The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has found that the merger between Derby Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust and Burton Hospitals Foundation Trust is expected to result in substantial patient benefits, and that these outweigh any potential competition concerns that may arise as a result of the merger.

The 2 trusts provide services predominantly in the Derbyshire and East Staffordshire area and the hospitals they operate overlap across a number of healthcare services. Following the merger, the CMA found that patients would have less choice for some services, potentially reducing the Trusts’ incentives to maintain or improve quality in these services.

However, it found that these concerns were outweighed by substantial expected benefits overall. Both trusts are resource constrained and the CMA has found that the merger will enable them to use their resources much more effectively for patients across a wide range of specialities.

In reaching its decision, the CMA placed significant weight on the advice of NHS Improvement, the regulator of NHS trusts, which strongly supports the merger.

This is the second time the CMA has cleared an NHS hospital merger on the basis of patient benefits at the ‘Phase 1’ stage, following its clearance of the merger of 2 Birmingham hospital trusts.

All information about this merger investigation is available on the CMA’s dedicated case page.