Performance under scrutiny

Here, the chairman of Sherwood Forest Hospitals Foundation Trust, Tracy Doucet, gives a statement responding to the Monitor report:

Looking ahead, we will be running our hospitals in an increasingly changing environment.

It is becoming more competitive, financially challenging and complex. Boards of all acute hospitals are in a similar position and face reducing incomes set against increasing costs.

Together with significant national and local efficiency requirements, the performance of all foundation trusts will be under close scrutiny.

Since being awarded foundation trust status in 2007 we have invested in developing services and facilities at Newark Hospital as well as our other sites; and last year saw further increases in the number of clinics available and in the number of day case patients seen at Newark.

In line with the rest of the country, the trust has faced up to the inevitability that complex, high-risk services will be delivered from larger specialist centres rather than smaller local units, a change driven primarily by quality and safety.

To guide us in this work we have formed a Newark Hospital strategy group to drive forward the plans.

Sherwood Forest Hospitals is evolving in order to meet these challenges by enlisting the support and pride of our community.

Obtaining this local support is, however, proving to be surprisingly difficult as conflicting issues compete for our energies.

I would urge the people of Newark to support the hospital and our commissioners by allowing us the time to address these changes appropriately.

Rest assured we remain absolutely focused on delivering a safe and high quality service for our patients.

We are determined to demonstrate to Monitor that we are able to achieve a sustainable financial future while continuing to deliver the safe and effective services of which we are proud.