Meg Hughes

Belfast Health and Social Care Trust

Belfast Health and Social Care Trust delivers integrated health and social care to 340,000 people in Belfast and also provides a range of specialist services to all of Northern Ireland. With an annual budget of approximately £1bn (spending about £3m each day) and a staff of over 20,000, it is one of the largest Trusts in the United Kingdom. In our hospitals, we treat approximately 210,000 inpatient and day patients a year, see 680,000 outpatients and more than 200,000 people at our Emergency departments. In the community we are corporate parent to 600 children in care – the majority in foster care. We are also responsible for between 500 and 550 children on the child protection register – and every year receive 800 referrals for children in need of support – mostly in their own home. We provide services for older people through nine residential homes and also commission services from the independent and voluntary sector to support older people who wish to remain in their own homes. Alongside our commitment to delivering safe, timely, high quality and cost-effective care, our Trust has a higher purpose – to improve health and wellbeing and reduce inequalities by using our size as a force for good and working in partnerships with other organisations such as those responsible for housing and education.