Health Services: East of England

Jeremy Hunt Excerpts

Wednesday 25th March 2015 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Health (Mr Jeremy Hunt)]

In November 2011, Hinchingbrooke Health Care National Health Service Trust entered into a franchise management contract with Circle Hinchingbrooke Ltd. Circle Hinchingbrooke Ltd has issued a termination notice to the contract, and arrangements have been put in place for the trust to revert to operating independently again with effect from 1 April 2015.

Hinchingbrooke Health Care National Health Service Trust has always remained an NHS trust with all of the buildings and equipment owned by the trust, and all full-time staff apart from some of the executive leadership employed by the NHS. Responsibility for running the trust will return to the NHS as of 1 April. A new board has been appointed to run the trust, led by Alan Burns as the chair.

To ensure minimal disruption to services at the trust, Circle will continue to provide certain procurement services for a limited period to allow for a long-term plan to be put in place.

As for every provider of NHS services, the priority at Hinchingbrooke Health Care NHS Trust will continue to be the provision of safe, high-quality services to patients. To address the concerns raised by the chief inspector of hospitals in the CQC report, the NHS Trust Development Authority has appointed an improvement director as part of the special measures regime now in place at Hinchingbrooke Health Care Trust.

The trust will be supported to ensure a smooth transition to the new arrangements and to ensure continuity of all services provided by the trust, protecting care for patients and providing security for trust staff.

[HCWS484]