North Bristol NHS Trust

North Bristol NHS Trust is a National Health Service trust providing community healthcare and hospital services to Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset, England. Medical teaching facilities are provided in association with the University of the West of England, Bristol University and the University of Bath.^[1]

Services

• Southmead Hospital Bristol - A+E
• Frenchay Hospital
• Cossham Memorial Hospital
• Yate West Gate Centre — Minor Injuries
• Young People's Community
• Riverside Unit
• Thornbury Hospital — Minor Injuries
• Clevedon Hospital — Minor Injuries

Until 2014 both Southmead and Frenchay were large hospitals with major Accident and Emergency facilities, but the trust decided to centralise activities at Southmead. From April to December 2014 Frenchay Hospital was progressively closed, with the majority of services moving to a new building at Southmead. Accident and Emergency was transferred on 19 May 2014. A few services relating to brain and head injuries will remain at Frenchay after December 2014.^[2][3][4] The first patients moved into the Trust's new Brunel building at Southmead in May 2014.^[5]

The trust ran inpatient geriatric services at Blackberry Hill Hospital until 2005, when it closed activities at the site transferring most services to Frenchay and Southmead, and eventually selling the trust's part of the site.

In August 2015 the Trust announced that they were not bidding for the contract to continue providing their current Children’s Community Health Partnership services which they won on 2009 because of the “non-core nature of the service”, a “lack of management capacity” and “financial pressure”.^[6]

It was scheduled to be the first trust to go live with Lorenzo patient record systems but as of November 2015 are experiencing problems in transitioning from the old Cerner system. ^[7]

Performance

Between July and September 2014 the Trust had the third worst performance in the country against the requirement to treat and discharge or admit 95 per cent of A&E patients within four hours. It produced an operational resilience and capacity plan, envisaging the trust would achieve performance of 92 per cent against the A&E four hour standard by April which was rejected. The biggest reason for avoidable breaches of the target was said to be the availability of suitable beds to admit patients. The trust had a deficit of £20.1m at the end of August, £6.7m worse than planned.^[8] An unnamed whistleblower claimed a lack of beds was putting patient safety at risk because small rooms designed for minor procedures, such as injections, were being used to keep patients in overnight. The Trust claimed these single rooms were entirely appropriate for safe and dignified patient care.^[9]

In February 2015 it was reported that the trust had 247 patients who had waited more than a year for elective treatment, 201 of them waiting for spinal surgery.^[10] It spent £20.8 million, 7.1% of its total turnover, on agency staff in 2014/5.^[11]

See also

• Healthcare in Bristol
• Healthcare in Somerset
• Healthcare in Gloucestershire
• List of NHS trusts

References