GREAT Western Hospital will take over the running of adult community health services from SEQOL as of February next year after a deal was announced today.

Earlier this year, SEQOL was given 12 months’ notice on their contract and a tendering process was launched to identify a suitable alternative provider.

Delivery of the new contract, which covers a wide range of services in Swindon and Shrivenham, will commence will run for a period of up to 5 years.

It is thought to be worth about £17.5 million a year.

Social work and occupational therapy services, some of which were provided by SEQOL previously, are expected to return to Swindon Borough Council.

Nicki Millin, of the Swindon Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “In 2015 the CCG and the council started a programme of engagement, review and soft market testing of adult community services whereby both organisations shared their vision for a new service model focusing on prevention, self-care, urgent care and discharge from hospital.

“Following the formal procurement process the decision was made to formally award the contract for adult community health services to Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

“I would like to take the opportunity to thank all the staff at SEQOL for their hard work and dedication in providing community services to the people of Swindon.”

Staff from SEQOL are expected to transfer to the GWH Trust as the services move across.

Nerissa Vaughan, GWH Trust chief executive, said: “Having a single provider of both acute and community healthcare is great news for Swindon as it means we can join services together to make things easier for patients, regardless of whether they are being cared for in hospital, in their own home or elsewhere.

“It also puts us in a unique position to be able to remove organisational barriers, which all too often cause delays in the healthcare system, and use the knowledge of new staff and patients to help us look at how we can deliver services differently in the future.”

This announcement comes at the end of a week which has seen speculation, stemming from the decision to shut out the press and the public from a recent discussion at Cabinet, that SEQOL was in some financial difficulty.

A spokesperson for SEQOL said: “As is to be expected in the final year of any contract, we are currently in discussions with our commissioners Swindon Borough Council and the Swindon Clinical Commissioning Group about how the care and support of Swindon residents can best be delivered in the future.

“The adult health and social care landscape nationally and locally is under financial pressure, as demand for services increases and available budgets diminish, and that is a challenge that we are all working together to meet.”

The GWH Trust has also had its share of financial concern, being rated towards the lower end of the financial risk scale with a red governance rating on the traffic light system operated by the NHS improvement department.

The trust remains subject to enforcement action as a result of breaching financial governance standards.