Two Staffordshire healthcare trusts are to merge next April in a major health shake-up for the region - with a pledge of better services and fewer delays in care provision.

The boards of South Staffordshire and Shropshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and Staffiordshire and Stoke on Trent Partnership NHS Trust have agreed to come together as one organisation subject to regulatory approval, it has been announced.

Staff at the two Trusts are already meeting to discuss what the merger will look like, and both trusts say they will offer similar opportunities to service users, carers and patient groups.

The boards say the Trusts' will continue to work closely with other key health and social care partners across Staffordshire to ensure that local communities receive the best possible health and social care outcomes.

The Trusts' say the merge will provide better healthcare for patients
The Trusts' say the merge will provide better healthcare for patients

South Staffordshire and Shropshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust provides a range of mental health, learning disability and specialist children's services.

Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Partnership NHS Trust, which has a service office in St Pauls Square, Burton, provides community health and adult social care.

Staff say the merger will lead to better and more joined-up services for patients and communities, with less duplication and fewer delays in the delivery of care.

Neil Carr, who is currently CEO of both organisations, said: "We believe that the merger will significantly improve health and social care services for our Staffordshire communities. We want to ensure that the transformation has a strong clinical focus, and that the change is driven by the people that really matter: our service users, carers and staff.

"The intention for SSSFT and SSOTP to merge aims to significantly improve health and social care services for Staffordshire communities.

"The new organisation will work within localities with comprehensive teams providing physical health, mental health, learning disabilities and social care to the local community. In addition we will use shared information systems and work in a much more collaborative way to reduce duplication and to ensure that all services are enhanced for the patients and service users who we serve."