Hospital merger collapse cost £10 million

An ‘eye-watering’ £10 million was spent on a collapsed merger which was scuppered by rushed deadlines and financial and legal complexities.

A merger between Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust and Sherwood Forest Hospitals (SFH) NHS Foundation Trust was first announced in February.

NHS leaders spent £6.6 million in ‘professional adviser’ fees alone while working on the deal, comprising £6.1 million in consultant fees and £500,000 legal fees. An additional £1 million was spent on clinical support and £2.4 million spent on backfilling positions of seconded staff.

Poor accident and emergency performance and financial challenges at NUH were blamed for the collapse, before the British Medical Association (BMA) revealed in November that the deal was mired in practical issues, such as how to transfer liabilities from the dissolved trust into another which was heavily in deficit.

SFH was placed in special measures in 2014 after a review of mortality by NHS medical director Professor Sir Bruce Keogh identified higher numbers of deaths than expected in the trust. Rated as ‘Inadequate’ by the Care Quality Commission, the merger was highlighted as a rescue package.

However, NHS Improvement made the decision to cancel the merger eight months after its announcement.

The BMA reported that the merger was also at part of Nottinghamshire’s plans to save more than £500 million from its health and social care budget as part of its sustainability and transformation plan.

BMA council chair Mark Porter said: ‘It is matter of supreme irony that these ‘eye-watering’ amounts of money have been spent on management consultants in the pursuit of financial savings forced because of the restrictions on resource from central government.’