Market Engagement on South London Healthcare Trust and the services it provides.

Introduction

On 16 July 2012 the Secretary of State appointed a Trust Special Administrator (TSA) into South London Healthcare NHS Trust (the Trust). As outlined in the Exploratory Memorandum laid in parliament (see Appendix 1) the TSA has a responsibility to make recommendations to the Secretary of State on the action he should take to make the services provided to the patients sustainable, as well as ensuring the Trust continues to operate effectively during the period of the regime, delivering quality healthcare to its patients. The TSA will present the recommendations in a draft report in late October 2012. There will then be a period of consultation on the draft report and the recommendations within it. After this consultation period, and considerations of consultation responses, the recommendations will be presented to the Secretary of State in a final report in early January 2013.

The TSA is currently undertaking a process to consider options on how the Trust and the services it provides could be made sustainable. As outlined in the Exploratory Memorandum (appendix 1) the work of the TSA will take a broad strategic view, starting with SLHT but involving the whole of the South East London health economy.The process being undertaken will therefore give consideration to the most appropriate service configuration, as well as the most appropriate organisational solutions to deliver sustainable services for the population.

Potential solutions are merger and acquisition, joint ventures, franchises, management of healthcare services, management of support services and delivery of clinical services[1], as well as the reestablishment of the Board within the Trust as it currently stands. These solutions could involve either NHS or non-NHS organisations or groups of organisations (collectively known as Parties) as providers or managers of some or all of the services currently provided by the Trust. It is possible that more than one solution may be adopted.

As part of the process of identifying options the TSA is seeking to identify any Parties that may be interested in being part of one or more of the solutions. This document outlines the process by which interested parties should inform the TSA of their interest in managing or providing some or all of the services currently provided by the Trusts. This is not a signal that decisions have been taken about the future of services or organisational solutions rather it is an exercise to assess what interest there may be if new organisational forms are required.

The purpose of the engagement is to test the appetite of the market for a range of options in order to choose the option(s) to be included in the draft TSA report and that will be consulted on. The engagement is intended to allow all options to be considered and the TSA has no preferred option for any solution or solutions at this stage.

An overview of the Trust

Information on the Trust, including its history and a summary of its financial performance, are provided in the Case for Applying the Regime for Unsustainable Providers included in Appendix 1.

A summary for the key services currently provided across the three primary sites within the Trust are provided below:

PRUH / QEH / QMS
Full admitting A&E / Full admitting A&E
24/7 surgical emergency admissions / 24/7 surgical emergency admissions
Obstetrics and midwife-led birthing unit / Obstetrics / Antenatal and postnatal outpatient care
Routine elective care / Routine elective care / Routine elective care
Inpatient paediatric service / Inpatient paediatric service / Outpatient paediatric service
Complex inpatient surgery / Complex inpatient surgery / Elective day surgery
Outpatients and diagnostics / Outpatients and diagnostics / Outpatients and diagnostics
Intermediate*/
rehabilitation beds

*Some intermediate care beds are provided by SLHT and some by Oxleas. The market engagement exercise relates to those provided by SLHT.

Options being considered

Even with significantly improved operational productivity and a resolution to the PFI challenges across the Trust, which are key elements of this, there will still be underlying financial challenges in the local health economy. Commissioners are therefore developing their vision for local services and confirming their commissioning intentions to meet local need and deliver financial balance. The South East London provider network will need to enable the delivery of care as outlined in the commissioners’ vision, and this will need to inform the options being considered by the TSA.

Currently alloptionsfor the delivery of care within the Trust are being consideredand it may be that a combination of options is required. Potential options include merger and acquisition, joint ventures, franchises, management of healthcare services, management of support services and delivery of clinical services[2].

Timetable

Given the tight timetable within which the TSA is working, any interested party that would like to discuss options related to the Trust and the services it provides should email the TSA at: . Parties demonstrating an interest and meet the initial eligibility criteria, outlined below, will be contacted for further discussions.

Key dates

The TSA will present the recommendations in a draft report in late October 2012. There will then be a period of consultation on the draft report and the recommendations within it. After this consultation period the recommendations will be presented to the Secretary of State in a final report in early January 2013.

Eligibility criteria

To ensure the services provided by the Trust will be clinically and financially sustainable for the local population the TSA is only looking to understand interest from parties that meet the following criteria:

  • Ability to deliver acute clinical careor
  • Ability to deliver clinical care to the local population

And

  • Financial sustainability

Demonstrating interest

Organisations that wish to demonstrate an interest in this process should email with the following information by 14 September 2012:

  • Overall information:
  • An overview of the party (including partner organisations if more than one involved)
  • Contact details for lead contact
  • Clinical care provision[3]:
  • Details of the provision of clinical care over the last five years, including information on acute provision of care
  • Certifications and other approvals
  • Financial sustainability[4]:
  • Audited financial statements for the last five years
  • Evidence of ability to access capital
  • Options of interest:
  • A description of options of interest to the party

For further information please contact

Please note neither the issue of this market engagement document nor any of the information presented in it should be regarded as a commitment or a representation on the part of the TSA (or any other person) to enter into a procurement exercise or any contractual arrangement whatsoever.

As set out above the TSA is currently undertaking this engagement process to consider all options on how the Trust and its services can be made sustainable and the TSA has no preferred expectation for any solution or solutions at this stage.

1

[1] Note: this is not an exhaustive list of options – any proposal for interested parties will be considered

[2] Note: this is not an exhaustive list of options – any proposal for interested parties will be considered

[3] For parties including more than one organisation information on provision of care should be provided for each organisation

[4] For parties including more than one organisation information on financial sustainability should be provided for each organisation