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Acute trusts

What is an acute trust?
Help on using the contact and organisational information on the factsheet
Help on using the statistical information on the factsheet

What is an Acute trust?



Hospitals are managed by acute trusts, which make sure that hospitals provide high quality health care, and that they spend their money efficiently. They also decide on a strategy for how the hospital will develop, so that services improve.

Acute trusts employ a large part of the NHS workforce, including nurses, doctors, pharmacists, midwives and health visitors, as well as people doing jobs related to medicine – physiotherapists, radiographers, podiatrists, speech and language therapists, counsellors, occupational therapists and psychologists. There are many other non-medical staff employed by acute trusts, including receptionists, porters, cleaners, specialists in information technology, managers, engineers, caterers and domestic and security staff.

Some acute trusts are regional or national centres for more specialised care. Others are attached to universities and help to train health professionals. Acute trusts can also provide services in the community, for example through health centres, clinics or in people's homes.


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Help on using the contact and organisational information at the start of each factsheet



This attempts to explain what all the terms mean and point users towards sources of further information where appropriate.

The name of each organisation is linked to its website when available or known. The usual hand will appear when the mouse is passed over the name if the link is in place.

Local Authorities - these can be defined as "all" or "part". "All" is when the boundary of the local authority is wholly within the boundary of this organisation and "part" is when not all of the local authority boundary is within the boundary of this organisation. Please note that this distinction is not available for all factsheets.

Constituencies – aims to show relevant parliamentary constituencies and Members of Parliament (MP) for each Acute Trust. Lead MP - the headquarters address of this Acute Trust falls within the boundary of the MP's constituency whose name appears in bold typeface. Occasionally, two MP's names are in bold - this is where each have a large part of their constituencies within the boundaries of this Acute Trust. Constituencies and MP's names following have part of their constituency boundary within the boundary of this Acute Trust. Neighbouring MPs – the constituency boundaries of these MPs fall outside the boundary of this organisation. It is considered, however, that patients of these MPs use the services of this Acute Trust. Each MP’s political party is given and the following abbreviations are used: C – Conservative Party; LA – Labour Party; LD – Liberal Democrat Party; INDP - Independent; and RESPECT - Respect
Please note that detailed MP and constituency information is not available for all Acute Trusts.

Local Hospitals - Hospitals listed are those that patients living within the boundaries of this Acute Trust are thought to use. These hospitals are not necessarily, however, within the boundaries of this Acute Trust.

Address and telephone number - only the headquarters is given here – an acute trust may well have other buildings.

Strategic HA – this shows in which Strategic Health Authority (SHA) this Acute Trust is geographically situated. Factsheets are available for SHAs as is a helpsheet giving more information.

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Help on using the statistical information in the factsheet



Acute Trust Income / Turnover
  1. This table shows the income / turnover for this Acute Trust
  2. Total income or turnover is a measure of the size of NHS Acute Trusts. In 2003-04, these ranged from £10m to £627m. It includes income for the provision of patient care services from NHS bodies (principally Primary Care Trusts) and from other agencies. It also includes income not directly related to patient care, e.g. education, training, research, payroll services for other bodies, car parking, meals to staff, etc.
  3. The figure displays this income in thousands for the financial year given. (This display is caused by technical constraints within the database). For example, a figure displayed of £150,000 (thousand) means 150 million pounds.
  4. Figures are available for some trusts for periods prior to 1999-2000 but the number of reconfigurations of NHS trusts means that they are not available for all bodies and have therefore been omitted in the NHS factsheets.

Number of people waiting for inpatient treatment (including day cases)
  1. This table shows the number of people waiting for inpatient treatment (including day cases) for this NHS Acute Trust.
  2. The first column shows the total number of people waiting for treatment on the last day of the month given. The second column shows the number of people who have been on the waiting list for 13 weeks or more. The third column shows the number of people who have been on the waiting list for 20 weeks or more. The final column shows the number of people who have been on the waiting list for 26 weeks or more.
  3. The numbers do include patients living outside England, or privately funded patients, who are waiting for treatment at hospitals covered by this Trust.
  4. The numbers do not include:
    • patients admitted as emergency cases;
    • outpatients;
    • patients undergoing a planned programme of treatment e.g. a series of admissions for chemotherapy;
    • expectant mothers booked for confinement;
    • patients already in hospital but included on other waiting lists;
    • patients who are temporarily suspended from waiting lists for social reasons or because they are known to be not medically ready for treatment.
  5. When interpreting the figures it should be noted that about half of all patients (not including live babies) treated in hospitals are emergency cases and do not come from the waiting lists.
  6. Waiting times begin from the date the clinician decided to admit the patient. Patients subsequently offered a date but unable to attend have their waiting times calculated from the most recent date offered. These are known as self-deferred cases and are included in the total waiting.
  7. The Department of Health, in its Public Service Agreement with HM Treasury, has the national objective: “To ensure that by 2008 no-one waits more than 18 weeks from GP referral to hospital treatment”.
  8. Progress to meeting this objective will be locally monitored with reference to previous and existing national commitments, namely:
    • To achieve a maximum wait of 9 months for all inpatient waiters and reduce the number of 6-month inpatient waiters by 80% by end of March 2005, against the baseline of December 2002, as progress towards achieving a maximum 6 month wait for inpatients by December 2005, and ensuring an overall reduction in the total list size.


    Number of people waiting for outpatient treatment Referral to Treatment times for admitted patients

    Cancer Waiting Times (provider basis) Number of people waiting for revascularisation (Provider basis)
    1. This table shows the number of people waiting for revascularisation for this NHS Acute Trust. The procedures covered are coronary bypass surgery (CABG) and angioplasty (PTCA).
    2. The first column shows the total number of people waiting for CABG or PTCA treatment on the last day of the month given. The second column shows the number of people who have been on the waiting list for over 3 months but less than 6 months. The third column shows the number of people who have been on the waiting list for 6 months and over.
    3. The numbers do not include:
        • patients admitted as emergency cases;
        • outpatients;
        • patients already in hospital but included on other waiting lists;
        • patients who are temporarily suspended from waiting lists for social reasons or because they are known to be not medically ready for treatment.
    4. Waiting times begin from the date the clinician decided to admit the patient. Patients subsequently offered a date but unable to attend have their waiting times calculated from the most recent date offered. These are known as self-deferred cases and are included in the total waiting.
    5. The existing national commitment is to achieve a 3-month maximum wait for revascularisation (the umbrella term covering CABG and PTCA) by March 2005.
    Accident and Emergency Waiting Times
    1. This table shows the percentage of patients spending under four hours in an A&E department, for which this Trust is responsible, from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge during the quarter given.
    2. The figures are for all types of A&E department. In addition to major A&E departments in hospitals, this includes Walk in Centres and Minor Injury Units.
    3. The existing national commitment is to reduce to four hours the maximum wait in A&E from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge, by March 2004 for those Trusts who have completed the Emergency Services Collaborative and by the end of 2004 for all others.
    Cancelled Operations
    1. This table provides information about cancelled operations in this Trust.
    2. The first column shows the total number of operations cancelled for non-clinical reasons at the last minute in this Trust during the quarter given. The second column shows these cancelled operations as a percentage of all elective admissions to this Trust. The third column shows the number of breaches of the cancelled operations guarantee.
    3. The NHS Plan cancelled operation guarantee 2002 currently means that if a patient's operation is cancelled by the hospital at the last minute, the hospital will have to offer another binding date within a maximum of the next 28 days or fund the patient's treatment at the time and hospital of the patient's choice.
    Infections

    Reports under the mandatory MRSA bacteraemia surveillance system in acute NHS Trusts, 2001 onwards
    1. These tables provide data produced by the Health Protection Agency Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre for the Department of Health. Figures were published every 6 months, but publication moved to a quarterly footing from January 2007, with publication of data for quarters ending June and September 2006.
    2. More extensive MRSA results, including a breakdown of individual Trusts’ rates, can be found on the Health Protection Agency site; http://www.hpa.org.uk/infections/topics_az/hai/default.htm
    3. Care should be taken in making any comparisons betweeen Trusts. The level of MRSA bloodstream infections tends to be higher in Trusts that treat patients most vulnerable to infection, (i.e. through more invasive and high-risk, specialist care).
    4. See the following links for more information about MRSA and healthcare associated infections: http://www.dh.gov.uk/PolicyAndGuidance/HealthAndSocialCareTopics/HealthcareAcquiredInfection/fs/en

    HOSPITAL EPISODES

    Operations, Finished Consultant Episodes
    STAFFING HEADCOUNT

    Acute trust staffing numbers

    1. This table shows information on numbers of staff in this Trust. All numbers are shown on a headcount basis, not a full time equivalent basis and are derived from the annual workforce census taken in September each year.
    2. The first column shows the number of consultants in this Trust from the workforce census of the month given. The annual September census data for consultants are supplemented by mini-workforce censuses taken each quarter. The figures include Directors of Public Health, hospital medical consultants, public health medicine consultants, community health service consultants, consultants in dental public health medicine, hospital dental consultants and dental community health service consultants.
    3. The second column shows the number of doctors in training in this Trust from the workforce census of the month given. The figures include specialist registrars, senior registrars, registrars, foundation year 2, senior house officers, foundation year 1 and house officers.
    4. The third column shows the number of HCHS qualified nurses in this Trust from the workforce census of the month given. (HCHS stands for hospital, public health medicine and community health service). The figures include midwifery and health visiting staff, nurse consultants, nurse managers and bank nurses.
    5. The fourth column shows the number of qualified midwives in this Trust from the workforce census of the month given, and is a subset of the previous column.
    6. The fifth column shows the number of all qualified Scientific Therapeutic and Technical staff in this Trust from the workforce census of the month given. The figures include Allied Health Professionals (chiropodists/podiatrists, dieticians, occupational therapists, orthoptists, physiotherapists, radiographers, art/music/drama therapists, speech & language therapists) and other qualified Scientific, Therapeutic and Technical staff (clinical psychologists, medical physicists and pharmacists, pathologists).
    7. The sixth and final column shows the number of health care assistants (HCAs) in this Trust from the workforce census of the month given. The figures include all nursing assistants / auxiliaries; all HCAs and support workers in areas other than central functions - hotel, property, estates, and ambulance services; all scientific, therapeutic and technical (including healthcare scientists) helpers / assistants.

      For more detailed statistics and explanations, please consult the following link:

      http://www.ic.nhs.uk/statistics-and-data-collections/workforce/nhs-numbers
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