Healthcare philosophy...

The Hospital Management Trust is a not-for-profit organisation whose specific aim is to retain the founding ethos of charitable and religious hospitals and care homes while ensuring that they can also develop the services needed to keep pace with modern medical practice and nursing care.

In a country firmly committed to a health system that provides care for the majority without charge, the charitable not-for-profit sector forms an important bridging link between the motives of a publicly run national health service and a commercially oriented private sector. With all the recent initiatives to restructure the NHS, and its changing relationship with the independent sector, such a role has increasing relevance as attitudes change and divisions diminish.

HMT is committed to high standards of care through training and quality assurance programmes, and pastoral care is available wherever possible.

HMT's management philosophy:

• We seek to treat our patients and our colleagues as we would wish those closest to us to be treated.
• Medical care demands a sympathetic appreciation of human vulnerability in time of need.
• There is a spiritual dimension in care which welds together the physical, emotional and ethical elements.
• Care is as good as the staff who provide it, who must be clear about their roles, properly trained, properly rewarded and appreciated by management.
• People work best when they can exercise discretion within known limits of expectation, but the price of freedom is the discipline of clear reporting on action.
• Ultimately, good quality care and a profit motive are not compatible, but austerity is not a virtue and standards must satisfy reasonable expectations.
• High standards are not cheap but all charges and costs must be justifiable, comparably economical, controlled, and reactive to workload fluctuations.
• Charity needs to be demonstrated both in attitudes towards care and in the application of surplus funds to local needs.
• Facilities must be suitable for their function, impeccably maintained and demonstrate aesthetic thought in design and selection.
• Local identity needs local policies within a consistent framework but does not require uniformity between hospitals and homes.

Comments, suggestions & complaints

As part of our commitment to high standards, we are always happy to receive feedback on our services. While we like to hear about the things we do right, should you have a complaint, please speak to a senior member of staff.