HEALTH boss Stephen Eames says he is not getting any extra money for expanding his role to oversee even more services.

Already chief executive of north Cumbria's hospitals, he is now extending that to cover the Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust - which runs community and mental health services countywide.

But Mr Eames insisted that being chief executive of two organisations will not result in him being paid two salaries.

"There is no change in my salary as a result of these changes. I think that's entirely appropriate in the world we live in," he said.

Mr Eames said being chief executive for both the Cumbria Partnership and North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust - which runs the West Cumberland Hospital and Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle - will allow him to build on the work he has already been doing to join up services.

He stressed it is not a formal merger of the trusts, although he does plan to put in place a single management team for both.

There are also no redundancies on the cards as they look to combine some support services across both of the trusts, he added.

And Mr Eames insists that although he is coming from a north Cumbrian trust, he would not lose sight of issues in the south.

He said: "It's not just about what I do but about how that whole team operates.

"I've done this sort of job many times over the years. The key is how you organise your support.

"Actually I expect, by coming together, it will bring down a lot of barriers that were there before.

"I do not think there will be any jobs lost but I think we will be able to save money by bringing teams together."

In relation to south Cumbria, he said there is already a plan to move about 500 community health services - including district nurses and therapists - from the Cumbria Partnership into the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay, which runs Furness General Hospital in Barrow.

He explained: "There's already an agreed change, currently taking its course, that will see community services transfer to Morecambe Bay. That's under way.

"The other stuff is countywide - mental health, learning disability services, integrated children's services and some specialist teams such as diabetes. We are keeping that intact.

"We are working with our staff about how best to organise these long term. But I wouldn't anticipate any major changes in these services between now and April 2019."

The wider vision for the health service nationally is to create Accountable Care Systems, joining up the NHS and social care. He said some of these services will form a key part of that.

Mr Eames added: "This is not a merger. Even if we wanted to merge, we can't, because we haven't got the rules to govern that at the moment.

"This is about collaboration. We think together we can make services better for patients and carers than they are by being apart.

"It's an important step in accountable care, bringing services together as one. We are on track to do that.

"It's happening up and down England but we are among the eight or nine market leaders, for want of a better word, in this field."

Although he initially came to Cumbria on an interim basis, Mr Eames said he has no plans to leave any time soon.

He said: "It's an open-ended arrangement. There is no end point. There's a big job to do and I am here to do it."

He said his priorities now are to improve the quality of care across all services; move both trusts from 'requires improvement' to 'good' in the national quality ratings; implementing the outcomes of the Success Regime consultation in north Cumbria; and tackling recruitment issues in acute, community and mental health services countywide.

Mr Eames said there was good news on that front, with recent appointments meaning both paediatrics and A&E at the West Cumberland Hospital will soon have a full complement of consultants.

He will also look at how to better integrate mental health and physical health services across the Cumbria-wide patch.

NORTH/WEST CUMBRIA

– He will head both North Cumbria University Hospitals and Cumbria Partnership trusts, but won't get two salaries

– He will appoint a new executive management team to run both trusts and looking to combine some support services

– Insists there will be no redundancies as a result

– Longer term plan is to join up NHS and social care

– Priorities are to improve care, secure 'good' ratings for both trusts, tackle recruitment issues

– Remains committed to implementing the Success Regime plans for paediatrics, maternity, stroke and other services

SOUTH CUMBRIA

– Pushing ahead with a plan to move community health staff from the Cumbria Partnership into the Morecambe Bay trust

– This will affect about 500 district nurses, therapists and others

– Mental health, learning disability, children's health and some specialist community services will continue to run countywide

– No major changes expected in these until April 2019

– Looking at how to best integrate mental health and physical health services across the entire Cumbrian footprint