University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust manages three hospitals in South East Dorset. It was formed following the merger of

Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust manages three hospitals in South East Dorset. It was formed following the merger of Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and The Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trus ...

and The Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

History

Attempts to merge

and The Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust started back in 2011 but was blocked in October 2013 by the

Competition Commission The Competition Commission was a non-departmental public body responsible for investigating mergers, markets and other enquiries related to regulated industries under competition law in the United Kingdom. It was a competition regulator under t ...

, in its first intervention into the NHS. As part of the

sustainability and transformation plan In England, a sustainability and transformation plan (STP) is a non-statutory requirement which promotes integrated provision of healthcare, including purchasing and commissioning, within each geographical area of the National Health Service. The ...

for Dorset it was proposed that between

Poole Hospital Poole Hospital (also known as Poole General Hospital) is an acute general hospital in Poole, Dorset, England. Built in 1907, it has expanded from a basic 14-bed facility into a 789-bed hospital. It is the trauma centre for east Dorset and provid ...

and

Royal Bournemouth Hospital The Royal Bournemouth Hospital is an acute general hospital in Bournemouth, Dorset, England. It is managed by the University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust. The hospital was managed by The Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS ...

one would become a ''Major Planned Care Hospital with Urgent Care Centre'' and the other a ''Major Emergency Hospital with A&E services'', reaffirming commitment to implementing the outcome of Dorset's Clinical Services Review. The proposals were challenged in judicial review. University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust was originally due to be founded on 1 July 2020 but this was delayed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The trust was finally founded on 1 October 2020, after nine years of planning, legal challenges and delays.

Name

In December 2019 it was announced that the new combine trust was going to be called East Dorset Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. This name was chosen from suggestions submitted by staff, governors and patients of the hospitals involved. However just 4 months later the trust was given university hospital status, resulting in a name change to University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust. This was part of a plan with partners at

Bournemouth University Bournemouth University is a public university in Bournemouth, England, with its main campus situated in neighbouring Poole. The university was founded in 1992; however, the origins of its predecessor date back to the early 1900s. The univer ...

to "confirm the extremely close working relationship the hospitals and the university has enjoyed over many years".

Predecessor trusts

gained foundation status in 2007 and ran

in the south of England until the merger on 1 October 2020.

Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust manages three hospitals in South East Dorset. It was formed following the merger of Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and The Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trus ...

gained foundation status in 2005 and ran

Christchurch Hospital Christchurch Hospital is the largest tertiary hospital in the South Island of New Zealand. The public hospital is in the centre of Christchurch city, on the edge of Hagley Park, and serves the wider Canterbury region. The Canterbury District Heal ...

and the

in the south of England until the merger on 1 October 2020. In October 2013, as a result of the

Keogh Review The Keogh Review into patient safety was carried out by Professor Sir Bruce Keogh in July 2013. This review was ordered by the Prime Minister in response to the Francis Inquiry into poor care at Mid Staffordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. 1 ...

, the Trust was put into the highest risk category by the

Care Quality Commission The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care of the United Kingdom. It was established in 2009 to regulate and inspect health and social care services in England. I ...

. In November 2014 the Trust faced difficulties with discharging patients. 70 patients at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital were fit to leave but were still on wards. The Trust said it was considering the possibility of legal action to evict patients.

Services

The trust serves a population of more than 800,000 people, reaching as far as Purbeck, the New Forest and South Wiltshire, and collectively employs more than 9,000 members of staff. In additional general hospital services, the trust provides a range of specialist services and facilities including: * The Dorset Cancer Centre which offers medical and clinical oncology services for the whole of Dorset * The major trauma unit for east Dorset, serving a population of more than 500,000 people * A state-of-the-art Cardiology Unit (the Dorset Heart Centre), and award-winning orthopaedic service providing hip and knee replacements It set up a single electronic patient record using

Graphnet Graphnet is a UK provider of healthcare software based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire. The company was founded in 1994. It specialises in shared care records and claims to be "the UK’s leading supplier of shared care record software to the N ...

software running live across the two acute sites before the merger was complete. This involved migrating 34 million items of clinical data and about 40 interfaces from the legacy systems. It feeds into the Dorset Care Record. The trust set up a new ‘health village’ in

Dolphin Shopping Centre The Dolphin Shopping Centre is a shopping centre in Poole, Dorset, England, formerly known as the Arndale Centre. The shopping centre adjoins Poole Bus Station. History and development In 1957 discussions began about creating a covered in shopp ...

, an outpatient assessment clinic, located on the second floor of the Beales department store, in 2022, using material and equipment from decommissioned

Nightingale hospitals COVID-19 hospitals in the United Kingdom are temporary hospitals set up in the United Kingdom and overseas territories as part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. They principally include the seven NHS England Nightingale Hospitals, NH ...

. This 20,000 sq ft clinic will cover ophthalmology, dermatology, breast screening, and musco-skeletal services.

Hospitals within group

Christchurch Hospital, Dorset Christchurch Hospital is run by the University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust. It is located in Fairmile in Christchurch, Dorset, England. The hospital was managed by The Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust ...

References

External links

*
University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust on the NHS website

Inspection reports
from the

{{Authority control NHS foundation trusts Health in Dorset