A senior NHS leader has highlighted a concerning divide within Bristol’s healthcare system — an invisible boundary between two NHS trusts that could influence the care patients receive depending on which side they live.
This boundary separates the North Bristol NHS Trust (NBT), which operates Southmead Hospital, from University Hospitals Bristol and Weston (UHBW), responsible for Bristol Royal Infirmary, city centre hospitals, and Weston General. Tim Whittlestone, chief medical officer at NBT, expressed deep concerns about how this “artificial line” affects patient outcomes.
Speaking at a joint health overview and scrutiny committee meeting for Bristol City Council, North Somerset Council, and South Gloucestershire Council on May 22, Mr Whittlestone shared a personal experience: “I used to live in Henleaze and was really worried that if I had chest pain, I’d be uncertain which way the ambulance would turn at the end of my street. Because depending on its route, I might have had a different outcome. And that is simply not acceptable.”
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With over 30 years’ experience within Bristol’s NHS, Mr Whittlestone described how this geographic division has fostered unnecessary competition between the trusts, particularly in services like urology. When he started, the urology departments at NBT and UHBW often competed, sometimes to the detriment of patient care. Since then, the urology services have been unified under NBT’s management.
Despite this progress, he revealed that some 70 services remain duplicated between the two trusts, leading to competition for staff, patients, funding, and resources — a system not in the best interests of the local population.
To address this, Bristol’s two NHS trusts have recently merged governance, sharing a chair and chief executive since December 2023, and formally established the Bristol NHS Group hospital network in April 2024. The next step involves consolidating more services into single managed entities while continuing to utilize all existing facilities.
“The goal is not to close anything but to ensure equal access to care for all communities,” Mr Whittlestone emphasized. “It shouldn’t matter which way the ambulance turns. By managing services as one, we aim to deliver the same excellent standard of care no matter where you live.”
Some services, such as cardiology, have already been unified under this approach, with demonstrated benefits for patients. Over the next 18 months, plans are underway to combine 44 more duplicated services into single managed units, promising a more streamlined and equitable healthcare experience for Bristol residents.