Partnership Trust set to welcome Minister of State for Health

Published by Russ Cockburn for Danks Cockburn Public Relations Ltd in Health and also in Central Government, Communities, Local Government

Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Partnership NHS Trust, the newly created Partnership Trust, is to be officially launched by The Right Honourable Simon Burns MP, Minister of State for Health, later this month.

The launch will be held on Monday 14 November 2011 at Haywood Hospital in Burslem, one of the Trust’s community hospitals.

It will be the first opportunity for the Partnership Trust to bring together a range of partners, staff, patients and stakeholders and thank them for helping to shape the new organisation.

The event will also outline the vision for the future, which will focus on delivering more health and social care services to patients either in their own home or closer to home, so that they don’t have to go through the trauma of going into or being urgently taken into hospital.

Where patients unfortunately have to be admitted, there will also be a high quality package of care put in place to allow them to leave hospital, when they are fit to do so, quickly, striving for continual improvements.

Dr Nigel Ratcliffe, Chairman of Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Partnership NHS Trust, said: “We are delighted that we will be able to welcome the Minister to the area. His presence will undoubtedly make a huge impact and help us to mark the establishment of the Partnership Trust.

“By holding the event at the Haywood Hospital, we have the perfect opportunity of profiling one of our key services, including the clinical and laboratory research that is one of the best facilities of its type in the world.

“This is just one important element of the wide range of services we will be responsible for. In total, we will deliver the best possible care to more than 1.1million people and this will be achieved by expert staff in locations ranging from Burton upon Trent to Tamworth, from Lichfield to Wombourne and from Leek to Stafford and Cannock.

“This will include our other community hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, in the community, in prisons and in patients’ homes.  As the key provider of community services, we also work closely with a range of partners, including local GPs, local authorities, the police, fire service and other NHS organisations to offer the very best care.”

In line with the government directive for local NHS services to separate their structures into provision and commissioning arms, the Partnership Trust has brought together 5,000 provider staff from three NHS organisations – NHS Stoke-on-Trent, NHS North Staffordshire and South Staffordshire Primary Care Trust.                

The creation of Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Partnership NHS Trust required formal approval by the Secretary of State for Health which was given in August.

Nigel continued: “Our objectives for the organisation are a clear response to the wishes of our community, who clearly want the provision of health and care in the home or community and prevent the need for hospital admissions. 

“We are in advanced talks with Staffordshire County Council to integrate health and social care, which will give people one point of access to their care.  I am personally very keen to share this work and our vision for the future locally, regionally and nationally.”