15 January 2021

We want to provide an update following the communication before Christmas about the transfer dates for staff and services to Mersey Care and Greater Manchester Mental Health (GMMH).

The Transaction Board made the decision to extend the target date for the transfer of Cheshire and Merseyside staff and services to Mersey Care to 1 July to allow extra time to complete governance processes.

Work to determine how finances will be split between Mersey Care and GMMH has been completed sooner than expected. This means it may be possible to achieve an earlier target date for transfer. This will not be before 1 April.

We are awaiting a response from NHS England/Improvement to confirm whether they would support an earlier transfer date. As soon as we receive this, we will be able to confirm what the target date will be.

In the meantime, workstream leads have been asked to review their plans and confirm which tasks must be completed for day one and pull out all the stops to complete these as soon as possible so we would be ready for an earlier transfer if approved.

There is no change to the target date for Wigan, Bolton and Greater Manchester staff and services which will transfer to GMMH on 1 April.

We know there may be some uncertainty for some staff, particularly those working in corporate and Trust-wide services. Work is taking place to align staff to the two organisations and we hope to begin formal consultation with all staff at the end of January with regards to which organisation you will transfer to. All staff will TUPE transfer to either Mersey Care or GMMH. More details will follow.

If you have any questions about the future of our organisation, please visit the FAQs on StaffZone in the first instance or email: ourfuture@nwbh.nhs.uk