The announcement builds on the decade-long partnership between the University and the Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust
Portsmouth Hospitals has been awarded university hospital status in a move that will bring significant benefits to patients, students and colleagues in the local community.
The newly named Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust (PHU) will continue to provide high quality, compassionate care while driving further improvements in research and education.
Achieving university hospital status is the first step in a long-term programme that will enhance research partnerships to drive innovation and develop new treatments more quickly, as well as investing further in academic partnerships to strengthen the future workforce.
Collaborative research, education and training will be embedded into ways of working across the whole organisation to support delivery of PHU’s 5-year Working Together strategy and ensure that the Trust continues to provide safe, high quality patient care.
This is a watershed moment with two of the most important institutions in the city working in partnership to provide significant benefits for people in our local communities.
To further develop the strategic links between the Trust and the University, Professor Graham Galbraith, Vice-Chancellor of the University, has been appointed to the Trust as an Associate Non-Executive Director. Mark Cubbon, Chief Executive of PHU, will be appointed as an external Governor of the University of Portsmouth from 1 August. These appointments demonstrate the continued commitment by both organisations to strengthening their existing 10-year relationship even further.
Professor Graham Galbraith, Vice Chancellor of the University of Portsmouth, said: “I am delighted that our decade-long partnership with Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust has developed to new heights.
“This involves joint research appointments to serve the needs of our community, as well as a more co-ordinated approach to providing the workforce of the future and this has been recognised with the granting of university hospital status.
"This is a watershed moment with two of the most important institutions in the city working in partnership to provide significant benefits for people in our local communities.”
As a university hospital we will embed research, education and training across all that we do to continue to drive improvements and ensure that our patients receive the best possible care.
Mark Cubbon, Chief Executive of Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust, said: “I am delighted that we have been awarded university hospitals status.
“Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust and the University of Portsmouth are 2 of the largest employers in Portsmouth and are at the heart of our communities. This is an exciting opportunity for these anchor institutions to work even more closely together to improve the health and wellbeing of our local population.
“As a university hospital we will embed research, education and training across all that we do to continue to drive improvements and ensure that our patients receive the best possible care.
“We are proud to fly the flag of the University of Portsmouth alongside our NHS Trust flag at Queen Alexandra Hospital. This is an important symbol of our commitment to improving health, wellbeing and opportunities for our local communities.”
Introducing our partnership with Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust
Find out more about the benefits of this partnership to the Trust, the University and the community.
Liz Hawes: The collaboration with the University of Portsmouth brings so much more to our research. We collaborate with them on a regular basis and it gives us the opportunity to get the expertise from both sides.
Ruth De Vos: Portsmouth Hospital is already a centre of excellence. But by becoming a university hospital, this will be recognised more nationally, which is a very exciting opportunity.
Professor Anoop Chauhan: They'll allow us as a trust to deliver the best care, to attract the best people and also provide possibly the best treatments for all our patients.
Dr Alice Mortlock: I think the collaboration between both of our organisations is a really good opportunity to share expertise, to share knowledge and skills and actually to improve the outcomes in terms of the civic responsibilities of both organisations.
Professor Graham Galbraith: It really is a watershed moment for the University of Portsmouth, because obviously having this link when already, we produce the workforce for tomorrow at the university, but actually doing that in partnership with the hospital will make all the difference.
Dr Daphne Kaklamanou: Working closely with the beneficiaries of my research, including the hospital community, is a key way to narrow the gap between scientific advancement and real-world impact.
Dr Zoe Saynor: Closer collaboration with the hospital here in Portsmouth will be absolutely fantastic for the university as a whole, and particularly our team. We've got several PhD students in there who are already delivering services within clinical teams. And I think having this more official partnership will enable us to grow and really be fruitful down the line for all of us.
Professor Anoop Chauhan: Now, delivering care in ways that we've never thought of before and we want to embrace a lot of these innovations, but also not only embrace them but actually advance them and use research and try and deliver care in a different way. So we need to prepare our workforce as well and we think we're best placed to do that in partnership with the university.
Liz Hawes: It's always been our dream to be able to offer every patient that comes through our doors the opportunity to take part in research. And this collaboration takes us one step closer to being able to achieve that dream.
Professor Anoop Chauhan, Executive Director of Research at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust, said: “It is fantastic that the Trust has been awarded university hospitals status, and will help us to drive forward opportunities for research and education.
“It is our ambition that every one of our patients has access to a clinical trial or innovation. By continuing to work together with the University of Portsmouth, sharing our resources and expertise and increasing our research collaborations, we will use cutting edge science and technology to innovate and create tests and treatments that will benefit our patients more quickly.”