North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust is set to complete its merger with Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust by the end of this year, bosses have confirmed.
At North Mid’s annual general meeting on Thursday 5 September the trust’s bosses said they felt confident about the merger and that they were on track to complete the move in the next few months.
Royal Free London runs multiple hospitals in Camden and Barnet boroughs, as well as Chase Farm Hospital in Enfield, while the trust at North Mid is much smaller and is responsible only for the Edmonton hospital.
The two trusts are part of the North Central London Integrated Care System which is a partnership of organisations that delivers health and care services across the five London boroughs of Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey and Islington.
It is hoped the merger will result in significant benefits.
Dr Nnenna Osuji, North Mid’s chief executive, described this week’s annual board meeting as a “moment in time” as it could be the last before the merger. She proceeded to thank the team, staff, and local community for “being with us on this journey”.
“Usually the annual report looks back at 23/24 but potentially this may be our last meeting as a sovereign organisation,” she said.
Osuji summed up what had been a “tumultuous” past year for the NHS, with a rate of change “like nothing we’ve ever seen”.
“I want to recognise as a leadership we have stood together through unprecedented change.
“We’ve gone through the Covid-19 pandemic, which is a thing in itself, post-Covid [sic], we’ve got a new government, and we’ve looked more recently at interesting but uncomfortable social commentary within the media.”
Haringey councillor Pippa Connor questioned the trust’s financial position and the merger’s impact, as Royal Free “tended to have more ‘negative’ in its accounting” and North Mid had “raised some concern around costs”.
Mark Lam, the chair of both organisations, acknowledged the financial climate was more “challenging nationally” but felt confident the trusts could deliver “our numbers” alongside “great and safe care”.
He refuted the claim around Royal Free’s “negative” financial situation, saying its finances were in a “much better position” than they had been several years ago and that the trust was in fact “leading” in this field.
Lam said: “In regards to the merger, the finances are going to be additive, so it’s not that one [trust] would compensate the other, and I can give you absolute assurance of that.
“The merger is also not intended to be used for savings, that’s not why we’re doing it. It’s intended to give us the opportunity to deliver legal and long-term clinical changes and pathway reconfiguration that will serve our populations better, right across North London.
“We’ve been very clear about that in the submission of our case, and NHS England has accepted that and that’s what will go to the secretary of state, so it’s all being done for the right reasons.
“As chairman for both organisations I feel under no pressure at all in terms of the money.”
In January this year the two hospital trusts announced that after years of closer working they were exploring a formal merger.
The latest details of the merger plans were also presented in a report to the North Central London Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Monday 9 September. The committee is administered by the London Borough of Haringey on behalf of the five boroughs in the partnership.
Additional reporting by Linus Rees.
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