Barts Health NHS Trust is an NHS trust based in London, England. Established in 2012, it runs five hospitals throughout the City of London and East London, and is one of the largest NHS trusts in England.

Barts Health NHS Trust
TypeNHS trust
Established1 April 2012
Headquarters80 Newark Street
London
E1 2ES[1]
Hospitals
ChairJacqui Smith
Chief executiveShane DeGaris
Staff17,741 (2020/21)[2]
Websitewww.bartshealth.nhs.uk Edit this at Wikidata

History

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The trust was established on 1 April 2012 following the dissolution and merger of Barts and The London NHS Trust, Newham University Hospital NHS Trust and Whipps Cross University Hospital NHS Trust.[3]

Hospitals

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The trust runs five hospitals:

It also used to run the London Chest Hospital in Bethnal Green, which closed in 2015.[4]

In 2022 the outstanding maintenance bill was £315 million, the fifth largest in the English NHS.[5]

Covid

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The trust took on formal legal responsibility for the operation of the NHS Nightingale Hospital London, a temporary hospital set up at ExCeL London to treat patients during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.[6] On 11 January 2021, the Trust opened the NHS COVID-19 Vaccination Centre, Newham at the ExCeL London site.[7] On 26 June 2021 the vaccination operation moved to a site at the Westfield shopping centre in Stratford, London.[8]

Services

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The trust serves a population of over 2.6 million people, in an area characterised by significant diversity and health inequalities. It is one of the largest NHS trusts in England and accounts for 1.5% of hospital activity in England. It provides district general hospital services to the London Boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest and Newham, and also specialist, or "tertiary", services to a wider area, including some on a national basis. It runs the largest cardiovascular centre in the United Kingdom, the second largest cancer centre in London, and leading stroke and renal units.[9]

In addition to its five hospitals, the trust also runs a number of other facilities, including two birthing centres and some dental and primary care services.[10]

Performance

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As of March 2021, the trust holds the Requires Improvement rating from the Care Quality Commission for the quality of its services. It is rated Good for being effective, caring and well-led. It is rated Requires Improvement for being safe and responsive to people's needs.[10]

Finances

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The trust has the largest private finance initiative (PFI) scheme within the NHS in England, with a capital value of £1.149 billion, and spends £116 million on its annual repayments, amounting to around 8% of its annual income.[11][12]

Overseas patients

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The trust issued invoices to patients thought to be ineligible for NHS treatment totaling £10.1 million in 2018–9, but only collected £1.1 million.[13] In 2019-20 it charged 144 women who used the maternity services (out of 14,270 babies delivered that year) but had to cancel 35 of them, presumably because they were actually found to be entitled to NHS services free-at-the-point-of-use.[14] In 2021 it wrote off about £25 million in NHS charges to overseas patients accumulated over the previous ten years.[15]

Patient entertainment (hospital radio)

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The Trust is served by the following hospital radio services:

  • Bedrock Radio (a registered charity[16] established in 2002) provide a community health (hospital radio) service across East London, South Essex and immediate surrounding areas.[17] Bedrock Radio began serving Barts Health Trust[18] in November 2022 when Whipps Cross Hospital Radio (WXHR) closed down.[19]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Contact details - Barts Health NHS Trust". Care Quality Commission. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
  2. ^ "Annual Report and Accounts 2020 - 2021". Barts Health NHS Trust. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  3. ^ "The Barts Health National Health Service Trust (Establishment) and the Barts and The London National Health Service Trust, the Newham University Hospital National Health Service Trust and the Whipps Cross University Hospital National Health Service Trust (Dissolution) Order 2012". legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  4. ^ "The London Chest". Barts Health. n.d. Archived from the original on 28 April 2015. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  5. ^ Appleby, John (11 November 2022). "Chart of the week: The cost of NHS backlog maintenance hits an all-time high". Nuffield Trust. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
  6. ^ "Responsibility for the NHS Nightingale Hospital London". Barts Health NHS Trust. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  7. ^ "Barts Health opens a large-scale Covid-19 vaccination centre in Newham". Barts Health NHS Trust. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  8. ^ "New vaccination site to open on The Street at Westfield Stratford City | Our news - Barts Health NHS Trust". www.bartshealth.nhs.uk. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  9. ^ "About us". Barts Health NHS Trust. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  10. ^ a b "Barts Health NHS Trust - Inspection report" (PDF). Care Quality Commission. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  11. ^ "Making sense of PFI". Nuffield Trust. 6 October 2017. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  12. ^ "NHS hospital trusts to pay out further £55bn under PFI scheme". The Guardian. 11 September 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  13. ^ "Trusts missing out on tens of millions from overseas patients". Health Service Journal. 19 November 2019. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
  14. ^ "London Eye: Here's your baby... and the bill". Health Service Journal. 18 November 2020. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  15. ^ "Trusts write off £50m in overseas patient debt". Health Service Journal. 21 October 2021. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  16. ^ "BEDROCK RADIO - Charity 1180476". register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  17. ^ "Bedrock Radio - Your Healthy Music Mix". Bedrock Radio. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
  18. ^ Watson, Mathew (30 November 2022). "Hear Bedrock Radio in more Hospitals in East London". Bedrock Radio. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  19. ^ "WHIPPS CROSS HOSPITAL RADIO - Charity 285733". register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
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