Press release: NHS Confederation launches new work programme for Foundations and PCTs

22 Jun 2004

The NHS Confederation is this week launching two new work programmes for Foundation Trusts and Primary Care Trusts, as part of its ongoing drive to enhance the services provided to its member organisations.
A Foundation Trust Network has been established for all Wave 1 and 1A Trusts, to enable Foundations to share learning and work together on issues of common interest. Bruce Finnamore, Managing Director of Finnamore Management Consultants, will be leading the work until a substantive director can be appointed.
At the same time, the Confederation has set up a major policy programme to promote the successes of PCTs and explore the challenges they face. Edna Robinson, former Chief Executive of Salford PCT, has been appointed as the Confederation's new Director of Primary Care.

Gill Morgan, Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation, said: "The NHS is changing rapidly. Whilst the unique feature of the Confederation is its ability to bring together the full range of NHS organisations, it is also increasingly clear that there are specific challenges facing our different members to which we must respond."

The two initiatives are part of the Confederation's drive to expand its policy resource and to provide new opportunities to connect members with one another. Gill Morgan said: "We have already established a range of member forums, such as the Acute Trust Chief Executives' Forum and the Mental Health Chairs' Forum. We will be further developing our support to members over the coming months."

Malcolm Lowe-Lauri, Chief Executive of Kings College Hospital NHS Trust and a member of the Foundation Trust network, said: "Being part of the network signals our intention to work together as a group of Foundation Trusts within the NHS."

He added, "While we must learn to use our freedoms to the best benefit of the patients that we serve, it is not only essential that we pass that learning on to each other but also to the rest of the NHS."
Edna Robinson said: "I am pleased that the Confederation is prioritising primary care organisations and the issues PCTs are facing. We need to raise the profile of PCTs and their potential to create services that are local and less complex. It is also important that PCTs are given the opportunity to share good practice and to work collectively to enhance their effectiveness."

 

Notes for editors

1.    The Foundation Trust Network will be open to all Foundation Trusts and an interim Board of Chief Executives and Chairs has already been appointed to steer the Network.
2.    The Confederation's new PCT work programme will be launched this week with three reports: Making a difference: how PCTs are transforming the NHS; Meeting the challenge: PCTs and integrated management models; and Working together: PCT-acute trust relationships. This will be followed by a programme of work on the future of commissioning, to be published later this year.

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