The other trusts are resisting taking over the liabilities associated with these hospitals, and North Manchester is said to require rebuilding at a cost of around £500 million.

The new organisation, the Northern Care Alliance NHS Group would have 17,000 staff, and a combined operating budget of £1.3bn covering Oldham, Bury and Rochdale, and Salford.

[8] In April 2019, Raj Jain became chief executive of Northern Care Alliance NHS Group and of Pennine Acute Trust.

[9] The Alliance is Greater Manchester’s first Global Digital Exemplar Fast Follower organisation, investing £10 million in digital technology for patient care systems across its hospitals in Bury, Oldham, Rochdale and North Manchester which will replicate projects already deployed at the Salford trust, including an online appointment management system for patients.

[11] The trust was highly commended in the progressive research culture category at the Health Service Journal Awards 2012 and has seen a large increase in recruitment to clinical trials.

[17] In 2016/2017, it had 786 cases where patients waited more than 12 hours to be admitted to a ward, about a quarter of the total for England, mostly at North Manchester General Hospital.