Type NHS Foundation Trust NHS region NHS England North | Phone +44 151 678 5111 Made foundation 1 July 2007 | |
Former name Wirral Hospitals NHS Trust Created 5 June 1992 (1992-06-05) Headquarters Arrowe Park Hospital, Upton Region served Cheshire, Warrington and Wirral area Establishments Arrowe Park Hospital
Clatterbridge Hospital
Wirral Women and Children's Hospital Address Arrowe Park Hospital, Upton, Wirral CH49 5PE, United Kingdom Hours Open today ยท Open 24 hoursTuesdayOpen 24 hoursWednesdayOpen 24 hoursThursdayOpen 24 hoursFridayOpen 24 hoursSaturdayOpen 24 hoursSundayOpen 24 hoursMondayOpen 24 hoursSuggest an edit Profiles | ||
Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (WUTH) is an NHS Foundation Trust. It provides healthcare for people of the Wirral Peninsula and the surrounding areas of North West England and North Wales.
Contents
- History
- Monitor
- Care Quality Commission
- Global Digital Exemplars
- Relationship with Wirral Clinical Commissioning Group
- References
The trust is responsible for Arrowe Park Hospital, Clatterbridge Hospital, and Wirral Women and Children's Hospital. It also provides some services at St Catherine's Health Centre, Tranmere and Victoria Central Health Centre, Wallasey.
History
Prior to gaining teaching accreditation and authorisation as a Foundation Trust status in 2007, the trust was known as Wirral Hospitals NHS Trust.
The former hospital trust took control of the Arrowe Park and Clatterbridge sites from Wirral Health Authority in 1992.
The Wirral Women and Children's Hospital was founded in 2011 following redevelopment of the maternity annexe on the Arrowe Park campus.
Monitor
In March 2012, the UK health sector regulator, Monitor, found the trust was "persistently failing" the 18 week waiting time target. It also had concerns about the way the board was run. Chief executive, Len Richards, had already left the trust in August 2011 following a vote of no confidence. His replacement, David Allison, joined the trust in April 2012. Since Mr Richards' departure, all of the previous Executive Board members have left. The last, Sue Green (director of human resources), was made redundant following a restructure of the senior management team.
In February 2013, Monitor reported that "significant improvements" had been made in reducing waiting times for patients needing routine surgery with the Trust consistently achieving the standard for referring patients for treatment within 18 weeks. Monitor also recognised the "important improvements" made by the Board of Directors in the way the Trust is run and engages with clinical staff. As a result of this Monitor concluded in February 2013 that the Trust was longer in breach of its terms of authorisation. In November 2013, Monitor opened a new investigation into the trust's financial performance. That investigation was concluded in 2014, with the report from March of that year noting that "the trust is working hard to address our concerns about its finances and these improvements are already happening".
Care Quality Commission
In December 2013, the Care Quality Commission published a report into satisfaction of maternity services across England. Wirral Women and Children's Hospital was named in the Top 7 in England and the No 1 in North West England for patient care.
In January 2014, the Care Quality Commission published a report into the standards of care at Arrowe Park Hospital. The report stated that the hospital had met all six measures for delivering 'standards you have a right to expect' in hospital care.
Global Digital Exemplars
In September 2016, the trust was selected by NHS England as one of twelve Global Digital Exemplars.
Relationship with Wirral Clinical Commissioning Group
In May 2014 Frank Field MP alleged that close relationships between senior members of the Wirral Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and the Trust may have dented the "independence" and "integrity" of local health services. Writing to the Secretary of State that "Arrowe Park [sic] has a long history of not being able properly to manage its budget. It regularly looks around for further funds to which it demands almost immediate access but is unprepared to make any efforts at reforming its own practices. Closures, sackings and loss of patient services has been its traditional negative stance. The CCG therefore has the near impossible task of winning reform in the face of these negotiating tactics."
As a result of this complaint, NHS England launched a Capability and Governance review of the Wirral Clinical Commissioning Group. Published in August 2014; the review found evidence of a "poor relationship between the CCG and Wirral University Teaching Hospital Foundation Trust". As result, both the Chair of the CCG, and the CCG's Chief Clinical Officer resigned in December 2014; having already voluntarily stepped aside in the May of that year.