Professor Una Macleod, Dean of Hull York Medical School, said:
“Since Hull York Medical School was established we have been working with Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust to ensure we respond to local workforce needs and equip our students with the knowledge and skills they will need to deliver high quality patient centred care.
“From 2019 we will be training an additional 90 doctors per year, many of whom will train and work within the Trust - helping to build a sustainable workforce in the area. We welcome the renaming and believe it will ensure visibility of our joint commitment to inspiring future medical and other healthcare professionals and ensure we attract the very best medical professionals to this region.”
The Trust consulted with a range of partners including Clinical Commissioning Groups, local authorities, Hull York Medical School and the University of Hull on the proposal to change its name, and received strong support.
The formal name change will go ahead on 1st March 2019, and a group within the Trust is now working to prepare for the changeover.
Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust has around 1,000 inpatient beds, employs more than 8,900 full and part-time staff and provides planned and emergency hospital services for almost 603,000 people in Hull and the East Riding.
A Major Trauma Centre for the region, the trust provides critical care services, with beds for intensive care and high dependency at both Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital. It also runs the Eye Hospital and Hull Women and Children’s Hospital, which includes a 26-cot neonatal intensive care unit.
Trust Chairman, Terry Moran, says the move will help to put Hull on more of a level playing field with other big teaching hospitals:
“The Trust delivers so much more than the essential hospital services everybody expects. We work in partnership with the University and Hull York Medical School to provide expert teaching and to undertake first class research and development to further advance patient treatment.
“When choosing somewhere to work or study, we know that medical trainees and other health professionals look at study and career development as part of the overall offer.
“While Hull has had a strong track record for high quality clinical training for a number of years, this is not currently reflected in the Trust name, and this potentially disadvantages us when compared to other regional centres.
“When competing with other such areas to recruit doctors, nurses and other health staff, it’s important that we make ourselves as appealing as possible.
“Changing the Trust name to incorporate our status as a teaching hospital and to reflect our strong links with the university will undoubtedly help us to attract more interest and hopefully more people to work in the city and help us care for local people.”
Members of the public will start to see the new logo being used online and in electronic documentation from 1st March, however costs will be kept to a minimum as far as possible with signage, stationery etc. largely being updated on a rolling basis or as and when items need replacing.