Report of a Clinical Governance Review at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Nhs Trust

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is a three star trust. It was formed on 1 April 2001, following the merger of Northern General Hospital and Central Sheffield University Hospitals NHS Trust. The new trust is a large and complex organisation, incorporating the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Northern General Hospital, Jessop Wing, Weston Park Hospital andCharles Clifford Dental Hospital. It is one of the largest NHS Trusts in the UK, employing over 12,000 staff with an annual revenue budget in excess of £420 million. For this report, CHI looked at clinical governance in the trust and spoke to staff in three clinical teams: stroke, colorectal cancer and gynaecology disorders. CHI concluded that the human resources (HR) strategy needs to be implemented.The trust needs to develop and implement an education and training strategy, and associated policies. The backlog of unfiled patient information needs to be resolved urgently. Communication between referring clinicians from local hospitals and trust clinicians needs to be reviewed and improved. Communication within and between directorates needs to be improved to facilitate the sharing of best practice. The trust needs to further improve discharge arrangements for patients in partnership with other members of the health and social care community.