New structure model gaining popularity
University Hospitals of Leicester Trust has revealed that it would be “very interested” in becoming a staff owned social enterprise.
One of the largest hospital trusts in the country with a £760 million turnover, UHL has made moves to investigate a mutual model as an alternative to becoming a foundation trust in a bid to boost staff engagement.
John Adler, chief executive of UHL, told HSJ “At UHL we are very interested in pursuing this model, either as a variant of or an alternative to foundation trust status. That’s because we believe that it will help sustain the improvements to staff engagement that we have already achieved.”
Moving away from the norm
Mr Adler, whose trusts employs over 10,000 people, continued “With the right leadership, social enterprises have been shown to work well in the NHS community sector and the same benefits should be realisable in the acute sector. It’s all about strengthening the voice of frontline staff so that they more directly influence what the organisation does and feel more valued.”
Despite positive vibes about the new model, moves to become a social enterprise outside of state ownership and subject to less control by the state, is bound to be highly controversial. However, Care Minister Norman Lamb has also spoken about the potential benefits, saying the social enterprise model could “very much be potentially an alternative” to gaining foundation trust status.
