Health bosses have said there would be no cuts to services as part of plans to merge Burton and Derby's hospitals. They have also refuted claims there has been a lack transparency over the proposed move.

It comes after protesters opposed to the merger between the two trusts which run Burton's Queen's Hospital and the Royal Derby staged a march and rally in Burton when they raised a series of points. These included criticising the bosses at the trusts over a 'lack of transparency'.

The rally was held on Saturday, August 5, when campaigners from East Staffordshire Trade Union Council, Unite Community and Burton’s Keep our NHS Public branch, andthers, marched from Queen’s Hospital through the town centre, before holding a rally in the rain at the Washlands.

They raised a number of concerns about the proposed merger. The chief executives of Burton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Helen Scott-South and her counter-part at Derby Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Gavin Boyle have already revealed that the move would see Derby "acquire" Burton.

The protests led to the Washlands, in Burton
Rally over the proposed merger of Burton's hospital with Derby

The plans to merge the two hospital trusts had originally unveiled at a public meeting in July, when it was also confirmed that final plans would be submitted and reviewed later this year.

Affected hospitals include the Royal Derby Hospital and Queen’s Hospital, in Burton, along with a number of community hospitals under the respective trust umbrellas, including Sir Robert Peel Community Hospital in Tamworth and Samuel Johnson Community Hospital, in Lichfield which belong to the Burton trust.

Throughout the run-up to the march and during, campaigners raised six points, which the Burton Mail has now put to the hospital bosses.

These points have now been posed to both Helen Scott-South and her medical director at Burton, Magnus Harrison and Gavin Boyle and his medical director in Derby, Nigel Sturrock.

These are the points raised by the campaigners, and the responses from the hospital bosses:

Lack of transparency in the process

Those opposing the merger have explained that they firmly believe that there has been very little transparency from the hospital trusts about the process of planning the merger.

Chief executive from Derby, Gavin Boyle said: "One of the main points of the protest seems to revolve around transparency, and how transparent we are being. I don’t really see how we can be any more transparent if I’m honest.

"We have a website will the full outline business case, including timelines and full explanations of everything. The four of us here have done and always will be happy to sit down and talk to anybody about it. I don’t think we can be more open.

Gavin Boyle addressing the Healthwatch meeting at Burton Town Hall to explain the plans for the merger

Helen Scott-South added: "Our staff side are not supporting the march, which I think if there was any real concerns about our openness with our own staff, they would have said something and, in fact, they are distancing themselves from it.

"The message we want to say to people is to not feel anxious; don’t be worried about us closing services here in Burton, or in Tamworth or Lichfield. It’s a really important message for no other reason than there is old and vulnerable people that are starting to really worry.

"What is the point in them worrying over something that just isn’t true? If it’s not true, then don't worry about it. We don’t want to sit here and think people are feeling anxious about this."

Potential cuts to services in Burton

The protesters have called for no services to be cut at Queen’s Hospital, in Burton as a result of the merger. It has already been confirmed that some stroke services will be lost from the hospital, as Derby has an admired department dealing with stroke patients, which is where Burton patients would initially be treated.

Helen Scott-South has emphasised that no other services will be cut from the hospital, explaining that: “We can say right now that there will not be any cuts. Services will be kept locally and centralising the specialist care and specialist units will improve patient outcomes.”

Threats to staff jobs

Concerns have been raised about whether the jobs of staff members at Queen’s Hospital, in Belvedere Road, may be under threat should the merger go ahead.

Gavin Boyle said: "When we came together as two organisations we treat all staff equally, so I don’t think there will be a differential impact on Burton and actually people are protected by law.

It has been confirmed that the A&E department at Queen's hospital in Burton will remain open
The event will be raising money for Burton's Queen's Hospital

“There is a piece of legislation that means that if you bring two organisations together you have to treat everybody fairly, so that’s absolutely our intention.

“In terms of people being anxious about redundancies, I’ve been perfectly happy to stand up in front of staff and be reassuring. This isn’t about centralising services in Derby, so I think the vast majority of staff will continue doing as they are.

“Some additional opportunities will come up, with services being transferred back to the area from the West Midlands hospitals, back into hospitals in Lichfield, Tamworth, Burton and Derby.”

Medical director at Derby Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Nigel Sturrock has reinforced Mr Boyle’s view, saying: "When looking at our clinical staff, nursing and doctors, there are some specialties on each of our hospitals and trusts where we are struggling to recruit.

"What we hear from our clinical teams is that if we come together as a single, prestigious unit with super outcomes for patients and a really good place to work in, we will attract in a really good calibre of staff, so we’re hoping this will help us with the vacancies.

"We are always worried when we have vacancies, we always want to fill them and we see this as a solution to that."

Potential for any privatisation of services in Burton

As part of the proposed merger, fears have been raised that some services may become privatised, a point that representatives from the two hospital trusts have been eager to refute.

Helen Scott-South said: "I don’t really understand why privatisation has come up, it’s not going to happen. I think it has come from a national agenda, but it certainly isn't a local one.

Gavin Boyle, from Derby agreed with this, saying: "Privatising services does not feature in any shape or form in any conversation we are having or have had since the start. It’s not something we’re interested in or are looking at all."

Clarification of the full terms and conditions of the merger

Full information has been requested by those opposed to the merger, about the complex decisions that are being made behind the scenes.

Commenting on this, Helen Scott-South said: "The full outline business case is there for anyone online and we are currently developing the full business case, which in time will be published when it is finished."

Helen Scott-South, the chief executive of Burton Hospitals
Helen Scott-South, the chief executive of Burton Hospitals

Gavin Boyle added: "To be frank, our outline business case is the best description of our state of thinking and the detail of where we are at the minute. There isn’t another one anywhere, that is the best document and it’s on the website for anyone to read.

"For staff at Burton, we have something called the agenda for change which is a national set of terms and conditions and most staff across the two trusts are on that, so it’s not like that is going to change anything.

"People have also asked us about pensions. We are all part of the NHS pension scheme, so that won’t be changing, these trade unions are the experts in this, so I have no idea why they are raising that, they know this isn’t an issue."

Call for proper public scrutiny over the merger

Gavin Boyle has commented on calls from those opposing the merger that there has not been enough public scrutiny on the plans.

Mr Boyle said: "As part of our engagement, we have been to a whole range of public meetings, we’ve been to local authorities, the Healthwatch. It’s also been scrutinised by regulators and our own council of governors. If they don’t like it, then it won’t happen. We couldn’t be more open to scrutiny.

Magnus Harrison, medical director at Queen’s Hospital added that: "We have people out every week going to GPs based in Lichfield, Tamworth, in Swadlincote, been to Derby GPs, been to Belper GPs, Matlock, it’s a rolling thing.”

Full information about the proposed merger between the two hospital trusts in Burton and Derby is freely available online at http://www.burtonderbycollaboration.co.uk/.

From now, the two trusts are continuing to finalise the full business outline plan which will be available by the end of the year.