The Council has welcomed news that the Royal United Hospital in Bath has achieved NHS Foundation Trust status, after an announcement was made last week.
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.”
Further information on what NHS Foundation Trust status means to patients, communities and the public is available on the RUH website http://www.ruh.nhs.uk/foundationtrust/.
