Annual Report and Accounts 2012/13 - Royal Bournemouth Hospital

Directors’ Report3. Directors’ Report3.1 About the TrustThe Trust gained Foundation status on1 April 2005, following three consecutiveyears of being rated as a three starperforming trust. The Foundation Trustincludes the Royal Bournemouth andChristchurch hospitals (RBCH), whichare located about three miles apart onthe south coast, and a Sterile SupplyDepartment in Poole.The hospitals are close to the New Forestin the east and the Jurassic coastlinein the west with most of the catchmentpopulation covered by Dorset and WestHampshire clinical commissioning groups.RBCH provides a wide range of hospitalservices from its two main sites as wellas community settings in the Dorset, NewForest and south Wiltshire areas to a totalpopulation of around 550,000 which risesduring the summer months.On the key measures by which healthcareproviders are judged, the Trust hastraditionally performed very strongly.These include being externally rated ashaving:l excellent waiting timesl excellent infection controll excellent management of resourcesThis excellent performance wasrecognised when, in 2009, the Trust wasnamed HSJ Acute Organisation of theYear and, in 2010, CHKS Safest Hospitalin the UK.More recently, the Trust was ratedsecond out of around 150 trusts in thefirst ever overall assessment of NHShospital quality in England by MHPHealth Mandate. It was based on a rangeof measures of what mattered most topeople, including levels of infection, ratesof complaints and patient outcomes.In November 2011, the Board of Directorsmade the decision to progress with aplan to merge with Poole Hospital NHSFoundation Trust. Both trusts continueto work through the merger process butremain independent organisations untilmerger is approved and the proposednew trust is licensed.The Royal Bournemouth HospitalAnnual Report and Accounts 2012/13 9