Walsall Manor Hospital foundation status bid delayed by year
Walsall Manor's bid for foundation status has been delayed by more than a year while discussions continue over taking on services from beleaguered Mid-Staffordshire hospitals.
The new status, which could give the hospital greater independence and control over its own affairs, has been put back while it awaits news on its bid to take on work from Stafford and Cannock hospitals.
This is because were Walsall Manor to take over services at Cannock Hospital, it would change the trust's business plan, responsibilities and finances.
At a board meeting yesterday, trust members agreed they should wait until December to put forward the bid as the decision over the future of Mid Staffordshire, which is battling to save services after being deemed clinically and financially unstable, should be complete by November.
It hopes foundation status will be granted to Walsall Manor by late summer or autumn 2014.
Director of governance and trust secretary Dawn Clift said: "We have had some discussions with the NHS Trust Development Authority (NTDA) about reviewing the timeline.
"We have had to take into account the timeline which the trust special administrators are working to in relation to Mid Staffs – this is because the business plan we are to submit could well include Mid Staffs within it."
Associate non-executive director at Walsall's trust board, Danielle Oum, added: "The situation at Cannock and Stafford should be viewed as a possible risk. There is a real risk of changes to our health economy."
The Manor's application for foundation status was originally put back to June following a meeting between the hospital trust board and the Strategic Health Authority in February.
This was already a delay of more than six months, as the submission had initially been planned for last autumn.
The application for foundation status will encompass a five-year business plan and a long-term financial model, among other aspects.
Walsall Manor Hospital's trust board is set to approve the plans for submission on November 28. It will then be submitted on December 16.
An independent review into Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust, on behalf of Monitor, concluded that the organisation was neither clinically nor financially sustainable in its current form.
