Princess Royal University Hospital

The Princess Royal University Hospital or PRUH is a large acute district general hospital situated in Locksbottom, near Farnborough, in the London Borough of Bromley. It was opened on 1 April 2003 on the site of the former Farnborough Hospital, where it was built to house the services previously provided by Bromley and Farnborough Hospitals. It was initially administered by the Bromley Hospitals NHS Trust, until a merger with Queen Elizabeth Hospital NHS Trust and Queen Mary's Sidcup NHS Trust created the South London Healthcare NHS Trust in April 2009, which took over the running of several other hospitals in the local area.^[1] The hospital building was funded partly by the sale of the land occupied by Bromley Hospital, and partly by a private finance initiative^[2] which cost £118 million to build, but for which taxpayers will end up paying £1.2 billion to the PFI owners in a deal which lasts for 60 years.^[3]

PRUH is home to a Hyper Acute Stroke Unit for South East London and has a large General Medical patient mix with over 500 medical beds.

2013 Takeover

The South London Healthcare NHS Trust was dissolved on 1 October 2013, following a decision by the then Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, acting on advice from the Trust Special Administrator. The accumulated debt owed on both the Princess Royal and Queen Elizabeth hospitals was written off by the Department for Health.

King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust then took over responsibility for the Princess Royal University Hospital and Orpington Hospital, as well as responsibility for running some clinical services at Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup, Beckenham Beacon and Sevenoaks Hospital.^[4]

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