Community healthcare providers have been told to stop stalling and get on with “already decided” plans to merge.
Medway councillors told representatives from Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust (KCHFT)and neighbouring social enterprise, Medway Community Healthcare (MCH) they believed a merger had effectively already been green-lit.
Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust and Medway Community Healthcare were due to propose the merits of merging at a meeting, but councillors said the decision had already been made. Photo: iStock
Both face significant health inequalities in their areas and believe coming together will be provide “a range of benefits”.
Mairead McCormick, CEO of KCHFT, and MCH managing director Martin Riley presented a report to Medway councillors last Thursday (March 12) outlining the rationale for a possible takeover of MCH by the trust, but suggested more work was to be done.
However, Cllr Dan McDonald (Lab), health and adult social care commit tee chair, asked what the point of a discussion would be when he argued the process was effectively over.
He suggested the chairs of KCHFT and MCH should come to the committee and present the plan.
Cllr McDonalds said: “I don’t want to hear ‘we’re in stage two and we’re going to stage three’ or ‘we’re looking at another model or another cycle’.
“You’re at your decision, you know the trust is going to take over MCH, so what’s the point of this discussion?
Cllr Dan McDonald (Lab) asked what was the point in discussing the possible consequences of a merger when the decision had already been made
“Come to us with the details of how it’s all going to work, what’s going to happen to your buildings, to your staff, and everything else.
“I don’t want to have constant discussions about what you might do, when you’ve already decided.
“If you’re going to merge, do it, because our residents are going to be in the middle of it and need certainty of what’s happening.
“We want your board members here to answer questions about what you’re going to do.”
The committee agreed to defer the report after minimal discussion until the next meeting where the boards of MCH and KCHFT would be expected to present the plan of how the merger would work.
Medway Community Healthcare (MCH) is a community interest company
The process of merging the trust and MCH first began in July last year, with work done to understand what the possible benefits might be.
In November, NHS England gave the go-ahead for the creation of a business case for the merger.
MCH was set up as a community interest company (CIC), a type of business designed to undertake activities for the benefit of the community and not purely for a profit, in 2011.
The reports outlined how a merger would mean greater collaboration between the workforces in facing increasing complexity of cases, retention challenges, health inequalities, and financial problems.
Ms McCormick, from KCHFT, said: “It became apparent very quickly when we looked our data and the services we were providing people were getting different offers, inconsistencies, unwarranted variation, sometimes poorer outcomes.
Adam Doyle, NHS Kent and Medway ICB CEO, Mairead McCormick, CEO of Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust, and Martin Riley, managing director of Medway Community Healthcare
“This is not about taking something away from Medway, it’s about putting more into Medway.”
Mr Riley added limited funding and the required efficiency savings were becoming more of a problem for MCH.
He said: “Looking at the future of running a community interest company, there’s a financial deficit across the system – it’s getting harder and harder to find those efficiency savings.
“MCH has one of the lowest overheads, even though we’re a small organisation.
“But we can only go so far on reducing the paperclips, the issue is how do we look for further savings and being a sustainable organisation while not compromising patient care.
“By coming together we think there’s a range of benefits.”
To go ahead with the merger the decision will need approval of both boards, NHS England, as well as agreement from KCHFT’s governors and MCH’s shareholders through a formal vote.
The item was deferred to the next health and social care committee, which will take place in June.