Careers with the Royal United Hospital Bath

Thank you for showing an interest in the Director of Facilities & Estates role. We have ambitious plans for the directorate – raising the standard of maintenance and delivery to the highest standard whilst developing a more strategic approach to the estate.

Since its inception, the Trust has struggled to fulfil its potential for a variety of reasons. Underinvestment of the past has impacted on our infrastructure, reputation and staff.  This is firmly behind us now and with the support of my board, staff and Strategic Health Authority, we have identified, agreed and are delivering on a radical programme of transformation.

Already, we have made a huge achievement in returning a surplus in 07/08 of £1.9million; we are no longer designated as financially challenged. Additionally, we have been recognised as one of the top 40 highest performing hospitals for patient safety and quality of care, though our ambition is to be the best.

We are working on plans to invest £100million in the site, which have now been endorsed by the Board.   I have put into place interim director arrangements within the estates and facilities department who have already begun the turnaround and transformation ready for you to pick up on your appointment.  The consultants employed are career consultants and will be retained to facilitate a handover, or provide additional support if needed in the future.  To aid the work they are doing, we also recently recruited a Deputy Director of Facilities and Estates Andy House who brings to the Trust outstanding engineering and leadership experience gained from within the private sector and latterly NHS.

This is a great opportunity for you to join our board, and help shape the footprint on what will be achieved at the end of our initial five-year plan.  The key areas we are focussing on are:

• Achieving foundation trust status
• Removing all historic debt
• RUH as an excellent hospital
• Major acute trust but working in partnership with community health partners, private sector and university teaching hospitals
• A good place to work attracting high quality staff
• An estate able to deliver modern, safe and efficient healthcare
• Devolved accountability through business units

Alongside your immediate responsibilities, as a corporate director we would also like your input in the following areas, which we are the focus for our business plan in the current financial year:

• Patient safety and experience
• Staff experience including education and training
• Business Delivery
• Organisational development and improvement

You can see from this, ahead of you lies a commercially, intellectually and technically challenging role, where no two days will be the same.  I hope this inspires your interest and I look forward to receiving your application.

James Scott
Chief Executive
Royal United Hospital Bath NHS Trust