South Tees and North Tees trusts to work together after NHS investigation

The Trusts hope working together will help retain and attract specialist staff to Teesside

Two NHS Trusts are to work together after an investigation found the actions of members of one board served to "disrupt" the initial plans.

The NHS England probe looked at why plans had stalled for South Tees and North Tees to be run by a joint chief.

It found "breaches of confidential internal board discussions" by North Tees had been carried out to "discredit partners at South Tees Trust".

It found the NHS's reputation had been put at risk by its board members.

The investigation found their "actions and behaviours" were not acceptable.

The South Tees and North Tees trusts are not merging, although a joint chair role has been created which was to lead to a joint chief executive role being created.

The NHS England probe was carried out into the "behaviours" of North Tees board members

The investigation, which started in February 2022, looked at concerns over whether North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust had breached its licence, and if formal enforcement action was required.

It found evidence of "breaches of confidential internal board discussions" had been carried out to "discredit partners at South Tees Trust".

And evidence was found to suggest that as "tensions rose", the level of conduct by some individuals "was not consistent with accepted standards of professional business conduct".

The report noted a "sense of reluctance" from the North Tees Trust to find a "mutually agreeable path" to work together with South Tees, despite a decision being made by national NHS leaders to integrate leadership of both boards in 2020.

Julie Gillon said the hospital group would address 'health inequalities' for the region

NHS England's System Oversight Committee (SOC) decided that although "progress on the integration was not moving forward at the anticipated pace", North Tees Trust was "beginning to adopt a more constructive approach" towards the plans.

The investigation said it believed "shared leadership" for hospitals in the North and South Tees, as part of "wider integration" for the Tees Valley health and care system, was "still the right way forward".

In a letter to the chair and chief executive of North Tees last September, NHS England regional director Richard Barker said he was "confident" things were moving forward and North Tees should set out an action plan with South Tees Hospitals to strengthen joint leadership.

No "formal regulatory action" was taken as "there has been positive evidence of collaboration between the two organisations" since the investigation.

'Attract specialist doctors'

Four months on, both trusts - which remain separate - have created a joint chair role and a Joint Partnership Board, which brings members of the two boards together to discuss common issues.

Over the next two years the trusts hope to jointly "retain and attract specialist doctors and nurses in hard-to-recruit areas".

Sue Page, the chief executive of South Tees, said the move was "essential" to "retain specialist clinicians" and recruit more.

Julie Gillon, chief executive at North Tees, said creating one group would "ensure that health inequalities for this region are addressed as a continued priority".

NHS England said it would continue to review progress on the integration.

It concluded that if progress was not made "within a reasonable timescale" it may consider enforcement action.