‘Not all Whittington Hospital services will be free’
New chief executive outlines her plans to charge for some treatments at the Whittington
Published: 7th April, 2011
by TOM FOOT
THE new chief executive of Whittington Hospital has insisted it must become an independently run trust or face being merged with another health service.
Dr Yi Mien Koh, speaking on her first day in the job on Friday, said she had “huge ambitions” for the Highgate hospital, which has been rebranded with the new name “Whittington Health”.
She said she hoped it would achieve “foundation trust” status, an independence which could give the hospital the power to make its own financial decisions and control its spending, within the next two years.
In doing so, it would follow University College London Hospital in Euston which has already broken free of the traditional NHS relationship between health services and the government.
Dr Koh hinted that cosmetic surgery and non-essential treatments might soon come at a price for the patient, but she insisted “core” services would be retained.
Dr Koh’s proposals come only a year after critical services including the accident and emergency department at the hospital were saved following some of the largest public protests in north London’s recent history.
She said: “Not getting Foundation Trust status is not an option for me. I am determined. We will work differently and we need to drive those changes.”
Dr Koh said the independence would allow the hospital to focus on treating the sick, while “optional” NHS surgery could be privatised.
“I’m sure every NHS trust will be thinking along these lines.” she said. “More and more, I see the NHS focusing on core business, caring for people who are sick.
“Say if you have something unsightly, and you just want to get it off, well the commissioners in the future, who will be GPs, will probably be saying we’re not funding those things.
“It’s like how it was with IVF, or cosmetic procedures.
“Do we want to provide those on an independent basis? It would allow us to supplement and to strengthen our financial situation.
“And so it is actually about helping us support the hospital in a different way. Some services are already being considered as optional. I haven’t seen anything to say I’m going to close anything down. There isn’t an obvious case to say this. But the NHS has changed over the last 65 years, and I expect it to continue to change.”
Whittington Health effectively took on 1,500 more staff on Dr Koh’s first day, taking over employees from the disbanded primary care trusts in Islington and Haringey.
Dr Koh joined the Whittington after four years running Hillingdon Primary Care Trust. She replaced Rob Larkman, who stepped down after 18 months in charge.
Originally from Malaysia, Dr Koh lived and worked in Melbourne and the United States before coming to London to work in a health consultancy.
She added: “In this country, we see differences in outcomes and health equalities. I think we need to standardise what we do.
“Today is day one – so come back after 100 days, and see how we are doing then.”