Brighton and Hove and West Sussex hospital trusts to merge

Two NHS hospital trusts are to formally merge after four years of working together under joint management.

The Western Sussex Hospitals and Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals trusts will merge to form the University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust.

The new trust will run hospitals in Chichester, Worthing, Shoreham, Haywards Health and Brighton and Hove.

The joint management contract had been due to expire on Wednesday.

Meetings of the boards of directors at both hospital trusts have agreed a formal application to merge should proceed.

Chief executive Dame Marianne Griffiths said: "We have seen the enormous advantages of working more closely together through the partnership we have built over the last four years."

In 2016 the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, which was in special measures for care and finances, was "taken over" by the Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which had been rated outstanding by the Care Quality Commission.

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