East London trusts to sit under Barts NHS Group in new model

The two NHS trusts – Barts Health and Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals (BHRUT) – manage seven hospitals serving more than two million people.

The trusts announced on October 27 that they will become “one group, two trusts, seven hospitals” under the “shorthand” of Barts NHS Group.

Although both trusts deny the move to becoming a group is a “merger,” their separate governing boards plan to merge into one executive board by April 2025.

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In a joint statement today, the trusts told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that the group model means “localising where possible but centralising where necessary”.

They added: “As two sovereign bodies we are creating a new group model to help both trusts overcome their mutual challenges now and become stronger together in future.

“We believe we can deliver better results, more effectively and efficiently, by combining resources where appropriate.”

When formed, Barts NHS Group will oversee hospitals serving residents of six east London boroughs: Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Newham, Barking and Dagenham, Havering and Redbridge.

The announcement follows the formation of NHS North East London in July 2022, a body tasked with coordinating all healthcare in east London including hospital, GP and dental services.

Barts Health and BHRUT formally first agreed to collaborate in 2021 and have appointed several “group” executives to both hospitals’ boards, including chair-in-common Jacqui Smith and group chief executive Shane DeGaris.

Examples of collaboration between the trusts include a scheme which redirects patients in ambulances away from hospitals, launched by Barts Health in November 2021 and expanded to BHRUT in January this year.

The trusts have also sent patients between hospitals for diagnostic scans, and tried to control the cost of temporary staff by not competing with each other on staff rates. Barts Health is also supporting BHRUT with introducing an electronic patient record system.

However, public details of how exactly the trusts plan to collaborate in the future remain limited.

A Board Collaboration Committee was formed in July 2022, to oversee the move to becoming a group, but Barts Health has refused to share its minutes on decision-making records.

In response to a freedom of information request earlier this year, Barts Health told the LDRS it needs a “safe space to develop ideas and make decisions”.

It added that sharing any details of the committee’s future plans would “inhibit free and frank exchange of views and opinion”.

A spokesperson said both trusts agreed to “formalise” their collaboration in July this year, although formal approval of this does not appear to be recorded in either trust’s public board papers.