University Hospital of North Durham

University Hospital of North Durham
County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust
Geography
Location Durham, England, United Kingdom
Organisation
Care system Public NHS
Hospital type District General
Affiliated university Newcastle University
Services
Emergency department Yes Accident & Emergency
Beds 523
History
Founded 2001
Links
Website University Hospital of North Durham at cddft.nhs.uk
Lists Hospitals in England

University Hospital of North Durham is an acute care hospital built to replace the older Dryburn Hospital on the same site. It is part of County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust.[1] The hospital was opened in 2001 and was funded using a Private Finance Initiative run by a consortium of Balfour Beatty and the Royal Bank of Scotland with an initial cost of £97million.[2] Balfour Beatty subsequently sold their stake to Dalmore Capital in 2014.[3]

Services provided

The following services are provided at the University Hospital of North Durham: [4]

The Main Hospital building contains the vast majority of the hospitals departments. It has a basement for pathology and pharmacy and three other floors, each consisting of a long main corridor with wards and departments on both sides. Most of the wards consist of four single beds in each room, as well as side rooms.

A few buildings from the original "Dryburn Hospital" remain in operation. These buildings are used for less acute services such as the renal dialysis centre, this area is called the East Wing. Also within the East Wing is the original Dryburn Hospital corridor which can be accessed from some car parks and the A&E Entrance. The education centre and library (accredited by Newcastle University) from the old Dryburn site are no longer in operation, and have been relocated accordingly throughout the site and local area.

The hospital works in partnership with Bishop Auckland Hospital and Darlington Memorial Hospital and is the largest in the trust (based on bed numbers). Cases relating to some of the departments not present in the University Hospital of North Durham (e.g. neurosurgery) are referred to these hospitals for management. The hospital is supported by a further 88 community hospital beds in its catchment region for rehabilitation.

2014 report and response

In 2014 a BBC report identified that "out of 126 serious incidents when patients were delayed admission to hospitals for more than two hours, 71 happened at the University Hospital of North Durham".[5] The hospital trust subsequently announced they had earmarked £5.6million to invest into the emergency departments at Darlington Memorial Hospital and University Hospital of North Durham.[6]

That focus has resulted in improved patient perceptions[7] but a 2015 Care Quality Commission assessment of the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust resulted in an overall "Requires Improvement" rating.[8]. This highlighted that some improvements were needed in the Emergency and Palliative Care Departments. The report rated the majority of specific services as "good". The County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust has since then increased its staffing in the Emergency Department and has strengthened its palliative care department.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust: Hospitals and Clinics". NHS Choices. NHS Choices. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  2. ↑ "Memorandum by North Durham Health Care NHS Trust (PS 40)". parliament.co.uk. Select Committee on Health. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  3. ↑ Armitage, Jim. "Balfour Beatty turns a huge profit on building schools and hospitals". independent.co.uk. The Independent. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
  4. ↑ https://www.cddft.nhs.uk/our-hospitals/university-hospital-of-north-durham.aspx
  5. ↑ "Accident and emergency delays face thousands of patients". bbc.co.uk. BBC News. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
  6. ↑ Henderson, Vicki. "Hospital trust announces plans to spend £5.6m improving A&E in Darlington and Durham". thenorthernecho.co.uk. The Northern Echo. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
  7. ↑ "University Hospital Of North Durham". NHS Choices. NHS. Retrieved 8 July 2017.
  8. ↑ "Care Quality Commission Inspection Report". Care Quality Commission. NHS. Retrieved 8 July 2017.
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