Proposed Integration of Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust and Medway NHS Foundation Trust
Update June 2012.
Please note that this is an independent piece and does not necessarily reflect the views of the LINk.
“Over the last couple of months, the trusts have been working closely with the Cooperation and Competition Panel, developing the full business case and drawing the first public engagement phase to a close.
“The Cooperation and Competition Panel, whose role it is to consider the impact of integration on patient choice and competition in the local healthcare economy, have continued their consideration of our case into a second phase. This is not unusual and they will be looking more closely at the benefits of integration weighed against any potential loss of competition. We expect them to make a final recommendation in August.
“The trusts are making good progress on the full business case. We are on track to submit it to Monitor, the regulator of NHS Foundation Trusts, and the Department of Health in September 2012. “The first phase of public engagement came to a close on 27 April. We have been analysing the feedback we have received and will shortly be publishing a report outlining the key themes that have emerged and how we are responding to them. We would like to thank everyone who got involved in this first phase and LINks in particular for their support in keeping our local communities informed. “At the end of April, senior doctors from both trusts came together once again. This time, they focused on how they can lead change within their teams and shared stories of ‘the good, the bad and the ugly’ so that we all learn from past experiences. It was a productive day, including a lively discussion on the vision and values of the new organisation.
“Finally, our lead research and development doctors, Professor Jonathan Duckett and Mr Seshadri Sriprasad, would like to share with you how they believe integration will bring benefits: “Research and innovation is the way forward in delivering high quality medical care. Research and development reflects on a host organisation in a positive manner, allowing higher staffing levels and high quality medical care. Integration with Darent Valley Hospital will allow us to share the strengths of both teams and grow research and development activity. Combining the two teams will make governance procedures more streamlined and should be celebrated with the tried and tested phrase "a win- win" situation.”
“Professor Jonathan Duckett, Head of Research and Development and Consultant Gynaecologist, Medway NHS Foundation Trust “Research and innovation is the key to excellent patient care. Research-active institutions increase patient confidence. With the integration of Medway and Dartford research into one, we are complementing each other immensely. This will undoubtedly make our integrated trust the research hub for Kent.” “Mr Seshadri Sriprasad, Chairman of the Research and Development Committee and Consultant Urological Surgeon, Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust
“You can find out more about integration on our integration web pages here and here.
“Although our first engagement phase has come to a close, we still welcome your comments, questions and suggestions.
Please contact us via our webpages (above), by email or by telephone: 01634 830000 x6761.
Mark Devlin and Susan Acott
Chief Executives of Medway NHS Foundation Trust and Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust
Update May 2012.
Please note that this is an independent piece and does not necessarily reflect the views of the LINk.
Update April 2012.
Please note that this is an independent piece and does not necessarily reflect the views of the LINk.
“Following on from our last update in March, we continue to work with the Cooperation and Competition Panel, who are considering the potential impact of the integration on patient choice and competition within the local healthcare economy.
This is part of the normal integration process for NHS organisations. They will complete phase one of their investigation later this month and decide whether to continue their investigations into a second phase or make a recommendation for the integration to proceed after just one phase. “This month we have visited both Kent and Medway Health Overview and Scrutiny Committees to update them on our progress to date.
Councillors had the opportunity to review our outline business case and we had the opportunity to respond to their questions and comments. The sessions were very productive and we will be returning to both committees later in the year to provide further updates. “Phase one of our public engagement, although in the final stages and due to close on 27 April, is still very active. On 20 April, from 3pm until 4.30pm, Darent Valley Hospital is hosting a members’ and stakeholders’ briefing, which will include a presentation and question and answer session on integration. Please contact us if you would like to book a place.
We have also recently published an information booklet, which can be downloaded from our websites.
Alternatively, please email or call us to request a paper copy. Furthermore, we are visiting local shopping centres later this month, so please come and see us at:
• St George’s Shopping Centre, Gravesend - 13 April
• Pentagon Shopping Centre, Chatham – 19 April
• Hempstead Valley Shopping Centre, Gillingham – 18 and 21 April
“Also look out for our information booklets at Bluewater Shopping Centre. “As we come to the end of phase one of our public engagement, we are compiling a report on all the feedback we have received and what we have done as a result. We hope to publish this report in May. “Finally, as we mentioned last month, we would like to share with you a snapshot of what our doctors’ plans are for the future each month.
This month, our children’s services clinical directors, Dr Aung Soe (a consultant neonatologist at Medway Maritime Hospital) and Dr Selwyn D’Costa (a consultant paediatrician at Darent Valley Hospital) would like to share their plans with you: “We strongly believe that children’s services in Medway and Darent Valley Hospitals will benefit from integration. Both hospitals will continue to provide acute admissions and general outpatients’ services. One or both hospitals will start or continue to provide sub-specialist services such as children’s surgery and regional services such as neonatal intensive care, for sick newborn babies. Integration will enable us to provide high quality and cost effective services in a wider catchment area, and make it a better experience for both the children and their families.
This will also lead to more widely skilled, flexible staff working across both hospitals. "We have already started some services, such as children’s surgery, including tongue tie clinics, surgery for pyloric stenosis (a narrowing of the opening from the stomach into the small intestine causing projectile vomiting in babies), neuro-developmental clinics for high risk preterm infants and sickle cell disorders clinics. "Over the next two years we will start to develop other services. We will start services for children with problems relating to their digestive system (including carrying out endoscopy), cystic fibrosis, cancer and neurology locally so that they do not have to go to London for follow ups or when they are acutely unwell.”
“You can find out more about integration and how to submit your feedback to us on our integration web pages here and here and “Alternatively, please contact us with any questions, to request an information booklet or book a place at an event by email or telephone: 01634 830000 x6761
“Please remember that the deadline for your feedback is 27 April, so make sure you have your say.
Mark Devlin and Susan Acott
Chief Executives of Medway NHS Foundation Trust and Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust
Update March 2012. This is the sixth update from the Integration Team.
Please click here to access the update.
Update February 2012. This is the fifth update from the Integration Team.
Please note that this is an independent piece that is reproduced verbatim and does not necessarily reflect the views of the LINk.
Please click here to access the update.
Update January 2012. This is the fourth update from the Integration Team.
Please note that this is an independent piece that is reproduced verbatim and does not necessarily reflect the views of the LINk.
“Over the last month, both trusts have continued to work hard on forming more detailed plans for integration. Throughout November and December, teams of doctors, nurses and support staff across both trusts have been joining forces to decide how best to integrate their services, to provide better care together. We are also amidst the first phase of our six month public engagement.
This phase will run until the end of February 2012, to gather views and comments from the public. We have contacted over 150 community groups and have already met with a number of them, across North Kent. Over 500 people have now had the opportunity to have their questions answered in person and many more will have that chance over the coming months.
If you are part of a community group that would be interested in hearing more about our plans or have a specific question, please get in touch. In addition to working with community groups, we plan to hold several members events focused on the integration early next year, which will also be open to the public. We are currently on track to become an integrated organisation in Summer 2012.
The next major milestone will be to submit our detailed plans to several official bodies, including the Strategic Health Authority and Monitor (the regulator of NHS foundation trusts) at the end of March 2012.
Here is a brief reminder of some key information about our plans for integration:
- Core services, including full A&E, maternity, children’s and outpatients services will continue to be offered by both hospitals.
- This is all about safeguarding existing services, not reducing them.
- The financial challenges in the public sector mean that alone, each hospital would struggle to maintain those services currently offered.
- The aim is to build on the quality as well as the range of services offered locally.
- This will enable highly specialised services to be developed, allowing patients to choose to have their treatment locally, rather than travelling further afield.
- This will enable us to make best of use of our pooled resources and give the taxpayer better value for money.
If you would like any further information, please visit the trusts’ websites for Medway and Darent Valley.
Or if you have any questions or comments, contact us by:
Email or Telephone: 01634 830000 x6761
Mark Devlin and Susan Acott Chief Executives of Medway NHS Foundation Trust and Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust”
Update December 2011. This is the third update from Mark Devlin and Susan Acott, Chief Executives of Medway NHS Foundation Trust and Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trusts.
Please note that this is an independent piece that is reproduced verbatim and does not necessarily reflect the views of the LINk.
“As you may be aware, at the end of September, both of our trust boards decided that integration was feasible and that more detailed plans should now be drawn up. We are currently developing those more detailed plans, with input from patients, the public and staff. Our aim is to become one trust in Summer 2012. First of all, we would like to reassure you that all core services will continue to be offered at both hospitals.
These include full A&E, maternity and children’s services, as well as outpatient clinics. The integration is not about reducing existing services but about safeguarding and improving them, as well as being able to develop some new specialist services not currently available locally. Secondly, we are now embarking upon a six month engagement period with our patients, the public and our staff.
The first phase, running until the end of February 2012, will focus on gathering views and comments on our plans for the proposed integration. This is to ensure that when we submit our plans at the end of March 2012 for formal approval, those plans will have been informed by the views of our local communities and staff. The second phase will focus more on how people can get involved in the implementation of those plans.
We would like to thank both Kent and Medway LINks for holding public events in October and November. The first of those, held in Northfleet, was very successful, with robust and constructive questioning from the audience, which we are already using to inform our plans. Following the success of this partnership, we aim to work with more local community groups to ensure that the public have the opportunity to communicate their views and opinions to us, as well as have their questions answered.
We look forward to working with the LINks again in the near future and throughout our six month engagement period.
If you would like any further information, please visit the trusts’ websites medway and dvh Or, if you have any questions or comments, contact us by email, telephone: 01634 830000 x6761
Mark Devlin and Susan Acott Chief Executives of Medway NHS Foundation Trust and Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust”
Update November 2011. This is the second update from Mark Devlin and Susan Acott, Chief Executives of Medway NHS Foundation Trust and Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trusts.
Please note that this is an independent piece that is reproduced verbatim and does not necessarily reflect the views of the LINk.
“Following our last update in August on the proposed integration between Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust and Medway NHS Foundation Trust, our joint Transition Team are now coming to the end of feasibility testing. During this we have been examining whether joining the two trusts together would result in real benefits for patients, local communities and staff. The results of the work so far will be presented to both trust boards at the end of September.
The trust boards will then decide whether to continue with the journey towards integration, or not. If they agree to proceed, this is just the first milestone of many before the two trusts could become one organisation in summer 2012.
Should both trust boards decide to proceed, we are planning a programme of public engagement, to take place over the coming autumn and winter months. Both boards will also be listening to the views of our Governors, who represent over 21,500 public and staff trust members. One of the key reasons we are considering bringing the two trusts together is to improve the range and quality of services available to local people, not to reduce them.
Both hospitals, Darent Valley Hospital and Medway Maritime Hospital, will continue to offer full A&E, maternity, children’s and outpatients services and keep their names. We are also committed to maintaining the quality of frontline clinical staffing and services.
We look forward to working with the LINks in the near future on public and patient engagement and would like to thank them for their assistance thus far in involving local people.
If you would like any further information, please visit the trusts’ websites by clicking here and here, or if you have any questions or comments, contact us by email or telephone: 01634 830000 x6746
Mark Devlin and Susan Acott Chief Executives of Medway NHS Foundation Trust and Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust”
LINk integration survey – Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust and Medway NHS Foundation Trust
Last month’s Bulletin mentioned an analysis of a LINk survey about the proposed integration of Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust and Medway NHS Foundation Trust and the two hospitals that the Trusts manage, Darent Valley and Medway Maritime.
If you have not yet taken part in the survey, please do so by clicking here. If you would like a hard copy survey for completion, contact the LINk office.
A brief summary of results so far:
- 51% of the people surveyed were unaware of the proposed integration. Later responses to this question have shown an increasing level of awareness, with online responses in the first few days after the survey was issued showing around 60% of respondents being unaware.
- In response to the question, ‘What positives could you see coming from the proposed integration’, some respondents felt that economies of scale could be achieved through reduced duplication of expensive low demand services and reduced management costs. It may be possible to develop more localised specialist services. A small number of respondents had the perception that the best of both hospital specialist services would be available at both sites, or that there would be a decrease in waiting lists as patients could use both hospitals. Nearly 30% said they saw no positives from the integration.
- Respondents were asked what concerns they have about the proposed integration. Around 60% of people who answered the question mentioned travel as a problem, a particular concern of those living in Swale or rural / isolated areas. Some expressed concerns about the impact of ambulances having to travel between the two hospitals (on the patient and on costs) and there were mentions of concerns about the two different financial cultures (Medway is a Foundation Trust and Darent Valley is not), problems created by centralised administration and attempting to merge at a time of great change to the NHS.
- It is interesting to note that users of both hospitals expressed concerns about the reputation of the other hospital and the potential for both to ‘sink’ to the level of the other.
- Respondents also expressed concerns about a reduction of local services, if integrating the hospitals meant that particular services could only be available at one hospital.
The full report can be found by clicking here
Some LINk participants are aware that the Trusts of the Medway Maritime Hospital and Darent Valley Hospital are considering merging the two hospitals, read on to hear from Mark Devlin and Susan Acott, Chief Executives of Medway NHS Foundation Trust and Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trusts.
Both Medway and Kent LINk Governors wanted to ensure that LINk participants were kept fully up to date on the Trusts proposed plans as they emerged. Medway LINk Governor, Jim Hancock, recently met withMedway NHS Foundation Trust Chief Executive, Mark Devlin and it was agreed that in order for this to happen, Mr Devlin would provide regular updates, as below for inclusion in the LINk Bulletins:
Update October 2011. This is the latest update from the integration team.
"We would like to thank the Kent and Medway LINks for this opportunity to update you on the proposed integration of Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust and Medway NHS Foundation Trust, the two Trusts that run Darent Valley and Medway Maritime Hospitals. Our hospitals have a lot in common and senior clinicians believe there could be significant benefits in bringing the Trusts together.
We have worked together increasingly over the last year or so, both in clinical areas such as pathology and in support areas such as temporary staffing arrangements. We are now considering integrating formally into one organisation to improve the range and quality of services available to local people. As a single, larger Trust we would be able to develop new specialist services and this would mean that some patients who currently have to travel outside the area for treatment would no longer need to do so.
By merging the boards and some support functions, we can also release savings in management costs to reinvest in more and better frontline care. In addition, the proposed new organisation would be a Foundation Trust, enabling Darent Valley to also benefit from the greater autonomy and local control this status offers. However, no decisions have yet been made. At the moment we are carrying out a detailed feasibility study, to be completed in September. Only if both boards are confident that integration will deliver the anticipated patient benefits and is in the best interests of both Trusts, will we proceed on our journey. We think that this journey will take about a year and we will need to seek approvals from the Department of Health, South East Coast Strategic Health Authority and Monitor, the Foundation Trust regulator before becoming one Trust in the summer of 2012. Staff, patients, governors, our local public, GPs, our commissioners and local authorities will continue to be involved throughout the process.
We look forward to working with the LINks on patient and public engagement and are grateful for their assistance in involving local people. The purpose of coming together is to build on the range and quality of local services we already have, not to reduce them. Both hospitals will continue to offer full A&E, maternity, children’s and outpatients services. We are not proposing any significant changes to the services we each currently provide and we are not proposing any reductions in the number of frontline clinical staff. Both hospitals would retain their current names. Our local population is growing and has increasingly complex healthcare needs.
We need to find ways to continue improving local hospital services and do more within our constrained budgets. By working together, we can build on those aspects of our hospitals which already represent the very best of the NHS, and create an even stronger range of local services for local people for the future."
If you would like any further information or have any questions or comments, please contact us via email by clicking here , or telephone 01634 830000 x6746.
We are committed to keeping our websites up to date and more information can be found here and here.
Mark Devlin and Susan Acott Chief Executives of Medway NHS Foundation Trust and Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust Medway and Kent LINks plan to hold two meetings in the Autumn to ensure that the public have the opportunity to give their views on the Trusts proposals, as well as have their questions answered direct from the Trusts key personnel. In the meantime, the Medway LINk looks forward to submitting regular updates from the Trusts on their plans.
