About Us

University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust is the largest hospital in the South West Peninsula, providing comprehensive secondary and tertiary healthcare and we are the region's major trauma centre. Our geography gives us a secondary care catchment population of 450,000 with a wider peninsula population of almost 2,000,000 people who can access our specialist services. The population is characterised by its diversity – the rural and the urban, the wealthy and pockets of deprivation, and wide variance in health and life expectancy. Population ageing is a recognised national trend, but is exacerbated locally by the drift of younger people out of the area and older people in. The proportion of our population aged 85 or over is growing ahead of the national average by approximately 10 years, giving Plymouth the opportunity to innovate on behalf the nation in services for the elderly. 

We work within a network of other hospitals to offer a range of specialist services:

• Kidney transplant
• Pancreatic cancer surgery
• Neurosurgery
• Cardiothoracic surgery
• Bone marrow transplant
• Upper Gastro-intestinal surgery
• Hepatobiliary surgery
• Neonatal intensive care and high risk obstetrics
• Plastic surgery
• Liver transplant evaluation
• Stereotactic radiosurgery

A Regional Specialist Teaching Hospital 

We provide comprehensive training and education for a wide range of healthcare professionals. The Trust works in partnership with both Plymouth University Peninsula Medical School of Medicine and Dentistry and the University of Exeter Medical School. We also support the Universities of Plymouth and Exeter in the delivery of courses for the Faculty of Health and Social Work. With university campuses in Plymouth, Exeter, Truro and Taunton, along with
teaching facilities in Bristol, the Faculty of Health and Social Work is one of the largest providers of nursing,  midwifery, social work and health professional education and training in the South West. 

Working Hand in Hand with the Military

We have a longstanding and excellent relationship with the Ministry of Defence. A tri-service staff of 150 military doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals are fully integrated within the hospital workplace, working and training alongside their NHS counterparts, treating the local community, whilst proudly wearing their service uniforms and contributing to a high standard of patient care. Our military partners are vital for the skills, both clinical and non-clinical and for the capacity they help us
provide. 

Our Trust’s services benefit greatly from the skills of military clinicians, particularly in Trauma & Orthopaedics, Radiology and the Emergency Department. Many of them bring unique experiences and knowledge from their deployments and this, in turn, benefits Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust and our patients.  

Where we Provide Care

We provide services for patients at the following main sites as well as through clinics provided at other local hospitals and care centres:

Derriford Hospital

More than 48,000 people pass through the main entrance of Derriford in a week. The hospital has more than 900 beds and 1,000 public car parking spaces. Derriford Hospital is the second largest bus terminal in Plymouth, beaten to first place only by Plymouth central bus station.

Plymouth Dialysis Unit

This purpose built unit opened in August 2011 and provides outpatient haemodialysis, education and dialysis training to patients with advanced renal failure who are living in Plymouth, East Cornwall, North and South Devon. It also offer holiday haemodialysis to visitors to the south west.

Child Development Centre

Developmental services for young children are provided at the Child Development Centre, Scott Business Park with close partnership working between Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust, primary care and Plymouth City Council. 

Radiology Academy

The Trust provides radiology training in a purpose built facility.

The Trust also provides community midwifery services in Plymouth. 

Our vision

To provide excellent care, with compassion, wrapped around people’s individual needs