NHS Merger Fever – Making Mergers Deliver

By March 3, 2016 News No Comments

With the numbers of mergers and acquisitions within the NHS on the increase how will you ensure yours delivers improvements from a quality of service and financial perspective?

A past article in the Health Service Journal (HSJ), Size vs Quality by Richard Lewis looked for evidence that past mergers both here and overseas had delivered the benefits they were supposed to.  The overall conclusion from the article was that there was little conclusive evidence to support the notion that larger Trust resulted in better patient care or improved outcomes.

There are a number of key steps that Trusts should follow to increase their chances of achieving a successful merger that improves patient outcomes and delivers the required financial benefits.  These include but are not limited to:

  • Up Front Planning – success starts with good planning, for example you need to understand at the outset what the strategic vision for the future organisation is; understand where the value drivers are that will deliver the benefits of the merger; identify the possible impact in respect of patient demand for services; understand how you will effect the merger and understand if you have the internal skills & capability to deliver the merger.
  • Delivery Planning – mergers by their nature are complex and without a clear agreed delivery plan have little chance of success. Steps you need to do include but are not limited to; set up a steering committee, establish a programme management office, create a detailed delivery plan, identify the key risks associated with the merger, create a change management strategy and create a reporting structure.
  • Benefits Realisation – at all times throughout the merger and integration you need to keep on top of managing the delivery of the identified benefits.

Successful mergers and acquisitions require strong leadership and the support of management and staff; they also need to be well managed.  The team at IC Cubed has been helping organisation plan and execute successful mergers and acquisitions for many year, to find out how we can help you contact us at enquiries@iccubed.co.uk.