Our clinical strategy: bringing the best of the NHS to every patient
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Our clinical vision
The Royal Free London (RFL) has created a blueprint to deliver world-leading healthcare for all our patients, meet growing demands on our services and create a healthier future for our local communities.
We will transform the way we deliver care, in response to the needs of our patients and the way they want to access healthcare.
With advances in digital technology, detailed health data, and the growing emphasis on prevention and integrated care, we have developed this plan to better meet our patients’ needs, alongside our relentless focus on providing world class care and local expertise.
Five key principles
This is based on five key principles to ensure we bring the best of the NHS to every patient, no matter which of our hospitals or services they visit:
our focus on world class care, groundbreaking research, and best in class teaching
understanding our populations’ health
reducing health inequalities
working in partnership
continuous improvement of our services and patient care
We are starting by embedding these principles across all our hospitals and satellite sites.
Setting out our clinical priorities
Every single member of staff has an important role to play in bringing the best of the NHS to all our patients.
We are also setting out three group clinical priorities:
You can click the buttons above to read more about each group clinical priority.
The RFL plays a leading role in these areas within north central London and beyond, and they have a significant impact on the health of our local populations.
Local clinical priorities
Our hospitals have different opportunities and challenges based on the patients they care for.
We have developed local clinical priorities that reflect the needs and expectations of those different communities:
Barnet Hospital (BH)
Supporting the needs of an ageing population and transforming same day and integrated care.
Chase Farm Hospital and group clinical services (CFH)
Developing a centre of excellence in elective surgery and early diagnosis and prevention through our group clinical services.
Royal Free Hospital (RFH)
Establishing the hospital as a national centre of academic and clinical excellence for rare diseases, and working with our partners to reduce chronic diseases and improve patient outcomes
This work has involved engagement with borough partners, patient representatives, and staff to ensure our vision reflects the needs of our patients and local communities.
Who we are
The RFL is a large NHS trust which employs more than 12,000 staff and serves a population of over 1.6 million people across 70 sites in north London and Hertfordshire.
Our mission is to be world class in terms of our healthcare services, clinical research and teaching excellence.
12,000 staff from 141 countries
7,500+ babies delivered every year
200,000+ tests carried out by our community diagnostic hub since 2021
One of the top performing NHS trusts for research recruitment
Three community-focused hospitals
World-renowned services
Global digital exemplar trust
90,000 patients per year receiving planned treatments
RFL group since 2017
10,000+ procedures delivered by the surgical hub at CFH each year
70 sites in north London and Hertfordshire
Serve a population of 1.6 million
One of the largest providers of postgraduate medical education in the country
HIMSS level 7 status
17 million tests performed by our labs each year
The population we serve
North central London includes a high proportion of people from ethnic minority backgrounds, a high prevalence of rare diseases and significant health inequalities. Evidence shows demands on our services will continue to grow.
We’re proud to have an international focus in many areas – attracting patients from across the country and beyond to our specialist services.
We are a group of hospitals embedded in our local communities. This means we can operate at scale and meet the growing needs of our local populations, bringing the best of the NHS to all our patients.
By 2040 one person will be diagnosed with cancer every minute.
Cardiovascular disease remains one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity in the UK and within north London.
More than 9 million people in England are projected to be living with major illness by 2040, an increase of 2.5 million people compared to 2019.
Barnet
(population 389,101)
4 in 10 White British
2 in 10 Asian
2 in 10 White Other
Largest elderly population in London
Higher rates of adult obesity
Lower rates of depression
Enfield
(population 327,224)
3 in 10 White British
2 in 10 White Other
2 in 10 Black
High levels of deprivation to the east of the borough
Higher rates of alcohol admissions
Higher rates of children's emergency care use
Camden
(population 218,049)
4 in 10 White British
2 in 10 White Other
2 in 10 Asian
Large working-age population — fewer children and older adults
Higher rates alcohol dependency
Higher rates of severe mental illness
Haringey
(population 261,811)
3 in 10 White British
2 in 10 White Other
2 in 10 Black
Low life expectancy at birth
Higher rates of patients in treatment for alcohol dependency
Higher prevalance of common mental disorders
What are the drivers for change?
There has never been a more important time to transform the way we deliver care.
We serve a large, diverse and ageing population which is predicted to grow. This means increased demands on our services which we need to meet.
We can use advances in digital technology and artificial intelligence (AI) to improve the way we deliver our services.
We are working with our partners to provide more coordinated care and tackle health inequalities across our local communities.
We are using public health data to identify areas where we can make the biggest improvements to the health and wellbeing of our patients.
How we listened
We have engaged with our patients, staff and partners to ensure their voices are reflected in our clinical priorities. This has included:
frequent updates for staff across our communications channels
workshops and steering groups for local site teams to share their views
presentations to our members, council of governors, and the RFL trust board
regular meetings and discussions with our patient voices groups, borough partnerships and individual patient representatives to help shape our clinical priorities
collaboration with community and health organisations such as North Central London Integrated Care Board (NCL ICB), local authorities, Age UK, Inclusion Barnet and Healthwatch
Our governing objectives
These are the overall measures of success by which we hold ourselves to account for progress against our vision of world class expertise and local care.
If we keep these objectives as the guiding principles for everything we do, we can be confident that we’re making a difference to our patients and each other.
Excellent health outcomes
Consistently deliver excellent and equitable care that provides access to research for all our patients.
Be a sustainable organisation
Contribute to the elimination of the north central London system deficit on a recurrent basis and reduce carbon emissions towards net zero by 2040.
Outstanding experience for our people
Where colleagues feel a strong connection to their work and organisation and are enabled to deliver and to realise their potential.
Outstanding experience of care
Ensuring the experience of our patients and carers is among the best in the country.
Better care together
Our blueprint for clinical excellence would mean nothing if we tried to deliver it in isolation and there are several groups and partnerships which help us provide the best possible care for our patients:
North Mid has been a clinical partner with the Royal Free London group since 2017 and we have been in a formal partnership since
2021.
Our experience has shown that we can achieve more together than we can apart, delivering better care for local people and more opportunities for our staff.
We are developing detailed plans for coming together, with North Mid potentially merging to become part of the Royal Free London group alongside BH, CFH and RFH.
We are part of the North Central London Integrated Care System (NCL ICS) which
brings together local health and care organisations and local councils.
We work together to plan and coordinate services, improve the health of our local populations and reduce inequalities.
We are active members of our borough partnerships in Camden, Barnet, Enfield and Haringey.
We work with partners from health, social care, patient groups and the voluntary and community sector to improve the health and wellbeing of local residents, through a range of innovative projects and new ways of providing patient care.
We are proud of our academic partnerships which are fundamental to our research and clinical ambitions.
Our work with University College London (UCL), one of the world’s leading universities, enables findings made in the laboratory to be translated into clinical trials for the benefit our patients.
We host around 250 undergraduate medical students from UCL medical school on placement across a wide range of specialties.
We also work with University of Hertfordshire and Middlesex University to provide placements for student nurses and midwives; and with City and Brunel universities to provide placements for allied health professional students, ensuring our future workforce has the knowledge and skills to deliver world class care.
This important partnership helps our hospitals go further and faster than the NHS could do alone.
Thanks to generous charitable funding, we have become the first in the UK to benefit from a revolutionary new PET (Positron emission tomography) scanner which delivers more accurate and faster diagnoses.
We’re also working with the charity on our vision for a world class comprehensive cancer centre.
Our clinical priorities
Overarching principles
These principles apply to all clinical services across the group. They are the pillars on which our clinical strategy is based:
Understanding our populations’ health
Reducing health inequalities
Our mission to deliver world class healthcare, research and teaching
Working in partnership
Continuous improvement of our services and patient care
Local clinical priorities
Our hospitals have different opportunities and challenges based on the patients they care for.
We have developed local clinical priorities that reflect the needs and expectations of our hospitals’ different communities.
Barnet Hospital
Age Well
Same day and integrated care
Chase Farm Hospital and group clinical services
Centre of excellence in elective surgery
Early equitable diagnosis
Royal Free Hospital
Rare diseases
Live well
North Mid and community services*
Start Well
Live well
Age Well
Group clinical priorities
A key focus of our new clinical strategy are three group clinical priorities – the RFL plays a leading role in treating these areas within north central London and beyond, and they have a significant impact on the health of our local populations.
*North Mid is an organisation independent of the RFL, with plans being developed for the two trusts to merge. More information can be found on our local clinical priorities page.
Download our clinical strategy
As well as reading our clinical strategy in this section of our website, you can also download a copy of it — just access via the button below.
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