Circle completes take-over deal at Hinchingbrooke

Despite months of delays, the Government has now signed off on the Circle takeover at Hinchingbrooke hospital in Huntingdonshire.

Managers at Hinchingbrooke Healthcare NHS Trust said today: “This is not privatisation.”

Circle was named as ‘preferred provider’ to become the first private company to run an NHS trust as a franchise almost exactly a year ago. It was meant to take over operations by June, but has had to wait for full approval.

Staff will keep their NHS terms and conditions, and the trust estate will remain in public ownership as part of the ten-year, £1bn deal.

The company is partly owned by its staff and clinicians, and labels itself a social enterprise and the largest partnership of healthcare professionals in Europe, but it is also a private company listed on the stock exchange. It already operates many centres and services on behalf of the NHS, but this is the first time an entire hospital has been ‘franchised’ in this way.

Director of policy and strategy at NHS Midlands and East, Dr Stephen Dunn: “This is a great day for the people of Huntingdonshire. It ends the uncertainty that has hung over the hospital for nearly five years. Without this partnership, the future for Hinchingbrooke could have been uncertain. Now we have a solution which aims to repay the hospital's taxpayer debt of almost £40m, as well as giving it the best chance of a sustainable future.

“Patients will continue to receive high quality NHS services from NHS staff in the NHS hospital they know. This is not privatisation. Staff and assets will remain in the NHS. This is a change in management – not a change in services.

“Circle secured this franchise following an open competition. They outshone the best of the best from the NHS and independent sectors. This will usher in a new era for this much-loved local hospital.”

Circle Chief Executive, Ali Parsa, said: “At a time when some healthcare commentators say the solution for small district general hospitals is simply to merge or be shut down, we believe the NHS Midlands and East’s courage and zeal for innovation will enable us to show how clinician and staff control can provide a more sustainable alternative. Our partners have now met hundreds of Hinchingbrooke staff, and we know that we share a core value of prioritising patients above all else, and a passion for reengineering healthcare delivery to make it simpler, better and smarter value for the patients. Circle arrives not with a top-down plan to impose change, but with a proven methodology of unleashing NHS professionals talent through clinical leadership and devolved decision-making.”

Parsa has compared the shape of the deal to GP practices, run as private partnerships that contract services to the NHS.

David Worskett, director of the NHS Partners Network, said he was “absolutely delighted” and hopes it is the first of many such arrangements. He added: “This is a good example of how the NHS can harness the skill and innovation that exists within the independent sector to ensure district general hospitals are able to deliver quality services for patients as well as value for money for the taxpayer.”