Two Cumbrian NHS health trusts have merged today (1 October 2019) in order to provide more joined-up care for patients across community and hospital services.
North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust and Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust have merged to become North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust (NCIC). Staff across both organisations have been working closely together for some time leading up to the formal merger.
Professor Stephen Eames CBE, chief executive at NCIC has set out his ambition for the future of the new Trust as a different sort of NHS organisation. He said: “Today is a culmination of a lot of hard work behind the scenes to make this merger happen. I would like to thank all of our 6,500 members of staff who have all worked together so collaboratively to get to this point.
“The new organisation includes the words ‘integrated cared’ in the title because we want to set it apart from what has gone before with the Trust working side-by-side with partners and the wider community to join up health and care for our patients as well as streamlining processes for staff. We also want NCIC to become more embedded in local communities with the purpose of advancing wellbeing tailored to local area challenges and opportunities.
“In addition, as a major employer in Cumbria we need to work better together with our partners to offer better career opportunities to young people and buck the trend of young people leaving the county. We also need to play our part in tackling climate change through sustainable plans, spending more of our money locally and supporting the economy here in Cumbria to thrive. We have a real opportunity to do that as NCIC.”
Today also marks the transfer of mental health, learning disabilities and CAMHS services to Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne & Wear NHS Foundation Trust (CNTW) & Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust (LCFT). Although 1000 members of staff are transferring to the employment of CNTW & LCFT, staff and services will remain in Cumbria working with us a vital part of the integrated health and care system.
For more information about North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust, please visit www.ncic.nhs.uk
