Issue 12
Cathy Purt
An interview with Cathy Purt, Senior Independent Director and Non Executive Director (NED) at ShropCom and Teresa Boughey, Senior Independent Director and NED at SaTH, about the progress we are making and the opportunities for colleagues to get involved in the ongoing conversation
Planning our future Last month we brought together c.130 staff from across our organisations to reflect on what we want our Group to achieve and our culture to feel like. It was a really positive event with a lot of energy and ideas in the room. We were pleased to welcome Daren Fradgley from Lincolnshire Group to share their experiences and the improvements they have made for patients. Please take a few moments to read the slides from the event and the impressive work happening in Lincs to improve the UEC pathway and accelerate services closer to home. Colleagues had the opportunity to meet their counterparts and share ideas on our medium term plans and how we build a listening and compassionate culture. Thank you to everyone who took part. We will be sharing more engagement opportunities in 2026 and encourage everyone to get involved. You can view the slides here.
Teresa Boughey
Our progress Cathy: With a few months to go, NHS England have given their full support to us formalising our Group by April. In a letter to our two trusts, they said that the Group model offers a strategic advantage by strengthening collaboration and alignment. Teresa: As expected, they highlight the importance of us maintaining operational continuity and our transformation priorities. They also stress the importance of maintaining our active engagement throughout the transition to Group. These are views we share, and our Transition Committee is working hard to ensure 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. A Transition Committee has been established with a number of workstreams: Governance Board structure Communications and engagement Group operating and delivery model HR/workforce Culture and Organisational Development Strategy and planning Finance and performance Digital Teresa: Chaired by Andrew Morgan, Group Chair, the Committee includes Group CEO, Jo Williams, and Non-Executives and Executives from both trusts. The Committee will lead the preparations and governance arrangements for formalising our Group by April 2026. We know not everything will 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 engage with colleagues to get this right for our communities and colleagues. Cathy: I am proud to be the Co-chair of our new People Committee in Common, alongside Teresa. I believe if we look after our staff we will deliver the best care for patients. I voted to become a Group, because I can see the fantastic opportunities for our workforce. ShropCom is a friendly and community-orientated Trust with a lot to offer. Working more closely with the scale of SaTH, will help us to grow our training and development offer together. I am especially excited about the opportunities to offer rotations in both SaTH and ShropCom. We both have diverse portfolios and together can offer really attractive placements.
Teresa: The inaugural Group People Committee met in November, which is an important milestone in our journey. People are at the heart of both our organisations, and we were proud and excited to be the first Board Assurance committee to formally come together under the new Group arrangements. The meeting highlighted a strong appetite to collaborate more closely and to strengthen alignment in how we support our people, improve ways of working, and ultimately enhance patient care and experience. It is also genuinely exciting to begin learning from each other and to start identifying where we can take the best from each organisation to support our shared ambitions. Cathy: Both trusts have a willingness to make the Group work and we don’t underestimate the work ahead before April. We need to get to know one another and build a shared understanding. It is clear from our first meeting we have many shared priorities and challenges, including staff wellbeing, retention and demands on our services. We also have important differences and as NEDs, in both trusts, we are all in agreement that we need to design a Group that will best meet our local needs. In the meantime, I know the next few months will be tough on colleagues in both organisations. As a shared People Committee, we won’t lose sight of this and we’re committed to doing everything we can to support you this Winter and long-term work with you to design a supportive, inclusive and compassionate culture. These are themes staff in both trusts asked us to prioritise and this will be our focus.
“Both trusts have a willingness to make the Group work and we don’t underestimate the work ahead before April. We need to get to know one another and build a shared understanding.”
Have your say on how we move forward We want things to be better, not just different. The Transition Committee can help put the processes and leadership in place, but it is our colleagues who have the ideas and know their services best that will realise the benefits.
Two trusts, one voice
Collaboration
To help shape our future identity, we’re launching an engagement survey to gather your views for the new Group name. We know our name needs to reflect our geography, our purpose and our NHS status. We have a diverse geography so it would be a very long name if we were to include all locations. We have aimed to keep it simple and like other organisations reflect that our core catchment is Shropshire and Telford. We won't lose sight that we have teams across other areas, including Dudley and Mid Wales. We also want a name that will be futureproof.
To be a success we need collaboration to start between our teams, at a local level.
We’ve already started the conversation at our Better Together events, where colleagues from across both organisations have shared their thoughts. These initial ideas were reviewed by our Transition Committee and helped us develop our proposed names. Now it’s your turn to get involved. Please complete the short survey here. The closing date for the survey is Tuesday 20 January 2026.
We know a number of teams are already making contact and having early conversations about the opportunities to work together. This will look and feel different in each team - there is no one way. Operational Leads, Finance Teams and Communications have already held meetings to discuss new ways of working. If you would like support to connect with your colleagues, please do email us at shropcom.communications@nhs.net or sath.commsteam@nhs.net. We know we have many differences, but we are one NHS. It is the diversity that the two trusts bring that will help us to take forward the excellence that exists in both trusts. We all need to stay open, curious and respectful and live by our NHS values as we build a shared understanding.
Your feedback is vital in creating a name that unites us and sets the tone for the future. We know we need to start this conversation now to complete the necessary engagement processes by April 2026. Thank you for taking part.
Keep up to date - visit the Better Together page on the intranet