Annual report t accounts 2024-25
Trust Annual Report, Accounts and Opinion for April 2024 – March 2025
Foreword from the Chair and Chief Executive
The past year has been one of significant change and challenge for Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust (BHT). With a new government, international conflicts, rising costs of living, and industrial action, the financial pressures on the NHS have increased. Our ageing estates continue to present issues, yet amidst these challenges, our over 7,000 colleagues and volunteers have remained dedicated to delivering outstanding care in sometimes difficult circumstances. The early onset of winter viruses made this year particularly tough.
As we reflect on the year, it is important to remind ourselves of the achievements that make us proud to be BHT. The National Spinal Injuries Centre celebrated its 80th anniversary, marking its unique position as the only spinal unit in the country with a dedicated ward for children and young people, and an upper limb studio. The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh honoured us with their visit in November as part of the celebrations.
To improve patient outcomes and experiences, we have continued to invest in state-of-the-art equipment. This year including new CT and MRI scanners at Amersham Hospital to enhance patient safety and recovery. Additionally, we have invested in new facilities including a new 21-bed ward, the Emergency Medicine Receiving Unit, to support flow in our emergency pathways.
Our teams have also focused on improving how we work. The Day Surgery team at Stoke Mandeville completed their first-ever High Intensity Theatres (HIT) list in November, performing 33 pain procedures in a single day, a 60% increase from the usual 20, helping more patients suffering from debilitating pain.
Whilst we are still not where we want to be, we have been successful in reducing waiting times for our children and young people’s services. For example, 92% of children and young people are now seen by our integrated therapies team in less than 18 weeks compared to 60% in January 2024.
As an integrated acute and community trust, we are increasingly supporting people to stay well and out of hospital. During the year we saw an increase in the number of planned and emergency visits made each day by our district nurses, increasing from 750 in 2023/24 to 845.
As part of a collaborative working agreement with Novartis Pharmaceuticals UK Limited, the Trust has created the Buckinghamshire Lipid Optimisation Programme which proactively reaches out to patients with a history of cardiovascular disease and high cholesterol, offering them cholesterol lowering therapies which reduce their risk of heart attacks or strokes.
Our Health on the High Street located in Friars Square Shopping Centre, Aylesbury, celebrated its first anniversary, and we are planning to open a second unit in Wycombe next year. Thanks to our maternity team, we have significantly reduced the number of people who are still smokers at the time of their baby’s birth to 4% in March 2025, compared to the national average of 5.9%. We also have one of the highest rates of breastfeeding initiation in the country, giving babies born in our organisation the healthiest start in life.
In February 2025, we agreed our approach to implementing Integrated Neighbourhood Teams (INTs) across Buckinghamshire, building on the valuable learning gained from pilot programmes delivered across the county. This work represents a significant step towards delivering more coordinated, personalised care to improve outcomes for local communities with a focus on preventative care and early intervention.
Supporting the health and wellbeing of our colleagues remains a key priority. In the 2023/24 national NHS Staff Survey, Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust scored 70% for supporting the health and wellbeing of its employees, significantly better than the national average of 57%, making us the 4th best in the country among 122 similar trusts. We have signed up to the NHS National Sexual Safety Charter and received White Ribbon Accreditation in November, recognising our commitment to preventing harassment, abuse, and violence against women and girls. November also saw the launch of ‘See Me First,’ encouraging colleagues to support each other and challenge racism.
We have made significant progress in almost all areas where we set objectives, achieving positive results, most notably in our Emergency Department which in March 2025 met the national standard of 78% of people being seen, treated and discharged or admitted to hospital within four hours of arrival. As a result, the department has climbed from 48th to 18th place in the country for A&E performance* and is consistently now the second-best performing A&E in the South East region. Ambulance handover times have also significantly reduced during this period and we have consistently exceeded the national Urgent Community Response target of 70% seeing, on average, 91% of patients within two hours.
These achievements are a result of passion, improvement, and hard work across our hospital and community teams. As we look forward to the coming year, we remain committed to providing excellent service to those who need our care and helping the population stay healthy, ensuring the Trust’s sustainability in the future.
2025 will be a key year for digital improvement. We have projects underway to remove the many hundreds of paper forms we use to document patient journeys, and to deliver a leading-edge Electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration (ePMA)solution. This will help reduce errors and speed up the discharge process for patients ready to leave hospital with the medications they need. We continue to explore the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to deliver both patient care and to support administrative processes.
Thank you to all colleagues, volunteers and partners who have made 2024/25 a year to be proud of. We are grateful to work alongside you and look forward to continuing our journey together to make improvements for our patients, colleagues, and the communities we serve.