A new hospitals group has been formed by St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust and St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
The new group model, which is not a merger, will see the trusts share a chief executive and the existing joint chairman, with each trust to remain a statutory organisation.
Jaqueline Totterdell will take on the role as the group chief executive, having held the chief executive role at St. George’s Trust since 2017. Her counterpart at chief executive of Epsom and St Helier, Daniel Elkeles, has recently accepted the role of Chief Executive at the London Ambulance Service.
Joint Chairman Gillian Norton said: “This is an exciting development for both Epsom and St Helier and St George’s – the group allows us to strengthen the professional networks we have already created and ensure the two hospital trusts continue to run efficient and high quality services for the benefit of the people we serve.
“For our patients and the vast majority of staff, nothing outwardly will change – the hospitals will all continue to operate as they are, services will remain, and our commitment to providing outstanding care to the patients who need us will stand strong. But behind the scenes, by sharing skills, expertise and resources in some areas, we can ensure that both organisations are better able to take on the challenge of growing demand on our services – this will bring benefits to our patients for years to come.
“Collaboration between the two hospital trusts has been happening for some years now, with the renal teams from both Trusts recently beginning public engagement on bringing together renal inpatient services into a brand new renal unit. The two Trusts have agreed to work together on the future for Patient Transport Services and Epsom and St Helier recently joined the South West London Pathology Partnership (an award-winning NHS pathology partnership that brings together these vital services into one team) with the agreement that the service will have two main bases, one at St George’s and one at St Helier.”
The current work to improve care services in the region will continue as planned with the development of the Specialist Emergency Care Hospital in Sutton, as part of the Building Your Future Hospitals programme.
Recently the Care Quality Commission rated Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust, services as “good” and reported that their overall score “requires improvement”.
