Shaping a Healthier Future is the programme to reshape hospital and out of hospital health and care services in North West London. North West London has a growing and ageing population, and at present, specialist care is too thinly spread over too many sites and some facilities are inadequate.

A major public consultation on the proposed changes was carried out in 2012. In 2013, the Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt, following an appeal and on the basis of the advice from the Independent Reconfiguration Panel, agreed that changes to NHS services in North West London should proceed. He specifically recommended that changes to Hammersmith and Central Middlesex Hospitals happen as quickly as practicable.

The NHS in North West London implemented the changes to these A&Es in September 2014. In November 2014 the regional tripartite (NHS England, Monitor and NHS TDA) commissioned an external review to identify how the changes to accident and emergency services had impacted performance across all A&Es in NW London and to see if any lessons can be learned for similar changes in future.

This analysis was completed in the Spring 2015 and informed the content of the final report which was published in July.