No longer financially viable, Trafford Healthcare NHS Trust seeks bids from neighbouring trusts or private healthcare
On July 5 1948, the then health secretary, Nye Bevan, visited Trafford's Park hospital – now Trafford general. He looked on as a 13-year-old girl became the first patient to benefit from free and comprehensive medical treatment under the National Health Service.
Now the hospital, which has just 280 inpatient beds, has admitted it is financially unviable and has formally offered itself for acquisition, worsening an already bad day for the current health secretary, Andrew Lansley, after the Royal College of Nursing's vote of no confidence in his changes to the NHS.
So far, Trafford Healthcare NHS Trust has sought bids only from independently run foundation trusts. It hopes to link with a neighbouring trust. However, it has said that it would move to an open market tender by late summer if no suitable NHS organisation can be identified.
There are fears that, if it failed to identify a suitable bidder, Trafford general would have to follow the path of Hinchingbrooke, the NHS hospital in Cambridgeshire, which is due to be taken over by Circle, a private hospital group.
The Trafford trust, which has a turnover of £97m, will break even in the financial year 2011-12 only if it receives £16.8m in support from regional NHS coffers.
Such support has not yet been agreed and the prospectus shows the trust's cashflow over the last four years has been dependent on loans of £13.3m from the Department of Health.
With an income less than half the average for NHS hospital trusts, Trafford is viewed as too small to be financially viable in its current state. Commissioning plans would mean it would treat fewer than 50 patients a year in some medical areas by 2016.
Trafford's saving grace could be the three high-performing trusts within a five-mile radius, raising the prospect that its neighbours could absord its patients.
Ron Calvert, the Trafford trust's chief executive, insisted a complete closure of its three hospital sites was not on the agenda: "Clearly something has to change because we are not operating at a scale that means we can continue as we are."
Calvert added that the main priority in looking for a partner is ensuring that people in Trafford can continue to access excellent and appropriate health services, "even though we are too small to remain viable in our own right".
Circle Healthcare said it would "love" to run the trust.