THE merger between Colchester General and Ipswich hospitals is imminent.

The two organisations are due to join this July, subject to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s approval, and will become the biggest NHS trust in East Anglia.

Nick Hulme, chief executive of the two trusts, will head up the new one. He says it is a positive move.

The crux, he says, of improving both hospitals is communication and using time more carefully.

“I have been working with the executive team to see how much time we waste,” he said.

“When I look at complaints and people talk to me about bad experiences, a lot of it does come down to time wasted, perhaps through lack of communication.

“It is the same message from staff, wasting time on systems.”

“What upsets people is the whole pathway from being referred by their GP or pitching up in Accident and Emergency, it just doesn’t work very well, we don’t communicate very well, we don’t make the signage very clear.

“Patients might have had to park up, already had an appointment cancelled a couple of times, they are already cheesed off.

“We want to see where we can make that system or process easier.”

Time is precious and Mr Hulme says improving communication could save it for everyone.

Technology, including a health app, and more use of texts and emails will play a key role in trying to reduce paperwork and unnecessary visits made by patients to hospital.

Mr Hulme expects progress within the next two years.

“Hospital isn’t the best place for you to be unless there is a clinical need”, he said.

But when it comes to the specifics, on any changes where treatment is given, Mr Hulme won’t be drawn on revealing too much detail - yet.

Dr Barbara Buckley, the trust’s managing director, is looking at specialties at Colchester and Ipswich and assessing how they work.

She is trying to ascertain where, if any, changes should be made.

Dr Buckley will produce a clinical strategy by the end of this year which may, or may not, include a couple of significant changes.

Mr Hulme insists nothing will take place without a full public consultation.

Once the strategy is finalised, some of the £69 million Government cash awarded to the trust will be spent on improving elective day care facilities, inpatient facilities and operating theatres.

“I don’t want people to get worried and wouldn’t want to pre-empt any work Barbara has done,” Mr Hulme says.

Part of the plan is for clinical staff to work across the two sites but as one clinical team. Depending on availability, it could mean a patient in one town is seen at the other town’s hospital but only if it was the most sensible option.

The merger does mean patients will share one waiting list but Mr Hulme says if waiting times get longer, it will be the increasing population size which is to blame.

“We will not change any waiting times as a result of the merger but there are more demands in terms of capacity of people we are treating,” he says.

And that is where technology looks set to play a more significant part.

Colchester and Ipswich hospitals each have 1,000 outpatients a day.

Mr Hulme says: “Some patients will say ‘We don’t really know why we came here, it was just a quick chat with a doctor that could have happened over phone or Skype.

“We have to be careful, obviously, as if someone’s results were not fine it would have to be done face-to-face but we are looking at the organisation slightly differently.”

Mr Hulme envisages a mobile phone app could mean patients use their fingerprint to access it and it would contain all letters and appointment information.

“It is not going to be right for everybody because there are still people who don’t want to use technology but we need to give people a choice,” he says.

The hospital has been working with Essex University students to develop the sort of apps he has in mind.

While he admits some patients might feel “twitchy” about their personal health details being accessible via a phone, he insisted the security level would be like that expected from a banking app.

Patients might receive more communication via text or email too as the new trust tries to move towards saving paperwork costs.

He said £470,000 was spent on postage at Ipswich Hospital last year.

“That’s one simple example – even if we save half that amount that would allow us to invest in frontline staff,” he adds.

Speeding up communication isn’t the only way Mr Hulme hopes to cut down on patient hospital trips. Improving community facilities will be another.

Last month the Government announced a £15 million investment on a new clinical service hub for Clacton as well as a further £3 million for Fryatt Hospital in Harwich.

A big part of important hospital attendances is elective surgery.

So under the new trust, what can a patient needing an elective procedure, expect?

Good news, it seems.

“I am hoping if you can separate elective care from the emergency work we can reduce the frequency of cancelled operations,” says Mr Hulme.

Bosses have categorically insisted there will continue to be a 24/7 service on both sites for accident and emergency, including acute medicine, emergency surgery, emergency gynaecology, emergency paediatrics and obstetric maternity.

Ipswich and Colchester would actually be at risk of losing some services, such as radiotherapy, if they stayed separate.

Patients are already travelling between the two sites for certain procedures. Spinal surgery is centralised at Ipswich, and vascular operations at Colchester.

There are also ambitions to carry out more research at the hospitals, with every patient offered the chance to enter a clinical trial.

The move is expected to see the hospitals break even financially within five years by saving £22million in running costs.

Mr Hulme has said the merger process has cost less than £1million – significantly less than other organisations – by utilising the expertise of existing staff.

When the new trust forms it will employ nearly 10,000 staff to look after more than 750,000 people. NHS regulators will have to approve the merger before being formally agreed to by health secretary Jeremy Hunt. Mr Hulme adds: “The main thing I hope we have done is listen to what patients get frustrated about.”