About Us

University Hospital currently runs  three hospital sites: the North Staffordshire Royal Infirmary, the City General and Central Out-patients.  From these sites we provide an extensive portfolio of emergency, general and specialist hospital services.

The Trust is part way through a major re-development of its hospitals, and a brand new 370 million pound hospital will be fully open in 2012.  In this section you will find useful information about the Trust Board, the structure of the organisation, our vision, our new hospital and lots more.

The Trust Board

The Trust Board is responsible for the running of our Trust, setting its strategy and overseeing the way it operates. The Board has a Chairman and five Non-Executive Directors, who are appointed by the NHS Appointments Commission and work part time. It also has five Executive Directors, who are full time employees of the Trust. A number of other Directors also sit with the Board but do not have voting rights.

Our Vision

 "We are committed to be a first class provider of clinical services, education, research and development"

"We strive to provide a world class hospital service and, by building a new hospital equipped with state of the art medical and diagnostic facilities run by highly skilled and talented staff, we will ensure that our patients receive the very best care and treatment"

We want to become an organisation that listens and works with local people and its staff, to develop services that better meet the healthcare needs of the communities we serve.

For us this means getting our patients, the public and our staff much more involved in:

• Telling us when we get it right and when we don't.
• Helping to steer and agree our plans.
• Helping us to be the best in more and more clinical services.
• Helping us to be the best employer.

Our Hospitals

The University Hospital of North Staffordshire NHS Trust provides general hospital services that all district hospitals provide, as well as being a specialist hospital in the West Midlands providing highly specialist services such as heart (cardiac and cardiothoracic) surgery, brain surgery (neurosurgery), cancer services, renal and dialysis as well as specialist services and care for children. The Trust is also the major centre for treating trauma and emergency patients, seeing over 100,000 patients a year within our Emergency Care Centre.

As a local hospital we provide the very best standards of care for our patients and are proud of our clinicians and the care they provide. We continue to have one of the lowest hospital mortality (death) rates across the whole of the West Midlands, and the midwives and doctors in our Maternity Services have helped us to achieve the best quality service, one of only 12 Hospitals nationally.

The Trust has 1,250 beds and employs almost 7000 staff.

In 2003 we became a centre for teaching and training doctors working with Keele University, and the Trust has been for some time involved with Keele and Staffordshire University in teaching and training nurses, midwives and physiotherapists.

In partnership with a local regeneration initiative, we have developed a nationally acclaimed Healthcare Career and Skills Academy; this allows us to develop our skilled support staff who are vital in helping us to deliver the best service for patients.

Our Strategic Objectives

Sound financials and getting the basics right whilst continuing to ensure sustained financial viability to support, maintain and develop our services we will continue to improve the clinical care our patients receive through:

• Aggressively reducing hospital acquired infections
• Ensuring all patients are treated with privacy and dignity
• Ensuring patients do not experience unnecessary delays by achieving the 18 week referral to treatment target.

Teaching Hospital and Learning Organisation

We will develop as a Teaching Hospital by continuing to support training and education including the development of:

• Undergraduate doctor courses
• Clinical placements

Excellence in health care

We will provide excellent health care to our patients by striving to exceed national standards and establish patient experience and satisfaction measures.

We will:

• Work with health partners to develop care pathways which respond to patient needs and that will support individuals through their patient journey
• Communicate and engage with patients and the public to ensure our services reflect local needs and expectations.

We will aim to be an employer of choice by:

• Communicating and involving our staff in the Trust.
• Working with staff to support the delivery of excellent care to patients.

Partnerships and Social Responsibility

We will work with PCTs, local authorities, voluntary groups and other partners to improve the health of the local population and further develop our role as a teaching hospital.

We aim to be a good corporate citizen and will:

• Play our part in the regeneration of the local area, particularly through initiatives which support skills training and development for employment in the health sector. 

Specialised Services

We will develop our role as a provider of specialist hospital services where it is clinically and financially appropriate and supported by our commissioners, including:

• Developing our role as a cancer centre

• A tertiary centre for emergency care

• A tertiary centre for maternity and children?s services

• A provider of specialist surgery, in particular the development of keyhole surgery