Hertfordshire NHS Trust Granted University Trust Status

25 January 2013

The University of Hertfordshire has awarded Hertfordshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (HPFT), the main provider of mental health and learning disability services across the county, University Trust status, making it only the third mental health organisation in the country to be awarded this prestigious status.

New era for mental health and learning disability

The signing of the agreement between the University of Hertfordshire and HPFT on Thursday 24 January 2013 marks the start of a new era for mental health and learning disability provision across the county.

The partnership will see the Trust and the University of Hertfordshire, a leading provider of mental health and learning disability education programmes and specialist short courses for trust health and social care staff, working closely together to better support the mental health and learning disability community through improved training and clinical practice development.

Excellent collaborative relationship

The University of Hertfordshire and HPFT already enjoy an excellent collaborative relationship – focusing on a number of academic disciplines and also research. Working together as a University NHS Trust will allow them to better able to support staff, students, users and carers and the community as a whole.

Professor Quintin McKellar, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hertfordshire, said: “The achievement of University Trust status is a key development for the mental health and learning disability community in Hertfordshire. This important initiative will facilitate joint research as well as providing strategic alignment across the two organisations to ultimately improve the experience of the communities that we serve.”

A fantastic achievement

Tom Cahill, Chief Executive, HPFT: "Becoming a university trust is a fantastic achievement and a wonderful opportunity for the Trust to further embed learning and research in practice. Being granted this accolade means that the university recognises the great work being done at the Trust and this partnership is recognition of the work that many of our staff have been doing with the university over many years. It also means they consider us a real learning organisation that they are happy to be formally associated with and linked to publically."

Image: Professor Quintin McKellar (left), Vice-Chancellor at the University of Hertfordshire, and Tom Cahill (right), Chief Excutive at HPFT, signing the University Trust agreement