Collaboration is the only way to go – health chief

LEADING NHS figure in the North East wants to see hospital trusts across the region work closer together and called historic "competition" policies "madness" Alison Marshall is set to step down as chair of the Gateshead Health NHS Trust at the end of this month.

- SAM VOLPE Health reporter

Speaking to The Journal, she reflected on six years in the job, along with several prior as a non-executive director at a different trust.

She said that one of the big changes she had experienced had been a move away from different NHS organisations being told to compete with each other.

However, she said her hope would be to, eventually, ensure that the care someone gets is the same no matter where in the country you are.

Closer collaboration across Tyneside, Alison said, was a step in the right direction and something she had advocated for, including through chairing the Great North Healthcare Alliance (GNHA).

"At that time the NHS was expected to encourage competition, rather than the sharing of best practice. I thought that was madness," she said.

"It was supposed to drive this market approach but I never felt it would work and we have thankfully moved on."