Barts Health NHS Trust is an

NHS trust An NHS trust is an organisational unit within the National Health Services of England and Wales, generally serving either a geographical area or a specialised function (such as an ambulance service). In any particular location there may be several ...

based in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England. Established in 2012, it runs five hospitals throughout the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

and

East London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...

, and is one of the largest NHS trusts in England.

History

The trust was established on 1 April 2012 following the dissolution and merger of Barts and The London NHS Trust, Newham University Hospital NHS Trust and Whipps Cross University Hospital NHS Trust.

Hospitals

The trust runs five hospitals: *

Mile End Hospital Mile End Hospital is a community hospital in the Mile End area of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in England. It is managed by Barts Health NHS Trust. History The hospital was established as the infirmary for the local workhouse in 1859. ...

Mile End Mile End is an area in London, England and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in East London and part of the East End of London, East End. It is east of Charing Cross. Situated on the part of the London-to-Colchester road ...

Newham University Hospital Newham University Hospital is an acute general hospital situated in Plaistow, Newham, Plaistow in the London Borough of Newham. It is managed by Barts Health NHS Trust. History The hospital was built to replace Queen Mary's Hospital for the East ...

in Plaistow *

Royal London Hospital The Royal London Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Whitechapel in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is part of Barts Health NHS Trust. It provides district general hospital services for the City of London and Tower Hamlets and sp ...

Whitechapel Whitechapel () is an area in London, England, and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in east London and part of the East End of London, East End. It is the location of Tower Hamlets Town Hall and therefore the borough tow ...

St Bartholomew's Hospital St Bartholomew's Hospital, commonly known as Barts, is a teaching hospital located in the City of London. It was founded in 1123 by Rahere, and is currently run by Barts Health NHS Trust. History Early history Barts was founded in 1123 by ...

West Smithfield Smithfield, properly known as West Smithfield, is a district located in Central London, part of Farringdon Without, the most westerly ward of the City of London, England. Smithfield is home to a number of City institutions, such as St Bartho ...

Whipps Cross University Hospital Whipps Cross University Hospital is a large university hospital in the locality of Whipps Cross in Leytonstone and is within Epping Forest in the London Borough of Waltham Forest, London, England. It is managed by Barts Health NHS Trust. Hist ...

Leytonstone Leytonstone ( ) is an area in East London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It adjoins Wanstead to the north-east, Forest Gate to the south-east, Stratford to the south-west, Leyton to the west, and Walthamstow to the nor ...

It also used to run the

London Chest Hospital The London Chest Hospital, located in Bethnal Green in London, adjacent to Victoria Park, Tower Hamlets, Victoria Park, was a hospital with a national reputation for treatment of Heart, cardiac and Lung, pulmonary disease. Since 1999 it had been ...

Bethnal Green Bethnal Green is an area in London, England, and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in east London and part of the East End of London, East End. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the common la ...

, which closed in 2015. In 2022 the outstanding maintenance bill was £315 million, the fifth largest in the English NHS.

Covid

The trust took on formal legal responsibility for the operation of the

NHS Nightingale Hospital London The NHS Nightingale Hospital London was the first of the NHS Nightingale Hospitals, temporary hospitals set up by NHS England for the COVID-19 pandemic. It was housed in the ExCeL London convention centre in East London. The hospital was rapi ...

, a temporary hospital set up at ExCeL London to treat patients during the

2020 COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. On 11 January 2021, the Trust opened the NHS COVID-19 Vaccination Centre, Newham at the ExCeL London site. On 26 June 2021 the vaccination operation moved to a site at the Westfield shopping centre in Stratford, London.

Services

The trust serves a population of over 2.6 million people, in an area characterised by significant diversity and health inequalities. It is one of the largest NHS trusts in England and accounts for 1.5% of hospital activity in England. It provides district general hospital services to the London Boroughs of

Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a borough in London, England. Situated on the north bank of the River Thames and immediately east of the City of London, the borough spans much of the traditional East End of London and includes much of ...

Waltham Forest The London Borough of Waltham Forest () is an outer London borough formed in 1965 from the merger of the municipal boroughs of Leyton, Walthamstow and Chingford. The borough's administrative headquarters are at Waltham Forest Town Hall, wh ...

and

Newham The London Borough of Newham () is a London boroughs, London borough created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. It covers an area previously administered by the Essex county boroughs of County Borough of West Ham, West Ham and County ...

, and also specialist, or "tertiary", services to a wider area, including some on a national basis. It runs the largest cardiovascular centre in the United Kingdom, the second largest cancer centre in London, and leading stroke and renal units. In addition to its five hospitals, the trust also runs a number of other facilities, including two birthing centres and some dental and primary care services.

Performance

As of March 2021, the trust holds the Requires Improvement rating from 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 providers in England. It ...

for the quality of its services. It is rated Good for being effective, caring and well-led. It is rated Requires Improvement for being safe and responsive to people's needs.

Finances

The trust has the largest

private finance initiative The private finance initiative (PFI) was a United Kingdom government procurement policy aimed at creating "public–private partnerships" (PPPs) where private firms are contracted to complete and manage public projects. Initially launched in 1992 ...

(PFI) scheme within the NHS in England, with a capital value of £1.149 billion, and spends £116 million on its annual repayments, amounting to around 8% of its annual income.

Overseas patients

The trust issued invoices to patients thought to be ineligible for NHS treatment totaling £10.1 million in 2018–9, but only collected £1.1 million. In 2019-20 it charged 144 women who used the maternity services (out of 14,270 babies delivered that year) but had to cancel 35 of them, presumably because they were actually found to be entitled to NHS services free-at-the-point-of-use. In 2021 it wrote off about £25 million in NHS charges to overseas patients accumulated over the previous ten years.

Patient entertainment (hospital radio)

The Trust is served by the following hospital radio services: * Bedrock Radio (a registered charity established in 2002) provide a community health ( hospital radio) service across East London, South Essex and immediate surrounding areas. Bedrock Radio began serving Barts Health Trust in November 2022 when Whipps Cross Hospital Radio (WXHR) closed down.

References

External links

*
''Barts Health NHS Trust''
on the NHS website
Inspection reports
from the

{{Authority control NHS trusts