The Secretary of State has backed Great Ormond Street Hospital’s plans to become a Foundation Trust. Following the Department of Health assessment, we now move to evaluation by the independent regulator Monitor.
The letter said
'The Secretary of State is able to support the application from Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust to become an NHS Foundation Trust. This is a major achievement and recognises the hard work and effort you and your team have put into the process to date.
The next stage of the process is the assessment by Monitor, which will take place over the forthcoming months. I understand Monitor will contact you soon.'
Chief Executive Dr Jane Collins said “Thanks to everyone who has worked so hard to get us to the last phase. The main reason we need to achieve Foundation Trust status is to remain an independent NHS organisation able to focus on children and able to deliver the best possible care for them. The Monitor process is quite properly rigorous but so were the Strategic Health Authority and Department of Health stages.”
The timetable will become clear in the next couple of weeks, including when we will hold elections to the new Members' Council.
Tripartite agreement published
The formal agreement between the Strategic Health Authority, the Department of Health and Great Ormond Street, required to take forward our application, has been published online 15th July 2011
http://www.gosh.nhs.uk/publications/Foundation_Trust_Agreement.html
Contact information:
GOSH-ICH Press Office: 020 7239 3125
Email: Coxs@gosh.nhs.uk
For genuine and urgent out of hours call speak to switchboard on 020 7405 9200
