King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is an NHS trust in London, England. It is closely involved with Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, with which it shares its chair, Sir Hugh Taylor, its strategy director and IT director. It is assumed that the two organisations will eventually merge. History The newly formed King's Healthcare Trust took over management of the King's College Hospital in 1993. After being awarded foundation trust status, it became the King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in 2006. Performance In March 2015 it had a very large backlog of patients waiting more than 18 weeks for treatment. Monitor launched an investigation into the trust because of 'long standing problems' at Princess Royal University Hospital in March 2015. Financial problems are attributed to urgent improvements to the quality of care there, including increasing the nurse-to-patient ratio by recruiting 260 new nurses. In March 2018 it was the eleventh worst performer in A&E in England, with only 61.8% of patients in the main A&E seen within 4 hours. In February 2019 it had 331 patients waiting more than 52 weeks for treatment, mostly in orthopaedics and bariatric surgery, twice as many as any other trust in England. It plans to outsource some of the bariatric work to Princess Grace Hospital, run by HCA Healthcare and some to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Finance The trust expected to finish 2015–16 with a deficit of more than £65 million partly as a result of changes to the NHS tariff. It was said to be the least efficient hospital in England according to Lord Carter's review of NHS efficiency, with potential savings of £154 million a year. In December 2017 it was placed in financial special measures and Lord Bob Kerslake, Chair of the trust, resigned. The organisation's chief operating officer and finance director had resigned in November. The Chief Executive resigned in March 2018 at a point when the annual forecast deficit is expected to worsen to more than £100 million. The trust is carrying underlying debts of more than £600 million. It forecast a deficit of £156 million for 2018-19 - the largest of any NHS trust. The chief executive, chair, finance director and chief operating officer all resigned in 2017–8. By March 2019 the projected deficit was around £191 million. Commercial ventures The trust used its commercial arm, KCH Management, to open a clinic