The Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust provides acute hospital services (at the Great Western Hospital) and community health and maternity services across Wiltshire and parts of Bath and North East Somerset. These services include community hospitals, community nursing, therapists, children's and young people's services along with hospital based maternity services from the Princess Anne Wing at the Royal United Hospital in Bath.
At the Great Western Hospital we have all of the facilities you would expect to find in a busy general hospital including an Emergency Department, Delivery Suite, a full range of diagnostics tests such as X-ray, MRI and CT scans, outpatient clinics and 21 inpatient wards. We provide these services in a very modern environment ensuring patients have privacy and dignity throughout their care.
Our priority whether you are cared for in hospital or in the community is to provide safe, high quality health services and we have an impressive track record on issues such as patient safety and infection control. In fact, over the past five years the number of cases of MRSA have fallen by 75% - in 2011/12 there were just two MRSA Bacteraemia cases at the Great Western Hospital.
We take a proactive approach to improving the way we provide care, continually looking for ways we can do things better. This means we invest in the latest technology and training for our staff so we keep up with changes in how care and treatment is given.
Some of our latest service developments include:
At the Great Western Hospital:
In the community:
We have approximately 5,500 staff who pride themselves in delivering an outstanding service to patients and users. We recognise that being cared for well is not just about having the right clinical treatment it is about much more - the way you are spoken to, the quality of the food, the level of privacy, dignity and respect you are treated with and so much more.
We work hard to get these things right and when we fall short of these high standards we welcome your feedback so we can improve how we do things.
As a Foundation Trust we are a membership organisation, accountable to local people through our Council of Governors. We have over 12,000 members which include staff, patients and the public and you are welcome to join us to help influence how we do things as a healthcare provider. For more information visit our Members page.
Great Western Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Charitable Fund is a registered Charity (Registered Charity No: 1050892) that raises funds for Great Western Hospital and community health and maternity services across Wiltshire and parts of Bath and North East Somerset.
GWH Charitable Fund raises money to deliver an extraordinary provision of care, providing an environment for patients and staff which enables efficient and ambitious health services to be delivered. The Charitable Fund raises money for equipment, capital projects, research, staff training and other equipment that falls outside of the NHS budget to help to ensure that patients and their families receive the best possible provision of care. For more information about fundraising opportunities please visit our Support us section.
The Great Western Hospital opened in 2002 following a move from the Princess Margaret Hospital in Swindon. In December 2008 we were authorised as a Foundation Trust which means we are free to run our own affairs and invest any money we have into the frontline services we want. Since becoming a Foundation Trust, the freedom it has given us has led to many of the investments in services you will see at the Great Western Hospital.
Following a competitive process in Autumn 2010 we were selected as the preferred provider of Wiltshire Community Health services (WCHS) and subsequently WCHS and GWH formally merged on 1st June 2011. Since then we have provided not only acute hospital services but a whole range of community health services in Wiltshire. As a result of the merger we have become one of the largest maternity providers in the country responsible for the delivery of over 9,000 babies a year.
Our aim for the next stage of our journey is to work more closely with our partners to provide more joined up care between the acute hospitals, community services, GPs and Local Authorities and the voluntary sector helping to improve care for patients and services users at all times.