South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust and Serco partner together for the future

Serco and the South Warwickshire Foundation Trust are pleased to announce an exciting new partnership for the future. This 'innovation partnership' will seek to use the expertise and skills that both organisations have to improve the care delivered to our patients, whilst delivering best value. This partnership approach with Serco will enable the Trust to deliver benefits more quickly to patients, building on existing arrangements (the Anglia Support Partnership) for NHS Trusts in the Midlands and East region.

Initial discussions between the organisations started following a shared vision and interest in working with George Eliot NHS Hospital Trust on their plans for the future, however there is wider scope for future joint projects that will enable the Trust to continue to deliver high quality NHS healthcare services.

An example of a future project may include working with Serco to look at ways that the Trust can appropriately manage patients with long term conditions at home. In particular the part that technology can play to make improvements for these patients.

The nature of this partnership offers flexibility as well as the ability to work together on different projects, therefore over the next few months  both organisations will continue to develop further ideas about possible areas for partnership work.

The Trust's vision is to provide an integrated healthcare system for Warwickshire using the freedoms of the Foundation Trust model; they believe that this approach can deliver significant benefits for local patients and we have also discussed this approach with the George Eliot NHS Hospital Trust Board during their recent market engagement process.   The Trust is currently waiting for further details about the options for George Eliot's preferred partner process; we believe that our integrated care model, with strong supporting partnerships such as that with Serco, provide good opportunities for collaboration with George Elliot hospital.

This is a unique opportunity and enables the Trust to proactively seek support from a private sector organisation, which truly understands public services, to improve NHS services for our local communities. Any decision we make is governed by our Foundation Trust model. This means that our Public and Staff Governors who represent our Members will ensure that the Trust continues to focus on our local health needs and that we continue to invest any surplus in improving local healthcare.  We will also continue to work closely with local GPs to look at ways to improve healthcare services for Warwickshire.