An update on our future plans from Professor Mark Freestone
Mark Freestone “I would like to take this opportunity to share an update with you on proposals for the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust to merge with another NHS provider, and what this might mean for you as students.
In the wider context of all NHS and academic organisations, the Tavistock and Portman is a very small and specialist Trust, meaning we lack the economies of scale of some other providers. To set us on a more sustainable footing for the future, we have therefore been exploring a merger which would help us to retain and grow our pioneering clinical, educational and research work. We have been clear that any merger should allow us to continue to be a leader in mental health care and education and to make a meaningful difference to people’s lives.
I am pleased to report that we are working closely with Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL), in partnership with University College London (UCL) and Camden Council on a merger proposal. NHS London have agreed to support this, and we are now exploring the process from here.
Throughout this process, our ambition continues to be improving educational outcomes for students and delivering the next generation of talented clinicians, social workers, nurses, teachers, consultants and many other professionals. We want to support the national drive for preventative care in the community by developing a diverse workforce of mental health practitioners to work in, and among, our local populations. We are working to make sure that our offering is sustainable, and that it will strengthen the integration of clinical, education and research teams within the Tavistock and Portman.
For you as our students, it’s important to note that this change should make very little difference to your day-to-day experience. We are committed to continuing to use the Tavistock Centre to host our education, training and clinical services. Our relationships with the University of Essex and the University of East London to validate our degrees would also not change because of a merger with another organisation: we would seek to simply transfer the delivery of degrees over to our new, combined Trust under the same terms of University validation.
For decades, our work has helped to shape how we see ourselves, as individuals and as a society. Much thinking that has entered the mainstream has emerged from our challenging interdisciplinary research and practice. We believe that a merger will help us to retain and grow the best of what we offer, providing the foundation for innovation and further improving both the care we provide to our patients and communities, and the education we deliver to our students and trainees.
I hope this update is welcome and informative for you all, and I will continue to update you as things progress through our next student newsletter and upcoming Dean’s Forum, where you will be welcome to ask me questions about this process.”
Professor Mark Freestone
Dean of Postgraduate Studies and Chief Education and Training Officer