Mid Staffs: Monitor approves plan to secure essential services
Monitor has approved the proposed dissolution of Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust and passed the administrators' recommendations to the Secretary of State.
The health sector regulator is satisfied the package of measures put forward by the trust special administrators (TSAs) is the most appropriate solution for the local health economy that can be found in the circumstances.
Dr David Bennett, Monitor’s chief executive, said:
Making changes to local healthcare services is never easy, or necessarily popular with the general public. Neither does change in a complicated system like the NHS come cheap. Nevertheless it is absolutely essential that patients are able to access safe services today, tomorrow and well into the future.
Monitor’s statutory powers with regard to TSAs are set out in the National Health Service Act 2006 as amended by the Health and Social Care Act 2012 and are quite specific. For example, we can only accept or reject their recommendations, we cannot amend them.
However, the Secretary of State has powers to require the TSAs to vary their report if he feels it does not meet any of his tests as set down in the legislation, including securing the essential services demanded by local commissioners and offering good value for money. That decision has to be made by 26 February 2014.
Monitor believes all the relevant tests have been met and is therefore recommending the trust special administrators’ proposals to the Secretary of State.
The special administrators will continue to run the trust and patients will be able to access healthcare services as normal.
Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust: overview of Monitor’s approach
