The Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust gained foundation status on 1st October 2008 and has more than 12,500 members.
At a local level, the Trust has a close working relationship with local Primary Care Trusts (PCTs), particularly Dudley (from which it draws 83% of its work) and Sandwell (11% of activity). Other significant PCTs are South Staffordshire and Worcestershire. There are also close contacts and joint working with the West Midlands Ambulance Service and with several departments of the local authority, Dudley MBC, and particularly with the Directorates of Adult, Community and Housing Services, and Children’s Services.
The Trust is managed by the Trust board, which includes six non-executive directors who live in Dudley, from a variety of backgrounds. In addition, the board has six executive directors covering all aspects of the Trust’s activities, including Finance and Information, Nursing, Human Resources and Operations.
Organisational Purpose
The Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is the principal provider of acute hospital services to the residents of Dudley in the West Midlands. The Trust also provides services to surrounding areas, principally Sandwell, WyreForest, South Staffordshire, South Birmingham and Wolverhampton giving a catchment population for most services of over 450,000. More than twenty per cent of the Trust’s services are delivered to non-Dudley residents, including four Commissioners across the Midlands and into Wales for some specialised services.
The Trust has three sites: a high-quality acute hospital and two new outpatient centres which provide a number of specialist services.
Clinical services are delivered from:
Russells Hall Hospital has some of the most technologically advanced facilities in the country. It has 729 inpatient beds and is the centre for all inpatient care.
Work on building two new outpatient centres at CorbettHospital (in the south of the borough) and GuestHospital (in the north of the borough) was completed in 2008. These centres provide outpatient and day attendance facilities and services.
The trust works closely with Dudley Primary Care Trust colleagues to increase the number of services available to patients in the community. This often allows for earlier discharge from hospital and alternatives to being admitted to hospital.
The Dudley Group of Hospitals completed the major redevelopment, reconfiguration and modernisation of all of its acute service facilities through a £200m Private Finance Initiative (PFI) capital development scheme.
The Trust is the second largest employer in the borough with over 2,500 whole time equivalent staff and, in addition, there are 800 staff employed by the Trust’s PFI partner, Summit Healthcare (Dudley) Ltd, and their subcontractors, mainly Interserve fm and Siemens. These staff work in the Trust’s hospitals providing portering, cleaning, laundry, transport, Siemens medical engineering services, IT, catering, switchboard, sterile services, waste management, estate management, site management and security.
An established Teaching Hospital Trust, the relationship with the University of Birmingham has brought a further dimension to the Trust’s activities and this, along with the new facilities, has enabled improved recruitment of high calibre staff.
As well as general hospital services, the Trust’s hospitals provide the following specialist services:
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Renal dialysis for patients from the Black Country, Staffordshire and Shropshire, and some from Birmingham.
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Plastic Surgery - urological reconstruction work for a significant part of England and Wales
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Pain Management - including specialised pump implants
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Neonatal Services
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Upper GI Surgery for the whole of the Black Country (from April 2006)
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Home Parental Nutrition - not designated but taking patients from the Midlands and beyond
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Cancer services
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Medical and clinical oncology
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Palliative Care
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Haematology
The Trust also provides specialist staff on an outreach basis for patients who need treatment in the community:
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Community Midwifery Service
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Community Paediatric Liaison Nursing Service
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Respiratory Assessment Service
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Anticoagulant Nursing Service
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Orthopaedic Hospital at Home
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Integrated Living Team
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Specialised Wheelchair Service
The Trust’s total income in 2007/2008 was £208 million.
The National and Regional Picture
Foundation Trusts are the future of the NHS and allow local people to shape the future of their local healthcare services. The Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust gained Foundation status on 1st October 2008 and has more than 12,500 members.
The Trust works within the NHS national and regional structures but reports now to Monitor, the independent regulator of Foundation Trusts. The NHS is managed as a whole by the Department of Health, with the Secretary of State for Health being a member of the Cabinet and answerable to Parliament. In terms of performance against indicators of the quality of care, the Trust is monitored annually by the Healthcare Commission which is independent of the NHS and reports on our performance across a wide range of core and developmental standards.
Common Purpose with LSPs
The Trust has recognised the need to work in partnership across the local health and social care economy, which it undertakes through joint activity with the PCT and local authority, but also with all other providers of services, including the business community and the voluntary & community sector. In developing its approach for the next five years, the Trust has developed its vision of becoming ‘Your Hospital of Choice’, and has six values: Care, Effectiveness, Responsibility, Respect, Pride and Partnership. The Trust therefore seeks opportunities to work in combination and partnership with other organisations. There are many examples of partnership working which are already in place, including standing groups with a specific disease or client group focus (Local Implementation Teams for National Service Framework groups), or short term groups to deliver a particular objective. The Trust has only recently joined the Dudley Community Partnership and will therefore be more engaged in common activities in the future.
Drivers
The Trust believes that as the main provider of acute hospital services for the local population, and as the second largest employer in the borough, it has a significant role to play in developing and participating in partnerships. Its move to Foundation Trust status means that the Trust will have an infrastructure which actively engages partners in the wellbeing and development of the Trust’s services to patients, through its Council of Governors. As well as 20 publicly elected governors, this has 13 appointed governors from many organisations based in Dudley, including the Dudley PCT, Dudley MBC, the West Midlands Ambulance Service, the Dudley Council for Voluntary Services, Dudley Youth Council, Summit Healthcare (Dudley) Ltd (PFI Partner) and the Trust has 300 hospital volunteers. This deliberate move to engage with partners needs to be seen alongside its growing public membership (2,100 in March 2007) and its staff membership (3,400 in March 2007).
The Trust has adopted strategic goals of Quality, Productivity and Profitability, recognising that improving the quality of patient care has to be based on financial viability and efficient provision of services. The Trust now operates in the most competitive environment it has ever had to face, and intends to succeed in delivering high quality patient care which attracts local people to use its services alongside those offered by PCT’s, GPs and the local authority. Given the challenging environment for public services generally and for health care in particular, the Trust works from the assumption that a sophisticated and well structured health service has to be provided on an integrated and planned basis and partnership working is critical to delivering this.
Benefits and Constraints from LSP Engagement
Benefits
The Trust believes the benefits to be gained from effective partnership engagement are:
Constraints
As a Foundation Trust, there are far less constraints than previously. The Trust is able to make its own decisions about its future and this is done through engagement with local people and partners. Constraints will remain the availability of funding to expand the range of services offered, and meeting continually rising expectations.
Relationship with Other Partnerships
The Trust is involved in many partnerships, including:
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The Trust is a partner with the University of Birmingham Medical School and the University of Wolverhampton School of Health in providing undergraduate and post graduate training for doctors, nurses, midwives, allied health professionals and health care scientists
More Information
Trust website: http://www.dgoh.nhs.uk/ this includes:
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Links to the Healthcare Commission, our Freedom of Information Publication Scheme, and www.nhs.uk, which contains the latest information on waiting times
Call the Foundation Trust membership office on 01384 456111 ext 1419
Email foundationmembers@dgoh.nhs.uk or communications@dgoh.nhs.uk
