Brompton merger/take over

[maggiewhiteley]

Has any body read about this,

[Hidden]

A merger has been in the pipeline for years, with the latest plans for Guy’s and St Thomas being in the works since 2017. A recent chat with someone more in the know than a patient would be suggests that it will definitely be going ahead, but that several other trusts have kicked up a fuss over the plans, and that it will be some time yet before anything happens in terms of services. The current plan for paeds is a purpose built unit over at the Evelina, but we’ve been told it won’t effect the child and her care will remain in the current buildings as is even if she stays under the paeds team until she’s 17, so that’s 5 years to start with. They’re also still spending money on renovating Rose (the children’s ward), so that would also indicate nothing will be changing any time soon: having paeds care at the site is dependent on having all the other diagnostic and specialist services readily available, so they won’t be able to keep children’s care there if the plan is to move those services to other sites.

The care is amazing across the board - we moved 250 miles purely to get the child under the RBH - but there’s no denying that neither site is fit for purpose. Both need huge amounts of TLC, and the Fulham Road Wing in particular costs the trust an absolute fortune even in basic upkeep due to the age and status of the building. There are unconfirmed suggestions that the long term plan might be to sell one or both properties, which would net the trust a pretty tidy sum, but it depends on how they ultimately decide to structure services. I personally think it would be a poor move to integrate the trust as small chunks at different places, and outside of paeds it’s not been confirmed that services will move out of the current buildings, but if they were to do that I’d much prefer to see the services go as - at most - two distinct but complete units i.e. heart to one site and lung to another, but it’s an expensive business, and cost (and available space!) will dictate to some extent.

[maggiewhiteley in reply to Hidden]

Yes I know it been tossed around for a while, but what I read says they will sell the land Brompton is on, valued c 1 billion. Time will tell, such a shame though I think those that are under the Brompton feel like we belong to an exclusive club.

[Hidden in reply to maggiewhiteley]

As I said, selling one or both sites definitely hasn’t been ruled out: it’s prime real estate in one of the most expensive and sought after boroughs in London. I don’t know if a billion for the land would hold true, but put a building(s) of the same square footage there, turn them into luxury apartments, and you’d potentially be looking at 100 or more properties that would go for in excess of £10 million each no trouble at all: what I would call a ‘normal’, fairly small 3 bed apartment in SW3 will currently cost you £3.5m to buy. If that money can then be predominantly put back into NHS facilities and services, and further research, you can see why they (and the government) would be keen to look at moving out. And why other trusts are just as keen to merge - from what I understand, the Imperial College Trust is kicking up some of the fuss because they took over the National Heart and Lung Institute from the RBHT in 1995 and had also previously floated a full merger in the same way as is being considered now: as the nearest emergency hospital, there are close working links with the RBH in both directions at the C&W, so Imperial definitely feel a bit hard done by.

Despite only being under them a year, I would still definitely prefer not to see a merger for fear of losing what makes the RBH so special to many of its patients, and that means we will have to have a good think about what to do with reference to the long term service plans once the child needs to start transitioning to adult care. There are two other adult cf centres aside from the Brompton both within the same sort of travel time (one is actually much closer to home) that we could potentially consider, but the RBH are world leaders at the end of the day. Some of the staff are already just as hesitant about a merger as patients are, but time will tell: a lot can happen and change in a few years.

[maggiewhiteley in reply to Hidden]

The piece I read said it will happen early 2021, so yep we shall have to wait and see., seems the locals are up in arms and already voicing there opposition.

[Hidden in reply to maggiewhiteley]

That’s for the formal merger of the two trusts into one entity, not for any changes to services. Just had a look and the RBH have actually updated their website at some point in the last couple of months regarding the merger, including some frequently asked questions about why and how:

rbht.nhs.uk/about-us/our-pl...

They’re stating that the hospital will continue to run as is on the two Chelsea sites for at least another decade. The Evelina move for paeds still has to be ratified via public consultation, it’s not actually a done deal, but if that gets agreed it will be the first stage of service restructure to happen, moving to the new site in approximately 5 or 6 years.

[maggiewhiteley in reply to Hidden]

Wonderful, that, Charlie I hope will be plenty of time for me. I read about this on from a group called NHS Federation. Are you out of the hospital now with the Child

[Hidden in reply to maggiewhiteley]

Glad that’s reassured you a bit, Maggie! 😊

She’s out at the moment and currently doing ok. Next due back in for a couple of weeks in November, as long as her chest behaves itself in the interim. Fingers crossed.

[maggiewhiteley in reply to Hidden]

I just had a look on the website and an update is being given to members on Oct 1st. Should think it will be published quite soon after eh?.

Glad to know she is home and doing well. Fingers crossed she stays that way.