Royal Surrey: A Year in Review | News

In 2024, Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust achieved incredible milestones in delivering first-rate patient care and driving innovation across services.

From opening the doors to its revamped Cancer Centre to an Outstanding CQC accreditation, 2024 was full of achievements made possible by the trust’s dedicated teams and supportive community.

This year-end review highlights some of the key achievements that have shaped a year of progress and impact. 

January

Virtual frailty ward celebrates first birthday 

At the start of 2024, Royal Surrey celebrated the first anniversary of its Hospital at Home launch, a Surrey-based virtual frailty ward.

Hospital at Home allows patients who are living with frailty to receive acute hospital care in their own home.  
During its first year, more than 400 patients benefited from the service, which, in January 2024, increased the number of people it could care for at any one time from 16 to around 30. 

February

Cancer and Surgical Innovation Centre first steps 

February was a bumper month for Royal Surrey in which the trust received excellent recognition by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) with both Royal Surrey County Hospital and their maternity services rated outstanding.

In this month, work also started on Royal Surrey’s new Cancer and Surgical Innovation Centre, which promises to bring state-of-the-art facilities to our Trust and increase surgical capacity.

The centre will house six new operating theatres and enable an additional 7,000 patients to receive surgery each year, reducing wait lists and meeting increased demand for cancer surgery. The £41.5m development is expected to be completed in 2026.

March

Bereaved families set to get extra support after loss

In March, Royal Surrey staff working in the Supportive and Palliative Care team launched a new bereavement service to support relatives grieving for their loved ones.

The team set up a bereavement follow-up call to check in on relatives’ overall wellbeing, giving them the opportunity to raise concerns about how they are coping, so that staff can provide signposting to other services if needed.

April

Special Care Baby Unit awarded Baby Friendly Award 

In April, Royal Surrey’s Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) was awarded a Unicef Baby Friendly Initiative accreditation. It became the first neonatal unit in the Kent, Surrey and Sussex Operational Delivery Network to gain the accreditation.

The award recognises staff commitment to increasing breastfeeding rates and improving care for all mothers of babies in SCBU. Royal Surrey’s SCBU cares for babies born at 31 weeks and above and has 10 cots with four high dependency incubators and six special care cots. 

May

New unit opens offering same day emergency care 

A new Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) facility was opened in May by NHS England National Medical Director, Steve Powis.

The unit is aimed at helping patients who do not have severe, life-threatening conditions but would otherwise be admitted onto a ward to receive care. It allows clinicians to assess, diagnose, treat and safely discharge up to 30 patients on the day they arrive at hospital. 

June

Royal Surrey Chief Executive ranked among the best in England 

Our Chief Executive, Louise Stead, was ranked among the best in England in the Health Service Journal's (HSJ) prestigious ‘top 50’ list of pre-eminent NHS Trust leaders for the second year running. 

Louise was listed in the top 50 of 229 NHS Trust Chief Executives by judges including the Chief Executive of NHS Providers, as well as representatives from the British Medical Association and the Royal College of Nursing.

July

Body Coach star gives Royal Surrey staff a boost

Teams at Royal Surrey were given a well-deserved boost when the nation’s favourite PE teacher, Joe Wicks, hosted two mass workout sessions for staff. 
 
Around 80 staff took part in the invigorating and energised workouts. Watch the highlights of his visit on the trust’s Instagram.

August

Mortuary team staff awarded police commendation 

Two members of our Mortuary team received a Specialist Crime Command Commendation for their ‘exceptional’ forensic post-mortem work. 
 
Matthew Curran, Senior Anatomical Pathology Technologist, and Tammie Felton, Anatomical Pathology Technologist, were recognised by Surrey Police for making sure forensic post-mortems are carried out in a timely, professional and sensitive manner.

September

Laser treatment launched for patients with enlarged prostates

In September, Royal Surrey’s Urology team celebrated the launch of a pioneering treatment for benign prostate enlargement, which affects around 50 per cent of men aged 50 and above.

Thanks to a generous donation from the Prostate Project charity, the trust is now one of just a handful of UK NHS trusts offering EchoLaser treatment. This uses laser light to create cavities that help shrink the size of the prostate, which reduces compression on a patient’s bladder, relieving urinary problems and improving quality of life.

Previously patients would have had the treatment under general anaesthetic and faced an overnight hospital stay. With the EchoLaser treatment, they are able to go home within an hour of having the procedure. 

October

A new chapter in cancer care

In October, Royal Surrey’s new cancer centre opened its doors following a multi-million pound redevelopment.

The £6million project, which was partly funded by the Royal Surrey Charity, provides a much improved environment for patients.

October also saw the launch of a new dedicated website for this group of patients, written by our renowned experts, taking patients from diagnosis, through treatment and beyond. 

November

Royal Surrey Stars winners and CQC success for community sites 

November saw Royal Surrey Stars winners announced at a ceremony at Guildford’s Harbour Hotel.

Also in November, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) praised our community inpatient services at Haslemere and Milford hospitals following a two-day inspection. Their report found the level of care provided at both hospitals to be safe, effective, responsive and well-led. 

December

Spreading some festive cheer

The Royal Surrey children’s ward team worked really hard to make Christmas as special as possible for those young patients who will be in hospital during the festive period.

This included organising visits from footballers from Woking and Aldershot, boxing champion Alfi Clegg and members of the Cranleigh Golf and Country Club, who come armed with gifts.

Older patients also benefitted from Royal Surrey Charity’s Pledge a Present Appeal, giving every patient in hospital on Christmas Day a gift bag filled with thoughtful items.