County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust

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County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust
Former nameCounty Durham and Darlington Acute Hospitals NHS Trust
TypeNHS foundation trust
Established1 February 2007 (2007-02-01)[1]
HeadquartersHollyhurst Road
Darlington
DL3 6HX[2]
Budget£638 million (operating expenses in 2022/23)[3]
Hospitals
Staff7,294 (2022/23)[4]
Websitewww.cddft.nhs.uk Edit this at Wikidata

County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust (CDDFT) is an NHS Foundation Trust based in North East England. It runs two acute hospitals in University Hospital of North Durham and Darlington Memorial Hospital as well as further non-acute centres at Shotley Bridge Hospital, Sedgefield Community Hospital, Richardson Community Hospital, Weardale Community Hospital, Bishop Auckland Hospital and Chester-le-Street Hospital.[5] The Chief Executive is Sue Jacques.[6] The most recent review of the Trust by the Care Quality Commission in 2019 provided an "Overall: Good" rating.[7]

History[edit]

On 1 October 2002, South Durham Health Care NHS Trust merged with North Durham Health Care NHS Trust to form a new Trust, County Durham and Darlington Acute Hospitals NHS Trust (CDDAH), in order to solve capacity problems.[8][9] CDDAH applied for foundation trust status in June 2006 to gain more control of finances and services.[10] Its application was approved and it became County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust in February 2007.[11]

In 2015 the trust established a subsidiary company, Synchronicity Care Ltd. 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. The Value Added Tax Act 1994 provides a mechanism through which NHS trusts can qualify for refunds on contracted out services.[12]

In 2018 it made a 14-year managed service agreement with Royal Philips Electronics to run imaging and cardiology services across four sites.[13]

Performance[edit]

Four-hour target in the emergency department quarterly figures from NHS England Data from https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ae-waiting-times-and-activity/

The Trust logged 1570 breaches of the 30 minute handover rule from ambulances to its A&E department during 2013 as well as 360 breaches of the 60 minute target, triggering fines of £674,000.[14]

A Care Quality Commission survey found that the Trust was among the best in England for its maternity services in December 2013.[15] A subsequent review by the CQC noted that "People were not being protected from the risks of unsafe or inappropriate care and treatment because accurate and appropriate records were not always being maintained."[16]

From September 2017 all referrals to the trust are made electronically using the NHS e-Referral Service. This has reduced the rate of patients missing appointments from 10% to 5%.[17]

Research[edit]

The Trust set up trial of a digital self-testing service for patients using Warfarin in 2013. They are given a Roche CoaguChek XS monitor and testing strips. This gives a reading of their international normalised ratio, a measure of how quickly blood clots – which they can share with clinic staff via an automated phone call. The software which drives the automated process is produced by Inhealthcare Ltd. The 200 patients on the trial improved the time they were in therapeutic range from 60% of the time to 75% which reduces the risk of complications. They no longer have to come to the hospital every two weeks and are less likely to be admitted. Patients are enthusiastic about the benefits.[18]

It set up an artificial intelligence model using risk stratification digital tools to protect patients from acute kidney injury in 2021. Hospital-acquired acute kidney injury fell by more than 80%. This saved the trust more than £2 million in direct costs.[19]

Finances[edit]

In the financial year 2022-23, the trust had £656 million in operating income and operating expenses of £638 million.[3] As of June 2019, CDDFT has three ongoing private finance initiative (PFI) contracts, which were used to build University Hospital of North Durham (UHND), Chester le Street Community Hospital (CLS), and Bishop Auckland Hospital (BAH). They were taken out in March 1998, May 2002, and May 1999 and borrowed £92.6 million, £13.2 million, and £49.9 million, respectively. All the contracts have an ending date 30 years from signing.[20]

Education[edit]

The trust currently hosts medical students from Newcastle University Medical School across sites.[21]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust". cddft.nhs.uk. Archived from the original on 14 March 2007. Retrieved 31 May 2024. On 31st January it was announced that this Trust will become County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust with effect from 1st February 2007...The Trust was authorised by Monitor, the independent regulator, from 1st February. The new Trust was constituted formally on 2nd February.
  2. ^ "Contact us". County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  3. ^ a b "Annual Report and Accounts 1 April 2022 – 31 March 2023" (PDF). County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust. 29 June 2023. p. 123. Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 May 2024. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  4. ^ "Annual Report and Accounts 1 April 2022 – 31 March 2023" (PDF). County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust. 29 June 2023. p. 84. Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 May 2024. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  5. ^ "Our Hospitals". www.cddft.nhs.uk. County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  6. ^ "Sue Jacques". www.hfma.org.uk. HFMA. Archived from the original on 11 November 2014. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  7. ^ "County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust Requires improvement". Care Quality Commission. Care Quality Commission. Retrieved 8 July 2017.
  8. ^ "Hospital trusts merger backed". The Northern Echo. 26 March 2002. Archived from the original on 31 May 2024. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  9. ^ "NHS - County Durham and Darlington Acute Hospitals NHS Trust". County Durham and Darlington Acute Hospitals NHS Trust. Archived from the original on 13 October 2002. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  10. ^ "Foundation status hope for trust". BBC News. 13 June 2006. Archived from the original on 31 May 2024. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  11. ^ Barron, Peter (13 April 2017). "A decade of care: Chief Executive Sue Jacques looks back on 10 years of the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust". The Northern Echo. Archived from the original on 31 May 2024. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  12. ^ "In full: Trusts with staff transfer plans". Health Service Journal. 14 February 2017. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
  13. ^ "NHS trust and Philips agree 14-year partnership". Building better Healthcare. 26 November 2018. Retrieved 25 December 2018.
  14. ^ "Huge fines for NHS trusts as thousands of patients are kept waiting in ambulances". Northern Echo. 25 November 2013. Retrieved 14 December 2013.
  15. ^ "Bosses explain why maternity services are now in 'top ten' nationally". Northern Echo. 13 December 2013. Retrieved 14 December 2013.
  16. ^ "Inspection Summary: People's personal records, including medical records, should be accurate and kept safe and confidential (outcome 21)". cqc.org.uk. Care Quality Commission. Archived from the original on 27 November 2014. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
  17. ^ "Hospital trusts become first to fully adopt e-referral system". Health care Leader. 19 September 2017. Archived from the original on 14 October 2017. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
  18. ^ "Patient experience special report: Quality care begins at home". Health Service Journal. 25 September 2014. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
  19. ^ "County Durham and Darlington improves patient safety with AI". Digital Health. 27 July 2022. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  20. ^ "P F I Contracts - a Freedom of Information request to County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust" (PDF). WhatDoTheyKnow. 8 June 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 June 2024. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
  21. ^ "Wear Base Unit". ncl.ac.uk. Newcastle University. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 15 November 2014.

External links[edit]