South Warwickshire health trust plans name change
SOUTH Warwickshire Foundation Trust is changing what it is called despite concerns that the new name is cumbersome and a switch will be costly.
From the 1st August the new name sees the addition of ‘university’, making its full name: South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust.
The trust is managed by a board of directors and runs four hospitals: Stratford, Leamington, Warwick and the Ellen Badger.
The new name acknowledges the trust’s links with the University of Warwick.
A spokesperson said: “The two organisations are working together to enhance our approach to medical education, teaching and research development.
“Cementing and promoting our partnership with Warwick University will support opportunities to undertake more research, and it will position ourselves well within the extremely competitive recruitment market.”
To underpin the new partnership Paramjit Singh Gill, a professor from the university, joins SWFT’s board of directors.
Before going ahead with the new name the trust undertook an engagement process, consulting with stakeholders, staff and the public.
Originally the proposed new name was Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust, however the feedback was that this would cause confusion as it would not incorporate everyone and could cause patients to get confused with UHCW (University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire). There was also a common theme of dissatisfaction for the potential abbreviation WUFT.
There was also concern that having University in the title would cause added confusion as Warwick did not geographically have a university in it – as it is located in Coventry.
There were 12 responses from staff, some of whom raised concerns regarding the personal expense of changing the trust’s name due to department hoodies and other uniform items that would have been purchased using their own money.
However despite added trepidations over costs more generally, the trust made the decision to go ahead with the change at a recent board meeting.
A spokesperson said: “After listening to staff and our stakeholders, the decision has been made to move forward with the plans to change the trust’s name. The transition to the new name will be done with as minimal cost as possible, the new name will be phased in and will not appear on signage or printed documents until items are being replaced as part of their general replacement schedules.”
The Herald now understands that the SWFT acronym will remain, and it will not be known as SWUFT.
