Subsidiaries Cheadle Hospital, County Hospital, Bradwell Hospital | ||
The University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust was created on 1 November 2014. It runs Royal Stoke University Hospital, formerly run by the University Hospital of North Staffordshire NHS Trust and the County Hospital (formerly Stafford Hospital). It was formed after the dissolution of Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.
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Current operations
The Trust operates on three sites in Stoke and one in Stafford. Most departments in Stoke are on the City General Site with some departments on the old Royal Infirmary site. A separate central outpatients department is in Hartshill between the two hospital sites.
Sodexo Healthcare currently provide partial services for portering and domestic departments and all catering services for the city general site.
One of the Trust's first decisions was that 60 beds were to be reopened at the County Hospital. Ten consultants and an extra 200 nurses have been recruited. Paediatrics, consultant-led maternity and acute surgery will move from Stafford to Stoke. £150m will be spent at Stafford, doubling the size of the casualty department, expanding outpatient facilities, refurbishing wards and opening a new theatre. Stafford will get a new MRI scanner and possibly a new eye surgery unit.
The board is one of the first organisations in the UK to make wifi available in its hospitals, on the basis that enables patients to stay in touch with their family and friends, and improves the way it interacts with patients.
The trust declared a 'major incident' in January 2015 when its A&E was overwhelmed following an outbreak of pneumonia. Pictures of large numbers of patients on trolleys in the hospitals' corridors were published. There were 613 patients who waited at least 12 hours on trolleys in the hospital in January and February. in January2015 bed occupancy for general and acute wards was at 100%. In February it was 97%, March 99%, April 97%, May 92%. The trust, which has 1,500 beds, plans to open 56 more beds on the Stoke site.
The trust had 4,000-plus compliments (many from A&E patients) in 2015 and 800 formal complaints.
Performance
The trust expects to finish 2015-16 with a deficit of more than £20 million as a result of changes to the NHS tariff.