Long-awaited merger approved by trust boards

Board members of The Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals Foundation Trust and Poole Hospitals FT approved the merger last week, after getting the green light from the Competition and Markets Authority in April this year.

NHS England has agreed that the trusts will officially join on 1 October to form University Hospitals Dorset FT.

Joint chief executive of the two trusts Debbie Fleming said: “Our new organisation will allow us to work better together to tackle covid-19 and realise our ambitious plans for the future.”

“We appreciate there will be a lot of work to be done to bring our trusts together and this will go alongside our capital plans and the reconfiguration of services but much of this is well under way and is progressing well.

“Our organisation development programme centres on developing a shared set of values and creating a strong positive culture together, and we have an ambitious three-year plan for taking this forward.”