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Emergency care pledge as merger announced
Dec 13 2006 By Neil Elkes, Birmingham Mail
BOSSES behind the merger of two Birmingham NHS hospitals have pledged to retain Accident and Emergency services in both areas.
The merger of Sutton Coldfield's Good Hope and Heartlands in Bordesley Green was given the green light by Government health secretary Patricia Hewitt during a visit to Birmingham.
A merger has been on the cards since Good Hope, facing debts of up to £47 million, turned to the Heart of England Foundation Trust, which runs Heartlands, for help late last year - resulting in a shared management deal.
All that remains is a three-month public consultation period before Good Hope is acquired by the Trust. Mrs Hewitt recognised that Good Hope had a 'chequered past' in terms of financial performance.
But she denied that the recent upturn in performance by Good Hope, including finishing the year in the black, had been a result of increased funding under a new payment by results system.
Instead she praised the team at Heartlands, which was last year the UK's most financially successful NHS Trust, for bringing the same financial discipline to Good Hope.
She said: "Good Hope has undergone many, many changes, with management problems, financial problems, but since the two hospitals have been working together these problems have been overcome."
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