Summary of the seminar
Delegates heard from Giles Everest from the Department of Health, who provided an introduction and overview of the forthcoming Transactions Manual. Steve Grange, Director of Business Development at South Staffordshire and Shropshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust outlined some of the reasons why foundation trusts might want to consider mergers and acquisitions, the risks involved and the deliverables achievable, as well the pre-requisites to an acquisition. Sir Michael Aaronson, Chair of Frimley Park NHS Foundation Trust, shared the lessons learned from the recent experience of Frimley Park.
The afternoon comprised of a double act from Simon Hackwell, Commercial Director and Mandy Coalter, Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development at Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust. Simon spoke about the need for integration planning and importance of continuing post-acquisition work on integration; Mandy expanded on this by going into further detail about how the Trust embarked on winning the hearts and minds of the workforce.
It is thought by the Department of Health that approximately 40-50 NHS Trust’s will not achieve foundation trust status. Therefore, the afternoon round-table discussions focused on the enablers and incentives that would be required for foundation trusts to acquire or merger with these trust’s – for example, through a reduction in bureaucracy and provision of indemnities and warranties. In addition, detailed discussions explored the need for pre-consultation engagement, consultation and communication and touched on the approach to any competition issues.
This was an extremely valuable seminar, which provided insights into the acquisitions that have taken place and lessons learned from the Frimley Park NHS Foundation Trust acquisition, which did not go ahead. It also provided members with the opportunity to provide constructive feedback, which FTN will use to influence the ongoing development of policy and guidance in this area.
FTN's new web-based publications ‘Mergers and acquisitions: the importance of due diligence’ and ‘Mergers and acquisitions: the importance of effective stakeholder engagement and communication’ were also launched. As well as providing a framework for due diligence and stakeholder engagement and communication, these provide insight into the challenges and lessons learned by the two foundation trusts that have successfully completed an acquisition.