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Section 56A: Acquisitions

National Health Service Act 2006 · 2006 c. 41View on legislation.gov.uk

Part 2: Health service bodies — Chapter 5: NHS foundation trusts

An application may be made jointly by—

an NHS foundation trust (A), and
another NHS foundation trust or an NHS trust established under section 25 (B),

to NHS England for the acquisition by A of B.

An application under this section may be made only with the approval of more than half of the members of the council of governors of each applicant (that is an NHS foundation trust).

The application must—

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
be accompanied by a copy of the proposed constitution of A, amended on the assumption that A acquires B.

NHS England must grant the application if—

it is satisfied that such steps as are necessary to prepare for the acquisition have been taken, and
the Secretary of State approves the grant of the application,

and must otherwise refuse the application.

Where NHS England proposes to grant the application, it may by order make provision for the transfer of employees of B to A on the grant of the application.

On the grant of the application, the proposed constitution has effect, but where a person who is specified as a director of A in the constitution has yet to be appointed as such, the directors of A may exercise that person's functions under the constitution.

About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.