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The power of governors in the NHS has never really been tested and they are often more the passive recipients of information than driving forces within their organisation.
But in principle, governors have the power to block mergers and acquisitions. At the tiny Queen Victoria Hospitals Foundation Trust in Sussex, a majority of the current 22 governors would like to see at least a pause to the planned acquisition by University Hospitals Sussex FT. A request to this effect was turned down by the board, which said the governors could not restrict its business.
This clash with the board – which is likely to take further moves towards a merger on Thursday – is linked to arguments over the role of governors within the trust and the need for confidentiality of some material they might have access to, leading to a council of governors meeting being described by the trust chair Beryl Hobson as “the most unedifying meeting” she had ever attended. The “very challenging” meeting ha
As previously reported, there are various investigations into a
£20m partnership with pharmaceutical giant Roche, and the treatment of staff who raised concerns over the project.
But following a new all-staff email, trust chair Christine Outram has been accused of making a “misleading” claim around the extent to which a critical draft report – revealed in December – was “watered down” before being finalised in January.
In the email sent last week, Ms Outram claimed “no changes were made to the material” in a critical “addendum” section of the report.
But analysis of both the draft and final versions, of which
One section of the draft that was deleted from the final version had accused managers, executives and the trust board of an “underlying systemic failure” to implement recommendations from two previous reports, in 2012 and 2018, which would have improved the culture and practices in the research division.
Before an inquiry report is published, the author will typically carry out a “Maxwellisation” process which offers those being criticised a chance to respond.
The extent to which changes are proposed and accepted by the author can prove controversial – and it’s part of why those calling for an investigation tend to make such a fuss about it needing to be fully independent.
As revealed by
HSJ in December, a draft review of a research partnership between The Christie Foundation Trust and pharmaceutical giant Roche outlined multiple shortcomings in how the project was handled, as well as citing deeper cultural issues within the trust’s research and innovation department.