St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
TypeNHS hospital trust
Budget£230 million
HospitalsWhiston Hospital
St Helens Hospital
ChairRichard Fraser
Chief executiveAnn Marr
Staff4,000

St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust was an NHS Trust that operated from 1991 until 2023, based in Whiston, Merseyside. The trust became part of Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust on 1 July 2023.

It ran two major hospitals:

  • Whiston Hospital - the primary site and trust headquarters providing emergency and acute inpatient services, alongside a maternity unit and the Mersey Regional Burns and Plastic Surgery Unit.
  • St Helens Hospital, a diagnostic and treatment centre which houses non-acute outpatient services, transitional rehabilitation facilities and a day case surgical suite.

In 2012 the trust's bid for NHS Foundation Trust status was escalated for Department of Health scrutiny, after a series of issues.[1]

The trust was the lead employer for junior doctors in the North West of England, holding contracts for around 5,500 doctors in training. In November 2020 it set up the North West Doctors in Training Collaborative Staff Bank, enabling hospitals to broadcast shifts they have been unable to fill and minimise the administrative burden of using temporary staff, and enabling junior doctors who pick up additional shifts to receive their pay via their normal payroll service.[2]

  1. ^ "St Helens and Knowsley FT bid 'escalated' to Department of Health". Health Service Journal. 11 September 2012. Retrieved 2 November 2013.
  2. ^ "Trusts across region create staff bank to cut agency costs". Health Service Journal. 17 November 2020. Retrieved 2 January 2021.