Careers with the Royal United Hospital Bath
What we do
The Royal United Hospital Bath NHS Trust provides acute treatment and care for a catchment
population of around 500,000 people in Bath, and the surrounding towns and villages in North East Somerset and Western Wiltshire
The Trust occupies a 52-acre site about 1½ miles from Bath city centre and became a National Health Service Trust in 1992.
The Trust provides 687 beds and a comprehensive range of acute services including medicine and surgery, services for women and children, accident and emergency services, and diagnostic and clinical support services.
The Trust employs around 3,000 WTE staff, some of who also provide outpatient, diagnostic and some day case surgery services at community hospitals in Bradford-on-Avon, Chippenham, Devizes, Frome, Malmesbury, Melksham, Paulton, Shepton Mallet, Trowbridge, Warminster and Westbury. This fulfils part of the Trust's aim to provide high quality care to people in their local communities
The hospital provides healthcare to the population served by three primary care trusts.
For further information about Royal United Hospital Bath NHS Trust please visit: http://www.ruh.nhs.uk
What is a Trust?
Acute Trusts
An acute Trust is one which provides emergency services through and accident and emergency unit and accepts very ill patients for medical e.g. heart attack or trauma e.g. accident care.
Acute trusts employ a large part of the NHS workforce, including nurses, doctors, pharmacists, as well as people doing jobs related to medicine – physiotherapists, radiographers, speech and language therapists and occupational therapists. There are many other non-medical staff employed by acute trusts, including receptionists, porters, cleaners, specialists in information technology, managers, engineers, caterers and domestic and security staff.
Some acute trusts are regional or national centres for more specialised care. Others are attached to universities and help to train health professionals. Acute trusts can also provide services in the community, for example through local outpatient clinics, or in people’s homes such as outreach nurses.
Background on Royal United Bath Hospital NHS Trust
ANNUAL REPORT
A copy of the Trust’s Annual Report can be found by clicking on the following link:-
http://www.ruh.nhs.uk/documents/annual_report/Annual_Report_2007.pdf
The Annual report for 2007-2008 is in the process of being finalised currently and will be made available once complete.
WHY YOU SHOULD CONSIDER THIS ROLE AS YOUR NEXT CAREER MOVE
This is a great opportunity for an aspiring or experienced Director of Facilities and Estates. We are completely open as to the professional background you may come from. We would be very keen to encourage candidate’s to apply who see that skills, experience and abilities can help us deliver on our ambitions. This means you could come from the private or wider public service sector, as well as the NHS.
In return, you will find an exciting role that may facilitate a future move to a larger acute trust or foundation trust, or wider part of NHS in a strategic leadership role.
Ideally, you will be able to demonstrate the ability and experience of working at board level (or equivalent in a large complex environment).
In terms of our current situation, it may be useful for you to be aware of the progress we have made across our operational areas. Notable points include:
A&E 4 hour Access
The Trust has made considerable progress in achievement of the A&E 4 hour access target. Performance has improved again in April and the Trust continues to focus its energy on embedding sustainable solutions so that the A&E 4 hr access standard is delivered on a consistent basis.
18 Week Waiting Time
The Trust delivered the 18 week referral to treatment March milestone and is on track to deliver the SW SHA Early Achiever June target.
Hospital Acquired Infections
Whilst the level of MRSA infections was higher than target in 07/08 the Trust performed well in reducing c. Difficile infections. Current progress is good and a recent inspection by the Healthcare Commission found no breaches of the hygiene code.
The Trust’s Financial Performance in 2007/08
The Trust has met its corporate objective of ‘Making the most of our money’, which was linked to the target of achieving financial balance in 2007/08.
Our financial performance demonstrates how we have met our objective by:
- Achieving a surplus of income over expenditure of £1.9m in 2007/08;
- Delivering savings and embedding our financial recovery plans through the RUH2010 Change Programme;
- Strengthening our financial position by building on the surplus achieved in 2006/07 of £0.1m, which was the first year in which we achieved a surplus without additional financial support since becoming a Trust in 1992.
Our financial performance is a huge achievement for the Trust and a tremendous success shared by all our staff. The Trust had been designated a financially challenged hospital in the past but is now no longer in this category as a result of the achievement of sustained financial balance and the re-structuring of our deficit.
Management of Risk
Improvements in estates risk assessments processes are being put in place enabling issues to be raised to the Trust Board via a new non-clinical risk committee. Robust assurance processes are supporting management of risk associated with the estates and facilities.
RUH 2010
The Trust’s change programme continues to support leaders and managers in making improvements to the way the hospital works for both staff and patients as can be seen from the significant successes that have been achieved in 07/08. The programme will continue to build the capacity for change.
Annual Health Check – Projection of 2007/08 Performance Rating
The annual health check uses a range of assessments to evaluate the hospital’s performance in the areas of Quality of Services and Use of Resources. The rating is published in the autumn of 08 for the 2007/08 business year. Based on the best available information to date about current performance a rating of “fair” for Quality of Services is most likely and “fair” for Use of Resources.
To see the report click here
Into the future
Five Year Vision
We are building a new five-year vision with the following core elements:
- Achieving foundation trust status
- Removing all historic debt
- RUH as an excellent hospital
- Major acute trust but working in partnership with community health partners, private sector and university teaching hospitals
- A good place to work attracting high quality staff
- An estate able to deliver modern, safe and efficient healthcare
- Devolved accountability through business units
08/09 Business Plan
The four key themes in this year’s business plan are:
- Patient safety and experience
- Staff experience including education and training
- Business Delivery
- Organisational development and improvement
Click here to view the full business plan
Patient Experience and Patient Safety
The Director of Facilities has a key role in delivering the patient experience and patient safety objectives and important developments are already in hand such as the introduction of cook chill and the refurbishment of the estate.
The Trust has signed up for the national LIPS 2 programme (Leading Improvement in Patient Safety, which will be invaluable in substantially assisting the organisation in enhancing the systems and processes in relation to patient safety over the next year. In particular there will be a focus upon effective and efficient incident reporting and feedback.
Site Developments
The capital budget for building works in 08/09 is £1.9 m and the strategic development capital budget is £3.3 m will support a number of developments including a new linear accelerator bunker. Additionally a new MRI scanner is being commissioned and the hospital charity Forever Friends is fund raising for a new Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, which is aiming to be a sustainable energy scheme.
Furthermore the Trust Board has recently agreed the emerging site development plan, which proposes, over the next seven years:
- a new medical centre of three wards with 80% single rooms
- new pharmacy and pathology provision
- new Centre for Oncology
- refurbishment of RUH South including improvements to emergency and outpatients
- increased car parking
- relocation of children’s services to a new Women & Children’s centre
- relocation of urology and gynaecological services
RUH Staff Bulletin - click here to open (PDF document)
