About us

Our Trust in numbers

All data for 2024–2025 financial year:

• 280,000 catchment population
• More than 5,000 staff
• More than 11,900 foundation trust members
• More than 2,000 babies born
• More than 101,000 attendances at the emergency department
• More than 16,000 planned operations
• More than 3,500 emergency operations
• More than 315,000 outpatient attendances
• More than 371,900 contacts with patients through community services (does not include wheelchair services)

Who we are

The West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (WSFT) provides hospital and community services to around 280,000 people spread across a largely rural area of roughly 600 square miles.

Our catchment area extends beyond Thetford in the north and Sudbury in the south, Newmarket to the west and Stowmarket to the east. We also care for patients in parts of Essex, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk.

The Trust provides a full range of acute and secondary care services from its West Suffolk Hospital base in Bury St Edmunds. This includes an emergency department, maternity and neonatal services, day surgery, eye treatment, Macmillan Unit and outpatient clinics. We have around 500 beds and are a partner teaching hospital of the University of Cambridge.

In addition, we provide community services in West Suffolk, and specialist community services across the county. Many of our adult and children’s community services - including nursing, therapy, and specialist services - are provided in patients’ own homes, health centres and community buildings.

Our rehabilitation services are provided through our community inpatient beds at Newmarket Community Hospital (NCH) and Hazel Court in Sudbury. And a new, state-of-the-art Community Diagnostic Centre based at NCH opened in December 2024.

Our colleagues and services are award-winning, gaining regional and national recognition for their quality, innovation, and compassion. Most importantly, WSFT has a culture that is inherently welcoming, supportive, and dedicated to the people we serve.

Delivering for our communities

Our stroke and hip fracture services are national exemplars, with our stroke team maintaining an “A” rating for over six years and our hip fracture care twice ranked as the best in England and Wales. Patient experience remains a strength, both for our inpatient services and through the Cancer Patient Experience Survey.

Teams and services have been recognised for their quality and innovation, from the virtual ward and our emergency department performance to information and support provided through our maternity social media account.

Across a range of performance measures, we are steadily improving or exceeding national targets. Some areas, however, remain challenging, such as elective care. Our performance against the 18-week Referral to Treatment standard must improve, diagnostic test results are often taking too long, and we have too many patients that have been waiting for care over 52 weeks.

We want WSFT to be a great place to work and receive care. The 2024 national NHS Staff Survey results showed a worrying drop in our scores, especially in wellbeing and advocacy, demanding a long-term response to ensure our colleagues feel included, supported, and valued.

At the same time, we must become financially sustainable. We have taken the difficult but necessary decisions to deliver against our deficit plan and, while there are challenging days ahead, together we have shown we can exercise the discipline needed to live within our means while still providing high quality care.

As we look forward, the Trust’s Future System Programme is set to transform the delivery of outstanding, sustainable care through a new state-of-the-art healthcare facility. The new hospital will provide increased capacity, modern infrastructure, and technology-enabled care.

Our vision is to become a Trust that is digitally advanced, supports environmental sustainability, and delivers high-quality services to meet the needs of patients and staff.

The Future System Programme is the most ambitious programme in our history, and this strategy will prepare us for the major changes needed to transition into a new era of healthcare.