Big changes planned for how Northamptonshire’s two acute hospitals operate

Under par hospitals plan to revolutionise services and become centres of excellence for cancer and cardiac care, as current way of working is not sustainable

By Sarah Ward

Last year the two trusts that run the general hospitals at Kettering and Northampton joined to form a single group - the Northamptonshire University Hospitals Group.

Now clinicians have come up with a new plan which they hope will turn around the performance of the hospitals and provide a better service for patients across the county.

They aim to create a cancer centre of excellence in Northampton, bringing in robotic technology to perform operations and create a cardiac centre in Kettering.

But against a backdrop of the pandemic, existing below par services, a huge financial deficit, recruitment problems and an ambitious rebuild on the existing site in Kettering, is it an achievable challenge, or could this plan prove to be a step too far?

The current situation

Both generals at Kettering and Northampton are currently not good enough according to watchdog the Care Quality Commission. Both are rated as ‘requiring improvement’ and their latest inspections highlighted a number o…