The Boards of Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (HUTH) and Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust (NLAG) have agreed the future direction for the two organisations following the conclusion of Humber Health Partnership’s organisational review.
The decision means that, over time, HUTH and NLAG will move away from the current Group structure, known as Humber Health Partnership, and operate as two separate trusts.
Each trust will have distinct Board and executive arrangements, while continuing to collaborate formally where this benefits patients and services.
Today’s decision does not change patient care or how patients access services. Patients should continue to access care in the same way, at the same hospitals and through the same routes as they do now.
Work will now begin to develop the detailed arrangements needed to support the transition.
The review has been supported by NHS England through the Intensive Recovery Programme, with independent input from Carnall Farrar.
Since autumn 2025, clinicians and colleagues across the Partnership have been working together to build a clearer and more honest understanding of the long-standing challenges affecting the two organisations.
This work led to the Partnership’s first clinically led Improvement Plan, published in January, which brought together a shared picture of the long-standing operational, workforce and structural challenges affecting HUTH and NLAG and the priorities required to support sustained improvement.
The organisational review was the next stage in that improvement journey. It considered whether the current Group structure provided the right foundation for high-quality care, clearer accountability, clinical and financial sustainability and long-term improvement.
The Boards have agreed the review’s recommendation because HUTH and NLAG predominantly serve distinct populations and local health and care systems. Urgent and emergency care flows are largely local, while each trust works with different local authorities, community and mental health providers, ambulance services and place-based partners.
The review found that separate arrangements would provide a stronger basis for each organisation to focus on the needs of its population, its local partnerships and its improvement priorities.
The Boards’ decision does not mean an end to collaboration between HUTH and NLAG.
Clinical networks, shared learning, specialist support and patient pathways across the Humber will continue to be important.
Where clinical services need to operate across the region’s wider 1.8 million population to support recruitment, retention and sustainable patient care, formal commissioner-led arrangements will be developed, with the Integrated Care Board (ICB) leading that commissioning work.
Shared non-clinical services and functions may also continue to operate across both trusts where this provides the best service and value.
Alan Downey, Chair of Humber Health Partnership, said: “The purpose of this review has never been to pursue organisational change for its own sake.
“It has been to look honestly at the evidence and identify the arrangements most likely to support patients, colleagues and sustainable services over the longer term.
“The review’s outcome shows that the challenges reflected in our performance and in the external scrutiny of both trusts are symptoms of deeper underlying issues – including the way the Group was originally conceived and established in the first half of the decade, the historic challenges facing both trusts before its formation, and long-standing pressures across the wider health and care system.
“It has found that these challenges are structural, not simply operational, and that HUTH and NLAG should operate as two separate trusts rather than through the current Group structure, while continuing to work together where that benefits patients and services. That is why the Boards have accepted its recommendation.
“There is now important work to do to develop the detailed arrangements and ensure that any transition is carefully planned.”
Lyn Simpson, Group Chief Executive of Humber Health Partnership, said: “Since last autumn, colleagues across HUTH and NLAG have helped build a much clearer and more honest understanding of the long-standing challenges we need to address.
“That work led to our clinically led Improvement Plan and enabled us to look openly at whether the current organisational structure gives both trusts the best basis for sustained improvement.
“The Boards’ decision recognises that our two trusts serve distinct populations and local systems.
“But it is not a retreat from collaboration and it is not a return to the past. We must retain and strengthen the clinical networks, specialist support, shared learning and patient pathways that benefit from working across a wider geography.
“Change will not happen overnight. We will now work through the detail carefully, with colleagues and partners, and the transition will be properly planned and timetabled.
“Today’s decision does not change patient care or how patients access services. Patients should continue to access care in the same way, at the same hospitals and through the same routes as they do now.”
The next phase of work will focus on the detailed organisational, governance and collaborative arrangements for the two trusts, while ensuring services continue to improve and develop throughout the transition.