Making the most of every pound we spend

Objective for 2008/09

Barts and The London’s strong financial record continued with a financial surplus for the fourth year running.  Our funding comes mainly from the public purse, so it is crucial to ensure that we provide efficient and effective services for our patients.

In 2008/09, we introduced a range of measures to improve efficiency, which not only saves us money, but more importantly, provides our patients with more seamless and effective care.  Key among these has been the introduction of Lean methodology [see page 3].

At the same time, we continue to invest in major infrastructure developments to provide strong foundations for future efficiency.  In particular, we have introduced the Care Record Service computer system, which, ultimately, will deliver opportunities for more effective working across the organisation.  And our £1 billion new hospitals programme has made dramatic progress over the year.

Making the switch to the Care Records Service

In April 2008, Barts and The London became the first major London teaching hospital to make the switch to the NHS Care Records Service (CRS). The foundation phase of the new system is now in use across the Trust’s three hospitals, as well as in NHS Tower Hamlets.

It is the biggest change in the way we handle patient information in over 30 years and marks a significant milestone towards the introduction of electronic healthcare records for patients. CRS is a major investment in technology for the future, one that will bring substantial improvements to the speed, safety and quality of patient care and treatment.

Electronic records will ultimately replace the many separate records that are held for the same patient, which may be on paper, on several different computer systems, or on film. As we roll out further functionality over the next three to four years, the CRS system will be key to providing support for clinicians in their efficient and effective care of our patients.

Implementing CRS at the Trust has been challenging for staff at all levels and we are working closely with our partners from BT, Cerner and the London Programme for IT (LPfIT) to improve ease of use of the system and ensure that it delivers its maximum potential benefits for our staff, patients and primary care colleagues.

World’s biggest new hospitals development

Barts and The London is undergoing a £1 billion redevelopment project, which when complete, The Royal London will be Britain’s biggest new hospital, providing general and specialist services to east London and beyond.

At Barts, construction has reached an advanced stage on the first phase of the Cancer and Cardiac Centre of Excellence.

This new eight-storey building at the heart of The City, purpose-built to house our flagship cancer and cardiac services, is being constructed in two halves, with the Cancer Centre due to open next year and the Cardiac Centre set to be operational by 2014. 

At the same time, construction work is progressing well at The Royal London.  The new hospital has transformed the cityscape of east London, and will be operational in 2012 in time for the Olympic Games.  The new towers at The Royal London will house the majority of clinical services, including London’s leading trauma and emergency care centre, one of the UK’s busiest children’s hospitals and the helipad for London’s Air Ambulance (HEMS).

The new hospitals project is integral to wider plans for modernising health services across east London.

FAST FACT: The new building at The Royal London provides an extra 142,000 square metres of floor space – that’s the equivalent of 23 football pitches!

Looking forward

With the external cladding in place, the new buildings will appear finished from the outside. However, creating the internal infrastructure, and fitting them out, will continue behind the scenes for some time.

The New Hospitals team is working closely with specialties and departments to help them organise their moves into the new buildings.  As part of these preparations, there are visits to the sites so that staff can familiarise themselves with their surroundings and consider new ways of working.