need in the months and years ahead and make our area one of the best places in the NHS to work.”
North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust’s Chief Executive, Julie Gillon, added: “Creating a hospital group will strengthen our ability to collectively innovate together to continue delivering better outcomes for the Tees Valley and North Yorkshire.
"The group heralds an ambition for our workforce, our region and of course most importantly our patients, building on the work to date of both organisations to ensure that health inequalities for this region are addressed as a continued priority.”
