Centre of Excellence

Visits to hospitals at any time can be traumatic whether you are simply visiting, there for a consultation with a medical specialist or something more that requires ongoing treatment and possibly a stay on a ward.

Southampton General Hospital’s reputation is as impressive as it looks and as a large teaching hospital within the University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust provides services to around 1.3 million people living in Southampton and south Hampshire, plus specialist services such as neurosciences, cardiac services and children's intensive care to more than three million people in central southern England and the Channel Islands.

So I have a feeling of re-assurance that all of the many visits I have made there accompanying my wife over many months will eventually bear fruit.

The hospital houses centres of excellence in the treatment of gastro-intestinal conditions, cancer, heart disease, respiratory illness, neurological disease and illnesses affecting children as well as accident and emergency situations, and has its own helipad for air ambulances to land right next door to A&E.

Because of that reputation it is fortunate to benefit from a high number of specialist consultants and plays a leading role in the development of new and improved treatments for NHS patients.

The figures are staggering. A total 9,500 staff at all levels, treating around 140,000 inpatients and day patients every year, including about 50,000 emergency admissions; it sees approximately 460,000 people at outpatient appointments during a year; and deals with around 120,000 cases in the emergency department over 12 months.

According to the hospital’s website, providing these services costs more than £1.6 million a day.

I just pray those claims to excellence can resolve our problems swiftly.