Two north London hospital trusts are set to merge by the start of next year.

Camden Council’s health and adult social care scrutiny committee was told last week that the case to combine Royal Free London (RFL) NHS Foundation with North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust was completed in July.

RFL CEO Pete Landstrom said that this has now been put to NHS England for final approval.

He added: “We believe the merger will be very helpful in progressing and addressing the challenges we have as a local population and to ensure we deliver the best possible and equitable care.”

Subject to NHS England’s approval in the autumn, the trusts hope to merge formally by January 1, 2025, Mr Landstrom said.

Hopes are riding on the merger delivering vital benefits to both hospitals, including reduced waiting times, new treatments and the sharing of medical research.

RFL and North Middlesex have collaborated for many years, first as clinical partners in 2017 and then as formal partners in 2021.

In January, they announced they were exploring the possibility of a merger.

Committee member Cllr Anna Burrage pressed Landstrom on how the merger would help improve both trusts, in light of their respective Care Quality Commission (CQC) reports published last year.

In 2023, the CQC gave both trusts 'requires improvement' ratings based on safety, responsiveness and leadership.

“Sometimes doing a merger like this is a distraction from actually getting on with the job that needs to be done, which is an improvement of service and care provision,” Cllr Burrage said.

She also asked if there were future plans for further integrations of other trusts.

Mr Landstrom acknowledged the concern but said bosses were focused on patient care, improvement and quality services.

He said: “One of the biggest risks of anything like this is, absolutely, that it becomes a distraction.

“The way that we’re set up means with a CEO and local executive team at each hospital means that there will be maintained focus on the delivery and improvement of core services.

“My role is to ensure we are helping, supporting, sharing learning, making the best use of our resources and expertise, but really empowering those local teams to focus and improve their services.”

He confirmed there were no plans to integrate other bodies into the Royal Free Group, and stressed the priority of local presence and representation.