Somerset NHS Foundation Trust is the first NHS trust on the English mainland to provide community, mental health and acute hospital services. We work with health and social care partners in Somerset to ensure that we deliver outstanding services that meet the needs of our population.

On Thursday 18 November 2021, the Health Service Journal held its annual ‘HSJ Awards’ ceremony in London, where Somerset NHS Foundation Trust were honoured to be awarded Mental Health Trust of the Year, having been shortlisted for the second year running.

Our trust was formed on 1 April 2020 when Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust merged. We are now preparing to merge with Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (YDH) because we believe that we will be better able to support the health and care needs of the people of Somerset, and to provide consistent and accessible services across the county, as one merged organisation.

As a merged trust we will run community services, mental health and learning disability services across the county, acute hospital services from both Musgrove Park Hospital and Yeovil District Hospital, and a proportion of Somerset’s primary care services. The planning to create our merged trust is in full swing and a joint leadership team of executive directors is in place across both trusts. The strategic case that sets out why we want to merge was submitted to the regulator NHS England and Improvement for review in April 2021 and we are developing our more detailed business case for consideration and agreement by both Trust Boards and the regulator.

We are privileged to work with over 9,000 colleagues who deliver or support our patient services. From therapists to nurses, doctors, researchers, scientists, porters, cleaners, kitchen staff, accountants, those who teach the next generation of clinicians and the receptionists who welcome our patients, the contribution of all of our colleagues is invaluable.

Working together we provide services from the cradle to the grave including:

• Services delivered in your own home such as Somerset’s Rapid Response service that cares for patients to support them during a period of crisis and avoided over 1,000 patient going to hospital in its first year
• A range of services from 13 community hospital including outpatient and diagnostic services, 190 inpatient beds and seven Minor Injuries Units.
• A range of specialist mental health services
• Specialist healthcare for adults with learning disabilities
• Community dental health services
• Regional, specialist and hospital services from Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton including medical and surgical care, maternity services and cancer treatment services.