A NEW era for York Hospital will begin on Sunday as the trust is merged with Scarborough.

The move comes after bosses at troubled Scarborough Hospital admitted they would be unable to meet the standards required to gain foundation trust status, which would have given the trust more say over its own affairs and finances.

Despite past performance and infection control problems at Scarborough, Patrick Crowley, chief executive, of York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said the merger would not drive down standards in York.

He said: “Scarborough was not sustainable as a stand alone organisation and in October 2010 approached York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust to form a partnership.

“York Trust was invited to consider formally acquiring Scarborough Trust, and after careful consideration by the Board of Directors, decided to proceed with the acquisition.”

He said: “Scarborough has made significant recent progress in performance, particularly around infection control. Staff in both organisations are dedicated to improving services for patients, and by becoming a single organisation we can drive up standards right across the patch.”

The merger comes at a challenging time for the NHS in our region as NHS North Yorkshire and York PCT, the organisation which pays York Hospital to provide medical care, announced it faced an estimated £19million deficit.

Mr Crowley said: “We are aware that the PCT has posted a £19m deficit plan. At all stages of development of the PCT’s plan, the PCT has worked with its provider Trusts. We continue to work with the PCT on the development of appropriate and sustainable means of managing the North Yorkshire healthcare resource within the available funding.

“Becoming a single organisation means we have opportunities to make improvements that would not have been available if we had remained as separate trusts.”