Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust
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The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust (formerly Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust) runs
New Cross Hospital New Cross Hospital is a hospital in the Heath Town district of Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. It is located to the east of the city centre in Wednesfield and is managed by the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust. History The hospital has ...
and West Park Rehabilitation Hospital in Wolverhampton and Cannock Chase Hospital in
Cannock Cannock () is a town in the Cannock Chase district in the county of Staffordshire, England. It had a population of 29,018. Cannock is not far from the towns of Walsall, Burntwood, Stafford and Telford. The cities of Lichfield and Wolverhampton ...
. In December 2020 it agreed to appoint a joint chair with Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, anticipating plans to form a group model across the sustainability and transformation partnership.


Facilities

The New Cross Hospital Trust was established in 1994, covered Wolverhampton, the
Black Country The Black Country is an area of England's West Midlands. It is mainly urban, covering most of the Dudley and Sandwell metropolitan boroughs, with the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall and the City of Wolverhampton. The road between Wolverhampto ...
,
South Staffordshire South Staffordshire is a local government district in Staffordshire, England. Its council is based in Codsall. Other notable settlements include Brewood, Cheslyn Hay, Coven, Essington, Featherstone, Four Ashes, Great Wyrley, Huntington, ...
, North Worcestershire and
Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...
. The trust owns the former eye hospital building in Wolverhampton, which is now derelict. In December 2013 it was announced that the trust would be unable to achieve foundation status for at least six months after a
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 ...
inspection raised concerns about staffing levels. In March 2015 it abandoned plans to become a foundation trust. In October 2014 it was announced that the trust would take over Cannock Chase Hospital formerly run by
Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust The Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust was a NHS foundation trust which managed two hospitals in Staffordshire, England: * Stafford Hospital - acute hospital with approximately 350 inpatient beds, opened in 1983, Now renamed County Hospital ...
. In February 2019 Dr Steve Field was appointed Chair of the trust. In March 2020, Cannock Chase Hospital was forced to temporarily close down to assist Wolverhampton
New Cross Hospital New Cross Hospital is a hospital in the Heath Town district of Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. It is located to the east of the city centre in Wednesfield and is managed by the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust. History The hospital has ...
staff with the care of seriously ill patients.


Primary care

It took over three GP practices in Wolverhampton in April 2016 as a pilot scheme for vertically integrated care. The 12 GPs became employees of the trust. The practices - Alfred Squire Road Health Centre and Lea Road Medical Practice in Wolverhampton and the MGS Medical Practice in Bilston - have 23,000 registered patients. In June 2017 it took over more practices bringing the total to 12 with 70,000 registered patients and 37 GP partners employed by the trust. In May 2022 it proposed merging the eight GMS contracts it had with its GP practices into one. It announced a partnership with Babylon Health in January 2020 to develop "digital-first integrated care". The trust itself runs 10 GP practices. In April 2020 it made a deal with the company for citywide coverage of its new
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
care assistant app, which will be available to 300,000 patients registered to Wolverhampton GPs, and all the trust staff. It agreed a new five-year deal with Babylon in August 2021 to use Babylon 360 to support patients at the trust's nine GP practices.


Performance

The trust was highlighted by
NHS England NHS England, formally the NHS Commissioning Board for England, is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care. It oversees the budget, planning, delivery and day-to-day operation of the commissioning si ...
as having 3 of 148 reported never events in the period from April to September 2013. Mrs Sandra Haynes-Kirkbright was suspended by the trust in July 2012 following allegations made against her by colleagues of
bullying Bullying is the use of force, coercion, Suffering, hurtful teasing, comments, or threats, in order to abuse, aggression, aggressively wikt:domination, dominate, or intimidate one or more others. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. On ...
,
harassment Harassment covers a wide range of behaviors of an offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behavior that demeans, humiliates, and intimidates a person, and it is characteristically identified by its unlikelihood in terms of social and ...
, persistent swearing and unprofessional behaviour. She alleged that the trust cheated in concealing high mortality rates. Her whistle blowing allegations and subsequent treatment have been the subject of investigation by the
NHS Trust Development Authority The NHS Trust Development Authority (NHSTDA) was an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health. Its formation came as a result of reorganisation of the National Health Service (NHS) in England outlined in the Health and Soci ...
. She was suspended on full pay. In May 2016 an independent review by Lucy Scott-Moncrieff into her case, ordered by
Jeremy Hunt Sir Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (born 1 November 1966) is a British politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2022 to 2024 and Foreign Secretary from 2018 to 2019, having previously served as Secretary of State for Health a ...
, condemned the trust for what it described as "significantly flawed" and "unfair" treatment of her. The trust was in dispute about £4 million funding for nurses with the Wolverhampton
Clinical commissioning group Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) were National Health Service (England), National Health Service (NHS) organisations set up by the Health and Social Care Act 2012 to replace Strategic health authority, strategic health authorities and NHS pr ...
which was subject to arbitration. The arbitration hearing sided in favour of the trust leaving it with £2 million to pay for seven-day working and supervisory ward nurses, and in favour of the CCG for 135 nurses employed to improve staffing on the wards, meaning £2 million was withdrawn. The trust decided in November 2017 that it would reduce the number of full-time equivalent band five registered nurses by 23.58 to a total of 507.85 and increase the number of band four care staff roles from 6 to 30.52 to reflect the addition of 24 nursing associate roles. This decision was criticised by the chief executive of the
Royal College of Nursing The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is a registered trade union and professional body in the United Kingdom for those in the profession of nursing. It was founded in 1916 as the College of Nursing, receiving its royal charter in 1928. Queen Eliz ...
as substitution of nurses and a risk to patients. In December 2020, the trust reported that, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of patients presenting to A&E departments during 2020 was substantially lower than in 2019. In May 2021, the chief executive of the trust described an unexplained increase in the number of A&E attendances to "absolutely unprecendented levels" throughout the trust.


See also

*
List of NHS trusts This list of NHS trusts in England provides details of current and former English NHS trusts, NHS foundation trusts, acute hospital trusts, ambulance trusts, mental health trust A mental health trust provides health and social care service ...
*
Healthcare in West Midlands Healthcare in the West Midlands has been the responsibility of three integrated care boards (ICBs) since July 2022. These replaced the former clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) of Birmingham and Solihull, Coventry and Warwickshire, Sandwell an ...


References


External links

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CQC inspection reports
{{Authority control NHS trusts Health in the West Midlands (county)