Royal Free boss wants Foundation Trust approval: chief executive David Sloman wants the Hampstead hospital to cut ties with the NHS and become independently run.
Published: 27 January 2011
by TOM FOOT
THE top boss of the Royal Free Hospital has told the New Journal he would “jump up on a chair and shout whoopee” if his application for Foundation Trust status is approved.
Royal Free chief executive David Sloman wants the Hampstead hospital to cut ties with the NHS and become independently run.
He said Foundation Trust hospitals – which are not accountable to central government – had greater freedoms and also powers to borrow cash against assets from big banks.
Critics fear these “freedoms” will open the health service to profit-making companies like United Health and Care UK.
Mr Sloman said: “I love being part of the NHS, but sometimes the level of bureaucracy is too much. It slows you down. It stops you doing what you want to do. Being a Foundation Trust liberates you.”
“We could rapidly move with our capital investments and services like our renal services. We could be quick and more nimble and more flexible with what we are doing.
“We could also borrow more money – foundation trusts have a lending facility with a bank.”
He added: “I am committed to the core values of the NHS.”
The Government has ordered all hospitals to apply for Foundation Trust status by April 2013. Failure to win approval would see the Royal Free swallowed up by another hospital group or taken over by a private provider.
A recent report from consultancy firm Tribal said there was a “major opportunity for the private sector if and when the current NHS incumbents fail to make the transition to the new regime”, adding: “Under those circumstances the Government might well expect, if not invite, the private sector in.”
Royal Free council member and LINk rep Arthur Brill, who will be responsible for monitoring decisions made by an independent Royal Free, said: “If we lose out this time, the hospital will certainly be subsumed – there is no question of that. If it was taken over, it will be very bad for morale – for the staff but also the local populace. You could see people out marching like they were for the Whittington.”
Mr Sloman said he would “prefer not to think about that”, adding that the board has scrapped a plan to merge with the Whittington as a single organisation. “There’s nothing wrong with the Whittington,” he said. “We will continue to work with the Whittington.”
Under the Government’s reforms, NHS hospitals will be redesignated as “providers” of health services rather than employers of NHS staff. The Conservatives have also lifted a cap on the amount of private treatments provided in a NHS hospital.
Candy Udwin, chairwoman of Camden Keep Our NHS Public, said: “The private companies are rubbing their hands with glee, while Trust status delivers the NHS into their grasp.”
The Foundation Trust application is out for public consultation and documents are available for public consultation at www.royalfree.nhs.uk/consultation