| Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust | |
|---|---|
| Type | NHS foundation trust |
| Established | 4 November 1992 |
| Headquarters | Reading,Berkshire, England |
| Hospitals | |
| Chief executive | Steve McManus |
| Staff | 5,644 (2021/22)[1] |
| Website | www |
TheRoyal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust is anNHS foundation trust responsible for the management of theRoyal Berkshire Hospital inReading, Berkshire, as well as the Prince Charles Eye Unit and the Dialysis Unit, both inWindsor; Bracknell Healthspace, Townlands Hospital inHenley-on-Thames, andWest Berkshire Community Hospital, which is betweenNewbury andThatcham.
The trust was established as theRoyal Berkshire and Battle Hospitals NHS Trust on 4 November 1992, and became operational on 1 April 1993.[2]
In 2008 the trust established a subsidiary company, Healthcare Facilities Management Services Ltd, to run two new health centres in Bracknell and Reading. The intention was to achieve VAT benefits, as well as pay bill savings, by recruiting new staff on less expensive non-NHS contracts. VAT benefits arise because NHS trusts can only claim VAT back on a small subset of goods and services they buy. TheValue Added Tax Act 1994 provides a mechanism through which NHS trusts can qualify for refunds on contracted out services.[3]
The trust's plans to build a pre-operative assessment block at the Reading hospital site were approved byReading Borough Council in March 2015, although councillors complained that car parking at the site was "abominably managed".[4]
In May 2020, the trust made an agreement withBabylon Health to use their 'Ask A&E'triage tool for a year. A longer-term partnership is under consideration.[5]
In August 2020, Reading’s Royal Berkshire Hospital piloted an Emergency Department for elderly and frail people.[6]
The trust's chief executive is Steve McManus, in post since January 2017. He began his NHS career as a registered nurse.[7] In August 2020, McManus was seconded to theNHS Test and Trace programme.[8]
The Trust established a Hospital at Home service in 2015. Suitable patients are taken home, where a nurse will agree a care plan tailored to their condition. The average length of "stay" on the home care scheme between three and four days for each patient. It was anticipated that up to 1,600 people in West Berkshire each year would use the scheme.[9]
In theEnd of Life Care Audit – Dying in Hospital carried out by theRoyal College of Physicians in 2016, the Trust did well, with scores between 82% and 96% across the five indicators, while the national average was between 56% and 84%.[10]
In January 2020, the Trust was found to fail meeting its performance of the last five years in providing A&E services to patients, with thousands of patients having to wait for more than four hours to be seen in A&E.[11][12]
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