Stakeholder newsletter
Designing our future: Working together as a Group
We wanted to share an update with you on the Boards of Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust (ShropCom) and The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) formalising a Group model
In December 2025 NHS England gave us their full support to formalise our Group by April and we are working to have our new Board structure in place by April 2026. We are currently recruiting to a permanent Group Chief Nurse, working across both organisations This is a critical role for both trusts, driving forward our individual and shared quality and improvement priorities
We are determined that our focus remains on patient safety and supporting everyone through a challenging Winter We won't let Group be a distraction, but equally we will make progress in bringing about benefits for patients and colleagues
In December 2025 NHS England gave us their full support to formalise our Group by April.
We know not everything needs to be in place for April and 2026-27 will be an important transition year There is a lot of work to do and we want to take the time to get this right for our communities and colleagues Continued on page 2
provide more diagnostic and therapy services in the community and growing our urgent and emergency care and neighbourhoods offer We are also having conversations about how we can do things once, or build resilience in some of our smaller teams It is early days, but already we are seeing exciting ideas coming through We will continue to share more throughout our transition year and will want to listen to our communities as we seek to improve the care we provide
How we will develop our Group
Preparation: 2025/26
One Board structure
Develop shared objectives
Shared People Committee
April 26: formally a Group
Shared strategy
More shared committees
Create vision and values
Shared services, where we can
Care closer to home - accelerating neighbourhood working
Sustainable and financial balance
Deliver Hospitals Transformation Programme
Digital transformation
Continue to engage patients, communities, partners and staff
What it will mean for our patients
More care and resources in the community, supported by two thriving acute hospitals
Better pathways for patients across the system
Increased focus on prevention and tackling inequalities through neighbourhood working
What it will mean for our staff
Modern ways of working with the right tools and environment
More health and wellbeing support
A great place to work –everyone has a voice and is valued
What it will mean for our partners
A stronger, more unified partner in the system
Combined expertise to support innovation
Improved communication and relationship building
More resilient infrastructure supporting system priorities
The benefits: What working together looks like
Urgent and emergency care
Digital transformation
Together, ShropCom and SaTH work alongside each other to improve the urgent and emergency care pathway
The Virtual Ward allows patients to get care safely and conveniently in the place they call home, rather than in hospital
Jodi Ecclestone is a patient on the Virtual Ward She said: “It was life-changing, both physically and mentally You have to stop your life for your illness – whereas this Virtual Ward has enabled me to carry on. ”
We are using the Virtual Ward more than ever before and are maximising its usage Our new winter services, including front door triage in our emergency departments and an enhanced community response service, are making a difference this winter
The ShropCom and SaTH digital teams are working together to look at how we can share systems and records, giving our teams the tools they need
It is early days, but the teams are engaging colleagues, sharing expertise and planning for the future.
Some of this will take time, but it is great to see teams having conversations about what is possible this year, in 12 months and over five years as we deliver our medium-term plans
Over recent months, our digital teams have strengthened collaboration, focusing on opportunities that improve patient care, enhance staff experience, and deliver better value for our organisations
A message from Jo Williams, Group Chief Executive
We want things to be better, not just different We are one NHS and it is the diversity that the two trusts bring that will help us to take forward the excellence that exists in both trusts Better care and a better experience will come from working more closely together.