THE Government has approved plans for NHS hospitals in the county to form a new ‘supertrust’ with Oxford University, it emerged last night.

The Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust would become one of the biggest healthcare providers in the country, employing 11,000 people and responsible for a budget of £750m.

The plan has been tabled in Parliament and the merger of all the county’s main hospitals is expected to go ahead on November 1.

It means the John Radcliffe, Horton and Churchill hospitals and the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre (NOC) will be pulled under one management umbrella.

All four hospitals will retain their current names and continue to provide a full range of services, with the university link-up expected to improve healthcare.

Union bosses said the merger guaranteed the future of the NOC, although cuts to management and back office staff are expected.

Sir Jonathan Michael, chief executive of the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “The main purpose of the merger is to deliver better patient care.

“By integrating our trusts we will be better placed to improve care pathways and ensure patients receive access to the best treatments available.”

The move would create a single board and management team.

Last year when the Oxford Mail revealed the merger idea, NOC chief executive Jan Fowler said there would be scope for savings and reductions in the workforce, with any rationalisation likely to impact on corporate, finance and human resources departments.

Staff have been told: “Reducing overlap and duplication of support functions and activities will help the merged organisation meet the challenge of delivering high-quality care as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible in an environment in which resources are increasingly constrained.”

It is not yet clear how many people would be affected by the move.

The trust would become one of the biggest in the country.

University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust employs 6,000 people with a budget of £535m, Manchester employs 10,000 people with a £665m budget, while Leeds has 13,000 staff and an annual spend of £1.6bn.

Prof Andrew Hamilton, vice-chancellor of Oxford University, said: “The university and the hospitals have long had a close relationship, which the new name for the merged trust reflects.

“With the joint working agreement between our organisations now coming into effect, we are determined to deliver a true health sciences partnership that provides high-quality healthcare for patients backed by the latest in world-leading medical research.”

It is hoped Oxford University’s global reputation should attract extra millions in grants and funding for clinical research, while boosting the trust’s ability to attract leading clinicians.

Meanwhile, it is claimed the merger would also provide more opportunities for joint training programmes and developing specialist services not widely available in the UK.

Ian McKendrick, from the Oxfordshire branch of the health workers’ union Unison, said: “We welcome the merger. It guarantees a future for the NOC, its staff and its services which would otherwise have been uncertain.

“But we fear that the Government’s proposed reforms could see the problems that faced the NOC revisiting Oxford hospitals on an altogether bigger scale.

“This is a step forward, but will not solve the bigger problems.”

Jan Fowler, chief executive of the NOC NHS Trust, said: “The benefits from bringing together our two organisations are real and long-lasting.”

The new trust follows an earlier unsuccessful bid by Oxford’s main hospitals to form a US-style academic supertrust with the university two year ago.