ABSTRACT
Thornham General Hospital (TGH) is a city centre-based teaching hospital, located in a large tower block that offers only limited scope for expansion. TGH gained Trust status in the third wave, acts as the district general hospital for 60% of the city and provides specialist services to a wide geographical area. It also has large outpatient and accident and emergency departments; the A&E department is one of three within the city. The hospital operates with a decentralized management structure based on 14 clinical directorates and seven service directorates. There is a satellite hospital within the Trust, which is used primarily to provide rehabilitation services. The hospital's relationships with its purchasers are somewhat mixed. With respect to other district health authorities, relationships are generally more satisfactory, although in most instances they are at an early stage in their development and have a long way to go in terms of genuine long term co-operation.
