From 1 April 2007, the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust assumes responsibility for services provided by Belfast City Hospital, The Royal Hospitals, The Mater Hospital, Greenpark Healthcare Trust, North and West Belfast and South and East Belfast HSS Trusts.
The six Trusts which join to form the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust each have a successful and distinguished history and come together to provide an integrated and comprehensive range of health and social care for the people of Northern Ireland and beyond.
The Belfast Health and Social Care Trust employs nearly 22,000 staff (one in 30 of the total NI workforce), providing services for more than 340,000 people in Belfast and regional services to the whole of Northern Ireland.
The new Trust has three key targets:
to provide safe and modernised services
to meet Government targets on access to treatment and care
to balance the books
Our values
The Trust has four core values that underpin everything we do.
• Treat everyone with respect and dignity – our colleagues, our patients and clients.
• Be open and transparent in all our dealings, with the aim of winning the public’s trust in us as an organisation.
• Be personally and professionally accountable for all the resources at our fingertips- whether this is money or people
• Be a learning and developing organisation – learning from mistakes and also developing staff to support them in the jobs they do.
Corporate objectives
On the firm foundation of our values we have set five strategic corporate objectives. These are:
• Safety
• Modernisation
• Partnerships
• Staff
• Resources
Safety
We work constantly to provide safe care and quality outcomes. We see the tackling of Health Care Acquired Infections (HCAIs) as a priority and are also proud to be part of a Safer Patient Initiative (SPI) that listens and acts on staff’s views, and ensures continuous improvement.
Modernisation
The merging of six Trusts gave us an opportunity to reform and review our health and social services – working in an different way for the benefit of our service users.
We will localise services where possible and centralise where necessary, use all our buildings in a way that delivers services most effectively, and make sure that everyone gets access to expert help and treatment as quickly as possible.
Partnerships
We will improve health and wellbeing through partnerships with a range of individuals, representative groups and organisations. Our services will be citizen centred – designed around listening to needs and putting the people who use the services at the centre of everything we do.
Staff
We aim to win recognition as an Investor in People organisation that respects its staff, communicates effectively with them and provides appropriate learning and development to support everyone in being the best they can be.
Resources
It’s possible to improve services and save money by encouraging innovative thinking and listening to people. So for example if we provide some outpatient, treatment and review services near to people’s homes in one of our Wellbeing and Treatment Centres, we reduce journey times and the impact of our business on the environment.
We work to make best use of our budget by improving performance and productivity and staying in control of the money to ensure that money is not our main driver. Our business remains the delivery of safe, effective, quality care.
