Merger and reconfiguration
On 1 October 2020, the two trusts that ran Poole Hospital and the Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals merged to form University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust (UHD), with ambitious plans to improve and transform services for patients.
This merger has been nine years in the making, with an earlier proposal prohibited by the Competition and Markets Authority. Since then, the two trusts have been working with partners across Dorset to develop a compelling future vision for the transformation of services. Clinicians and staff across both trusts, along with key local stakeholders, are now very clear that the merger will bring about significant benefits for patients.
The new organisation is designated as a 'university hospital trust', having formalised the links with Bournemouth University that both hospital trusts have enjoyed for many years. This reinforces the commitment of the new organisation to expanding research, fostering innovation and prioritising education and training.
The new University Hospitals Dorset employs more than 9,000 staff and has an annual turnover of more than £630m. Each hospital – Poole Hospital, the Royal Bournemouth Hospital and Christchurch Hospital – will retain its own name, and will benefit from significant future investment, planned for all three sites as part of the trust's ambitious capital programme.
Read the merger announcement in full here.
Watch again the 'As One Show' a virtual celebration event held for staff and public on merger day, hosted by trust chief executive, Debbie Fleming, and trust chairman David Moss.
