TO say hospital bosses are disappointed that the merger of the Royal Bournemouth and Poole looks set to be blocked is an understatement. Unless they can convince the Competition Commission in the next three weeks, the process will be at an end.
The consequences could be far-reaching, with Poole Hospital potentially entering administration and huge uncertainty over the future of services. When NHS England is warning that only radical thinking can save the NHS, the fact that competition should come before patient care and safety looks perverse in the extreme.
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