WEST Middlesex Hospital plans to team up with Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in its bid for foundation trust status.


The hospital, in Twickenham Road, Isleworth, today announced Chelsea and Westminster as its preferred bidder for a potential partnership.

Foundation trust status gives hospitals more freedom to decide how to deliver services and spend money, with a greater input from patients and staff.

Chelsea and Westminster became a foundation trust in 2006 and more than 14,000 patients, staff or members of the public are members, enabling them to have their say about how it is managed.

Both West Mid and Chelsea and Westminster are set to become major hospitals, with bigger A&E departments and other services, under major changes to the NHS in north-west London.

In a joint statement, West Mid's chief executive Dame Jacqueline Docherty and its chairman Tom Hayhoe said: "This is a significant step in securing a vibrant future for the West Middlesex site as a major provider of services to our local residents."

The two hospitals will work together to prepare a strategic outline case for foundation status to the NHS Trust Development Authority. If approved, they will then develop a full business case.