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Hospital bosses in ‘independence’ bid
BOSSES at St Mary’s have launched a bid for it to become an independently run hospital.
Consultation on a Foundation Trust (FT) bid has began and the public are being invited to respond before the end of October.
St Mary’s, which joined forces with Imperial College and Hammersmith Hospital to become Imperial College Healthcare Trust in 2007, has its finances managed centrally by the Department of Health.
Under the proposals, St Mary’s bosses would be able to run their own hospital and commission services as they please.
Chief executive Lord Tugendhat said status was “critical” to guaranteeing the hospital’s future. He said: “As a foundation trust, we will have increased scope to deliver improved services to patients and increased accountability to our patients and stakeholders. FTs have greater financial freedom than ordinary NHS trusts, they are free to retain any financial surplus they generate for investment in services and are able to borrow commercially. They are also held accountable through a membership structure, made up of the public, staff and stakeholders who will elect a board of governors, which will have distinct powers.”
Critics of FTs believe they were introduced to ramp up competition in the NHS. Hospitals that have failed to achieve FT status are struggling to compete for new NHS contracts.
St Mary’s will be assessed by an independent regulator between January and March and the hospital hopes it will be granted FT status in April 2010
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