Partner Focus: Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust
Who are the health and care organisations that make up BSW Together? Over recent issues the Triangle has featured a mini profile of each of our partners, giving you an overview of the work they do and an understanding of how they are part of our health and care partnership. This month, we take a look at the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust.
Overview:
The Royal United Hospitals Bath (RUH) NHS Foundation Trust serves a population of approximately 500,000 residents across Bath and North East Somerset, West Wiltshire, Somerset and South Gloucestershire. In addition to its core local population, it also treats people visiting the local area, including tourists, students and overseas visitors.
- Vision: The RUH, where you matter
- Values: Everyone Matters, Working Together, Making a Difference.
Goals:
- For the people we work with, creating the conditions to perform to our best – living by our values, investing in our teams and supporting diversity.
- For the people we care for, supporting them as and when they need it most – delivering high quality care, listening and acting on what matters most to them.
- For the people in our community, creating one of the healthiest places to live and work – working with our partners to make the most of our shared resources and reducing inequalities.
Leadership:
- Chair: Alison Ryan
- Chief Executive: Cara Charles-Barks
Locations:
The RUH’s main acute hospital site is in Combe Park to the north-west of the centre of Bath, which is also
the site of the RNHRD and Brownsword Therapies Centre. Maternity services are provided from community birth centres in Chippenham, Frome, Paulton and Trowbridge as well as at the RUH. The Trust runs outpatient centres across the region including at the Riverside Clinic in Bath and Devizes Health Centre. In 2021, the RUH acquired the Circle Hospital Bath, an independent hospital in Peasedown St John that provides care for both private and NHS patients. The hospital was renamed Sulis Hospital Bath and continues to provide care for private self-funded and insured patients as well as NHS patients, playing a key part in helping ease pressure on elective surgery backlogs.
People:
The RUH employs over 5,500 skilled and caring staff, working across all our services in a wide range of clinical and support roles.
What does the RUH do?
The RUH provides a wide range of services including medicine and surgery, services for women and children, accident and emergency services, and diagnostic and clinical support services.
It also provides specialist services for rheumatology, chronic pain, chronic fatigue and Myalgic Encephalomyelopathy/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) via the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases which it acquired in 2015.
The Trust is divided into a number of clinical and non-clinical divisions: Medicine, Surgery, Family and Specialist Services, Estates and Facilities and Corporate. It provides a service for patients needing emergency and unplanned specialist care 24 hours a day, every day of the year.
From that core is built a comprehensive planned surgical, medical and diagnostics service for adults and children typical of a district general hospital of the RUH’s size. Specialised care is delivered in a number of areas including: cancer care, cardiac and stroke, care for older people, particularly those with dementia, higher levels of critical care, maternity services, rheumatology, pain and fatigue (RNHRD), specialist orthopaedics (surgery on joints and bones) and pulmonary hypertension
The RUH is currently building a new Cancer Centre. The Dyson Cancer Centre, which is set to open in autumn 2023, will help transform the care the hospital provides for patients, families and carers.
The RUH is also part of the Acute Hospitals Alliance (AHA), a group which also includes Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust.
Established in 2018, the AHA was set up to improve and ensure patients have equal access to services and where possible make savings that can be reinvested into local health and care services.
Why is the RUH’s role in the BSW ICS important?
“At the RUH we’re proud to put people at the heart of what we do, striving to create an environment where everyone matters. Everyone means the people we care for, the people we work with and the people in our community
Acute hospital trusts such as the RUH play a crucial role in the wider health and care system in BSW and, with pressures continuing to mount, working seamlessly in a joined up way is more important than ever before.
The partner organisations that make up the BSW Together are working to improve the health and wellbeing of local people, tackle inequalities, achieve better outcomes and access for everyone, ensure that health and care services are high-quality and make the most efficient use of our resource and the RUH is proud to be part of this important partnership.” Cara Charles-Barks, Chief Executive