Hello
I had the pleasure of spending Friday last week at a local meeting for
health service, local authority and voluntary sector senior managers
funded by the Department of Health which was looking at current NHS
system reform and, in particular, the implications of foundation status
for acute trusts. Apparently such meetings have been held for all the
potential foundation trusts in England.
I wonder whether any other library managers have attended such meetings,
and if so, what they heard about the library/education/R&D implications
of a move to Foundation status?
I asked the Department of Health person dealing with organisational
arrangements how the new foundation trusts would relate to the WDC
functions, given that at the time foundation trusts are "cut free"
(their term) from strategic health authorities the WDC will be fully
integrated with those StHAs. The answer was that education and research
will continue "as before". I am concerned that the development of local
working together and moves to "seamless" library services for areas
could be disrupted by foundation trust developments, and I wonder if
anyone else has been looking at these?
There are so many questions to be addressed in the incredibly speedy
moves to develop foundation trusts, and education and development
funding doesn't seem to have been looked at very much yet.
Dorothy
Dorothy Halfhide
Library Information Services Manager
Peterborough Hospitals NHS Trust
Laxton Library
PGMC
Thorpe Road
Peterborough
PE3 6DA
01733 874662
Fax 01733 875848 from 6 January 2003
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