The independent regulator for NHS Foundation Trusts, Monitor,
has announced today that UHBristol will be authorised as the
University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust.
This is the result of a lot of hard work by our staff as well as
the support we have received from our partners and our members that
has helped us to achieve Foundation Trust status. The change
in our name underlines the importance we place on research and
teaching with our University partners, said Dr Graham Rich, Chief
Executive of University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust.
The awarding of Foundation Trust status recognises the clinical,
governance and financial strength that UHBristol has developed and
confirms the high quality services provided across all its
hospitals; as well as recognising that the staff employed at
UHBristol are amongst the very best in the NHS.
It is a remarkable achievement for UH Bristol, especially when
we look back at the recent five years and see how far we have come,
however, achieving this status is not an end in itself; rather it
is a means to enable us to provide patient care, education and
teaching of the highest quality, added Dr Rich.
It also means that UH Bristol will be freer to develop services
to meet local priorities. With a Foundation Trust membership
of 8,500 UHBristol will be able to involve many more local people
more effectively in its plans and if the Trust continues to deliver
a financial surplus that surplus will be reinvested to further
improve facilities and services, including moving out of the old
BRI building, opening the Bristol Heart Institute and the bringing
together of all hospital based childrens services in the Greater
Bristol area.
University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust will be
accountable to people of Greater Bristol and beyond, through its
Foundation Trust membership and the Council of Governors.
This is a real milestone for the Trust, for our patients and our
staff and we have a clear task ahead of us, to be ambitious for our
patients, to look out to our communities and use our freedoms to
develop more responsive and higher quality services, concluded Dr
Rich.
