Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust runs the Great Western Hospital, a large hospital situated in Swindon, Wiltshire, England, next to junction 15 of the M4 motorway.

Performance
Four-hour target in the emergency department quarterly figures from NHS England[1]

In the ratings produced by the Healthcare Commission for 2005/2006, the trust scored "good" for the quality of services but "weak" for the management of resources.[2]

In 2006 it was announced that the trust would be axing up to 200 jobs, 99 of which were likely to involve redundancy.[3]

The Trust was one of the first to use the Picture archiving and communication system film-less x-rays, as part of the NHS's National Programme for IT.[4]

It recorded a deficit of £17.4 million in 2013/4 and was expecting to end 2014/5 with a £2.9m deficit, provoking an investigation by Monitor. The Chief Executive said they had to manage a 15% increase in unplanned activity compared to last year, around 300 more unplanned patients each month.[5] The conclusion of the investigation was that the organisation did not have a robust financial recovery plan or a strategy to ensure it continues to provide services for patients in the long term.[6] It expects a deficit of £14 million for 2015/6.[7]

In March 2016, 49 emergency patients at the trust waited more than 12 hours to be allocated a bed. This was the second highest figure for any trust in England.[8]

Facilities

The hospital building was built under the Private Finance Initiative and is owned by Semperian PPP Investment Partners which has a contract with Carillion to provide facilities such as catering and housekeeping. Since December 2011, Carillion has been in an industrial relations dispute with the GMB (trade union) which represents housekeeping staff about holiday entitlement, working practices, and other allegations. This dispute has resulted in about 50 Employment Tribunal claims lodged against Carillion by their own staff. In September 2014 the Trust Board considered a report on the implications of this dispute which concluded "The Trust has lost confidence in Carillion’s ability to resolve these issues and the Trust continues to pursue all means necessary to ensure they remain focused on addressing them....Concerns about food hygiene and cleanliness, have posed a potential risk to patients, visitors and staff which is completely unacceptable....as a PFI hospital, the contract for provision is extremely complicated."[9]

The trust started using an Electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration which was developed in-house in June 2015. It improves patient safety by giving automatic warnings about allergic reactions, drug interactions and prescribing guidelines. It also speeds up patient discharge and the flow of patients from the Emergency Department.[10]

In 2022 a new urgent treatment centre, a radiotherapy centre built in partnership with Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and an energy centre with air source heat pumps, were built. In 2024 there are plans for a rehabilitation centre, a private healthcare facility, a medical equipment sterilisation unit, a mental health facility, and cancer service building.[11]

See also

References
  1. "A&E waiting times and activity". NHS England. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  2. "Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust". Healthcare Commission. Archived from the original on 3 December 2008. Retrieved 26 October 2006.
  3. "LabourNet UK". Retrieved 30 October 2006.
  4. "Then and now: A hospital's story". BBC News. 29 July 2005. Retrieved 26 October 2006.
  5. "Great Western Hospitals trust finances investigated". BBC News. 23 October 2014. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  6. "South West FT breaches licence over finances". Health Service Journal. 22 April 2014. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  7. "Emergency savings drive and stretch targets fail to reduce provider deficit". Health Service Journal. 28 September 2015. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  8. "Trust reports dozens of 12 hour trolley waits in single month". Health Service Journal. 16 May 2016. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  9. "PFI contractor, Carillion, damned in report by NHS trust". Left Futures. September 2014. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
  10. "Great Western Hospital unveils new electronic prescription system". Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard. 25 June 2015. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  11. ""Exciting time" for Great Western Hospital as three new centres take shape". Swindon Advertiser. 3 February 2022. Retrieved 15 November 2022.

51.5490°N 1.7550°W / 51.5490; -1.7550

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