Bath & North East Somerset Council says it’s welcomed news that the Royal United Hospital in Bath has achieved NHS Foundation Trust status.
The independent regulator, Monitor, approved its application following months of assessment. To reflect its new status, the RUH’s formal title will be changed to ‘Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust’.
Councillor Simon Allen (Lib-Dem, Radstock), the Council’s Cabinet Member for Wellbeing and Chair of its Health and Wellbeing Board as well as the Council’s representative on the RUH’s Council of Governors, said: “This is excellent news for the RUH and means it now has more control over how its services are structured and run in order to meet the needs of the local community.
This development enables our organisations to continue working flexibly together to deliver on our local Health and Wellbeing Strategy, creating a world-class health and wellbeing system fit for the 21st century.”
You can look up further information on what NHS Foundation Trust status means to patients, communities and the public on the RUH website http://www.ruh.nhs.uk/foundationtrust/
The Virtual Museum is keen to know how this new status might affect the long-term future of the historic Mineral Water Hospital.
Whether it is now regarded as surplus to requirements and whether selling it might raise funds to be used by the new Trust elsewhere.
