Northamptonshire health partnership will 'increase recruitment'

It was hoped the deal would lead to University Teaching Hospital status for the two trusts

A university said its partnership with a healthcare trust would "increase the recruitment and retention" of staff.

The deal, between Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (NHFT) and the University of Leicester, would "create centres of excellence".

The two institutions have been working together for the past two years.

It was hoped the new partnership would lead to University Teaching Hospital status for the two trusts in the future.

The trust and the university said the formal partnership will 'strengthen their existing relationship'

NHFT is responsible for around 100 services in Northamptonshire, which included mental health, community nursing, sexual health, and physiotherapy.

It had already collaborated on a number of projects with the University of Leicester.

Its Dreams project looked in to domestic abuse in mental health settings, and the two institutions worked together on a new approach to providing medical placements for students.

The trust and the university said the formal partnership will "strengthen their existing relationship, and the trusts will become Associate University Trusts, the first step towards the two trusts acquiring University Teaching Hospital status in the future."

Angela Hillery from NHFT said the formal partnership was "an exciting step forward"

Angela Hillery, Joint Chief Executive of Leicestershire Partnership Trust and NHFT said: "This is an exciting step forward in our collaboration with the University of Leicester and will help us to build on [our] existing teaching programmes.

"The new partnership will also help us to create centres of academic excellence."

Prof Tom Robinson from the University of Leicester said there had never been a more important time for this partnership to flourish

Prof Tom Robinson, pro vice-chancellor at the University of Leicester, said: "Given the current challenges facing both the university and healthcare sectors, there has never been a more important time for such a relationship to flourish, and all organisations have reconfirmed their commitment to the relationship and its strategic importance.

"The new partnership will enable us to increase the recruitment and retention of the workforce across the two trusts, while increasing the university's academic and clinical research portfolio."