South Warwickshire trust is one step closer to George Eliot takeover

In August 2011, the board of directors at the George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton agreed that it was in the best interests of the hospital to seek a ‘strategic partner’ to take over its management, while its staff and assets will remain within the NHS.

South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust (SWFT), which runs Warwick Hospital, Stratford Hospital and the Central Rehabilitation Unit in Warwick Gates, has been shortlisted along with Care UK Clinical Services Limited, Circle Health Limited, Ramsay Health Care UK and University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust.

Each of the organisations shortlisted has had to demonstrate that they have the necessary clinical experience, capacity and financial capability to deliver acute services, including emergency and maternity care.

SWFT’s chief executive Glen Burley said: “We are pleased that we have progressed to the next stage of the procurement process.

“We are now working with a number of teams to design our solution, which will support our vision to have one integrated foundation trust across Warwickshire. We still believe that this can bring the best benefits for people across the whole of Warwickshire and help support sustainability of local services.

“One of the main benefits would be that from the very first day, George Eliot Hospital would be in a foundation trust, still part of the NHS but more accountable to our local communities and able to reinvest any surpluses back into local services.”

All five organisations will now participate in a first stage of dialogue. The second stage will start with a view to identifying a preferred bidder in summer 2014.

For further details, visit www.geh.nhs.uk/ssf