The Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust (RCHT) was founded in 1992 as part of the second wave of NHS Trusts to be established in England. We have three main hospital sites: Royal Cornwall Hospital, Truro; St Michael’s Hospital, Hayle; and West Cornwall Hospital, Penzance. RCHT also provides imaging and outpatient services at a number of locations across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, as well as birthing centres in St Austell, Helston and on the Isles of Scilly. We serve around 474,000 residents across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, with the remainder of Cornwall’s population in the east and far north of the county looking to Plymouth and North Devon respectively, for their acute hospital services. As a yearround tourist destination, the number of people we care for is boosted by holidaymakers, which can more than double our population at the busiest times. Around 6,700 people work together across our hospitals and services, including 400 volunteers and an in-house bank of over 1500 people working flexibly to help us respond to changes in demand. The Trust has teaching hospitals status as part of the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry (PCMD) and University of Exeter Medical School. Keeping at the forefront of medical advances, the Trust is continually developing its clinical services and is committed to maximising the range of specialist care that can be offered locally. Allied to this is a growing reputation for research and innovation. The Knowledge Spa on the Royal Cornwall Hospital site, the Cornwall base for medical students and the University of Plymouth Faculty of Health and Social Work, has further enhanced a strong reputation for training and education. This plays a vital part in attracting and retaining the Trust’s highly skilled teams of doctors, nurses and other health professionals who care for well over half a million people each year.
