Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust brings together Solent NHS Trust and Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, as well as the community, mental health and learning disability services previously provided by Isle of Wight NHS Trust and the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services previously provided in Hampshire by Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.

Ron Shields, chief executive of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, said: ‘This is an exciting day for the NHS in Hampshire and Isle of Wight and the culmination of many years of hard work. Taking the best from all of the organisations involved provides a stronger foundation from which to deliver better, more joined up care for local people, wherever they live.'

The new trust was brought about following a review in 2022 of local community, mental health and learning disability services led by NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight. 

Maggie MacIsaac, chief executive of NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight said: ‘The launch of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare is a milestone in our ambition to improve services, remove unwarranted variation and to better join up care across Hampshire and Isle of Wight. Significant efforts by many people have helped us to reach this point, and we thank everyone involved for all that they are doing to improve health outcomes for our population now and in the future.  

‘It is now important that we use this opportunity to shift towards more proactive and preventative care, right in the heart of people's communities, and the work of all of the teams in this trust will be pivotal towards achieving that aim.'