Academic super-trust for London
John Alex Maguire/ex Features
Charing Cross Hospital and four others are to form a single trust
and seek academic foundation status |
Imperial College London is to be at the helm of a new NHS super-trust, following the union of two of London's largest hospitals this week. Hammersmith Hospitals NHS Trust and St Mary's NHS Trust have merged, and existing links with Imperial College have been strengthened, to form Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.
The new trust will operate Charing Cross Hospital, Hammersmith Hospital,
Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital, St Mary’s Hospital
and the Western Eye Hospital.
In terms of the impact of the merger on pharmacy services, a spokeswoman
for the trust said that no decisions had been made about management at
the departmental level, but she acknowledged that decisions would need
to be made.
“It will definitely be one of the largest pharmacy departments
in the country, with an expenditure of over £70m and around 250
staff,” she
told The Journal. “Because it is the first academic health science
centre of its kind in the UK, there will be advantages for staff in terms
of practice-based research.”
She explained that the principal of the faculty of medicine at Imperial
College, Stephen Smith, has been appointed chief executive of the trust,
a move that she said would integrate academia into NHS trust management
structures at the top level.
“This will reduce the bureaucracy around how innovation feeds into
hospital practice,” she said.
It is expected that Imperial College will sponsor an application for
the centre to become an “academic foundation trust” in 2009,
subject to consultation.
|
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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