The journey behind the making of the University
Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust
An NHS merger is a challenging proposition for any governance
team, especially when it has the potential to create one of the
largest NHS trusts in the country. This was the case for the two
teams of Derby Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Burton
Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which came together to form
University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust
(UHDB).
The two teams came together under my leadership where I
developed and implemented innovative governance solutions to ensure
the process was run and felt like a merger, although transacted
statutorily as an acquisition leading to the creation of one of the
largest NHS trusts with an annual turnover of nearly £800m
and employing 12,500 staff. ICSA recognised this and awarded UHDB
the ICSA Governance Project of the Year 2018 award, against
competitors Aviva, the Financial Reporting Council,
