§ Mr. HoyleTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the impact of the introduction of foundation hospitals on Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Trust. [124902]
§ Mr. HuttonIn line with the principle of earned autonomy for the first wave of national health service foundation trusts, only acute and specialist NHS trusts which have attained three stars in the NHS performance ratings were eligible to apply.
Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has two stars, which means that it is not eligible to apply for NHS foundation trust status at present. However, with mechanisms, including the recently announced improvement programme, in place to raise the performance of all NHS trusts, it is expected that all NHS trusts will have the opportunity to apply for NHS foundation trust status within the next five years.