The Acute Medical Unit (AMU) is situated at Gate 31b and 31a, Level 0, within the Emergency Zone, Brunel building.

The Acute Medicine Unit provides the initial:

• assessment
• investigation
• diagnosis
• management of patients with an acute medical illness during the first 72 hours of their hospital stay.

They also provide expertise in the management of medical patients who can be cared for in an ambulatory setting.

The Acute Medicine Unit consists of Acute Medicine Consultants, nurses, pharmacists, junior doctors and physiotherapists and sees a complex mix of acutely unwell medical patients. Support is provided to the team by specialist nurses and doctors in other specialties.

The Acute Medicine Unit team have a vision that they will provide high quality acute medical care for every patient; delivered personally, professionally and compassionately by an expert team.

The Richard Bright Renal Service at Southmead Hospital Bristol is the largest of its kind in the South West of England.

It carries out more than 100 kidney transplants every year and has led the way with laparoscopic kidney transplants (keyhole surgery), spousal donation and non-heart beating donor transplants. The unit is also pioneering techniques to enable highly sensitised patients and recipients and donors with incompatible blood groups to have a live kidney transplant.

Southmead Hospital Bristol has been at the forefront of the living kidney transplant programme for many years and has some of the best success rates in the country. We are also the UK’s largest referring unit for the pancreatic transplants – one of only six hospitals in England to provide islet transplantation.

More than 430 patients receive dialysis at Southmead Hospital Bristol or one of our satellite units in Bath, Weston-super-Mare, Southmead, South Bristol, Taunton and Frome or our dialysis centre at the Cossham Hospital in Kingswood.

We are also leading the way in home dialysis treatment, offering patients the option of dialysing at home with a dedicated team of staff to support them.

Our paediatric transition service helps young people make the often difficult move from treatment at children’s facilities to the adult facilities at Southmead.

The service has a superb national and international reputation and is the only hospital outside of London to have had two consecutive presidents of the Renal Association working with us. We have a dedicated team of nurses, doctors and transplant co-ordinators to ensure all patients have the best experience we can offer.

North Bristol NHS Trust is a regional centre of excellence in plastic and reconstructive surgery.

The service at Southmead Hospital Bristol is one of the largest in England providing a highly specialised team experienced in the most complex cases.

Its core specialities are:

• Burns
• Hand surgery
• Lower limb
• Breast reconstruction
• Skin cancer
• Soft tissue sarcoma
• Head and neck cancer
• Bristol Laser Centre
• Cleft lip and palate

The co-location of regional specialties of neurosurgery and orthopaedics alongside plastics makes Southmead Hospital Bristol a key centre for trauma with access to experts in complex cases.

Patient care is a focus for the department with five clinical nurse specialists offering support for patients following surgery as well as a rehabilitation programme.

The core team of 52 clinical staff includes a clinical psychologist for patients with disfigurement through the Outlook service as well as speech and language therapists.

The service sees around 8,500 inpatients a year and 37,000 outpatients from across the region.

It carries out more than 150 micro-vascular reconstructions a year.

The Skin Cancer Centre provides an integrated service under the same roof, providing high quality care to more than 2,000 patients a year.

Southmead Hospital Bristol

Brunel building

• M&S Food outlet, Level 1, Brunel building. Open Monday to Friday 7am-8.30pm and weekends & bank holidays 8am-8.30pm. Offers sandwiches, bakery items, snacks, drinks, fresh fruit packaged goods and toiletries.
• Costa Coffee Shops, Level 1, Brunel building. There is a large Costa Coffee Shop that is open on Monday to Friday from 6.30am to 6pm and on Saturday & Sunday from 8am to 6pm. There is also a smaller Costa Coffee Shop which is open on Monday to Friday from 8am to 6.30pm and on Saturday from 9am to 3pm.
• The League of Friends Coffee Shop, Level 1, near Gate 36, Brunel building. Open Monday to Thursday 10am-7pm, Friday 10am to 5pm and weekends 2pm-5pm.
• Vending machine, Emergency Department, Gate 35, Level 0 offers drinks, snacks and sandwiches.

Maternity Services

• The Willow Coffee Shop, near Maternity Services Reception. Open 7am-3pm Monday to Friday
• There are vending machines available. 

The Princess Royal Bristol Surgical Centre

• Coffee shop near entrace.
• Vending machine in reception.

Cossham Hospital

• The League of Friends Coffee Shop is located in the main reception area, Level 1. Open Monday to Friday 9am-4pm.

Bereavement Services

We are so very sorry for the loss of your relative or friend. The time after bereavement can be difficult and distressing. Our Patient Affairs Team will help guide you through the next steps of registering the death and the process of returning any personal belongings to you.

Our Patient Affairs Team will contact you via telephone the next working day to provide guidance and answer any queries you may have. If you would like to contact the Patient Affairs team, they are available Monday to Friday 8am - 4pm. You can call them on 0117 414 0184 or send an email to nbbs@nbt.nhs.uk.

Please provide your name, contact details and name of the deceased. If the telephone is not answered you can leave a message, and someone will call you back as soon as possible.

Funeral arrangements

You may wish to contact and appoint a funeral director before collecting the Certificate of Cause of Death. The funeral director will require the certificate for Burial or cremation (Green Form) which is issued by the Registry office.

Financial assistance toward the cost of the funeral may be available if you or your partner is receiving Income Support, Family Credit or Housing Benefit. For more information, please visit www.gov.uk/funeral-payments or telephone 0800 731 0469.

Cremation

If a cremation is planned the hospital will arrange for a doctor to sign the cremation form. The funeral director will require this form to finalise arrangements and will collect it directly from the hospital.

Viewing

We can organise viewings of the deceased with permission from the next of kin here at North Bristol Trust.

To arrange a viewing, please contact Mortuary Services on 0117 414 1700.

Medical examiner

Following a bereavement, many families seek reassurance that their loved one was properly cared for in hospital and want to understand the circumstances surrounding their death.

The Medical Examiner service has been introduced in England and Wales to increase understanding and peace of mind for families, as well as improve learning and patient safety in hospital by providing a review of care.

Medical Examiners are independent senior doctors who have not been involved in the care of the person who has died. Talking with a Medical Examiner can help you to understand the cause and circumstances of death. It also provides an opportunity to discuss any issues, concerns, or feedback regarding care that you may have with an independent team.

The Medical Examiners and Medical Examiner Officers work closely alongside existing Bereavement Services. If you would like to get in touch, please call the Medical Examiner Office and a member of our team would be happy to speak to you.

Contact details

The Sanctuary (Gate 30, Level One), Brunel Building, Southmead Hospital

Office hours – 8.30am - 4.30pm

0117 414 3447 or 0117 414 3448

Looking ahead

The time ahead may be a very difficult one for you. If you have any further questions, please contact a member of the Patient Affairs team.

Respectful Listening

Being a patient or a family member or carer of a patient in hospital can trigger a range of thoughts, feelings, concerns, and experiences. You may find it helpful to talk to someone who can listen to you and offer non-clinical support while you are in hospital. Staff and volunteers may also find it helpful to talk to someone who can provide a confidential listening ear.

Spiritual, Pastoral and Religious Care Practitioners, also called Chaplains, can spend time listening to you and help you to reflect on personal matters or difficult decisions. Subject to your consent they can help raise awareness with the staff involved in your care, of your religious beliefs, life values, decisions, and needs so that you are respected and cared for in a way that is right for you personally. This may include concerns about medications, treatment, diet, ablutions, prayer, and other religious rites or observations. If something is important to you, which affects your care and stay in hospital we want to know.

The chaplaincy team has an inclusive, respectful, and accepting approach and support is available to everyone without discrimination regardless of any personal identity or characteristic. This includes but is not exclusive to age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, maternal status, ethnicity or diversity of religion, belief and non-belief. Chaplains come from a range of faith and belief backgrounds. They will not impose their beliefs on anyone, and you do not have to be religious to receive their support.

We welcome faith and belief representatives and leaders into the hospital to support patients, relatives and staff. If you have a priest, minister, pastor, imam, or other person from your own faith or belief community who can provide care for you in hospital, they are very welcome.

Religious Support       

Chaplains provide or facilitate religious rites and rituals including prayer appropriate to each person’s beliefs and situation. They can contact representatives for a range of faith and belief groups who may be able to provide religious care for people while in hospital. The department has a range of religious resources which help to support faith needs. 

Sanctuary                                             

The Sanctuary can be found at Gate 30 on Level 1 of the Brunel Building at Southmead Hospital. Everyone is welcome! The Sanctuary offers a place for quiet, reflection, meditation, prayer, and worship. It is for people of any or no faith. It is a space open for patients, their family and carers, visitors, staff and volunteers to come at any time. 

There is a larger sanctuary and a smaller sanctuary. Both spaces may be used so if one is in use, please feel free to use the alternative space. Both sanctuaries are multi-faith spaces so please respect others who may follow a different path to your own. We do not ask for silence but please be sensitive to others who share this space. 

Please feel free to write prayer requests in the prayer book in the Sanctuary or on the notice board outside Gate 30.
 

Please help protect your friends and relatives

• Do not visit if you have tested positive for the coronavirus, have coronavirus symptoms or are self-isolating.
• Do not visit if feeling unwell with sickness, diarrhoea, fever, sore throat or flu
• Do not visit for at least 48 hours after symptoms have stopped if you have had diarrhoea and/or vomiting. Spreading nasty bugs to people who are already unwell may mean they become more poorly or take longer to recover
• Do not sit on patient beds
• Wash hands regularly with soap and warm water and use the hand gel provided especially after using the toilet
• It is ok to ask staff if they have washed their hands
• Check with staff about bringing in food items. Wrapped sweets are preferable to unwrapped
• Talk to staff if you have concerns about the cleanliness of the ward or public areas
• Use public toilets not patient toilets and remember to wash your hands
• If in doubt ask a member of staff for advice

Updated: Tuesday 1 August 2023

Our current visitor policy remains as follows:

All inpatients (children and adults):

• Visitors are permitted anytime, with a limit of 2 visitors at the bedside at any one time.

Please note some wards may have local visiting arrangements in place. We recommend you check the arrangements with the ward you're going to before your visit.

Before your visit

Please do not visit a patient in hospital if you feel unwell. This includes symptoms of Covid-19, sickness, diarrhoea, fever, sore throat or flu.

Please note some wards may have local visiting arrangements in place. We recommend you check the arrangements with the ward you're going to before your visit.

During your visit

Mask wearing is optional in our hospitals for patients and visitors. There may be some circumstances where face masks are required, such as when visiting patients with a suspected or confirmed Covid or flu infection, which you may be informed of prior to attending our hospitals or on arrival in ward areas.

Face masks are available for patients and visitors who choose to wear them.

There may be some circumstances when we have to limit visitors for a patient, this will be managed individually by ward nursing staff and communicated to families/friends on the day.

Maternity Services

Read our visiting policy for maternity services.

Scans and appointments: Women are able to attend all Early Pregnancy Assessment Clinic (EPAC) appointments, all maternity appointments and antenatal scan appointments with one other adult.

Induction: You can be supported by one birth partner throughout induction and early labour.

Labour and birth: In established labour, you can be supported by two birth partners in all of our birth settings.

Visiting: One birth partner and one named visitor from 10am – 9pm. Siblings can attend between 2-6pm.

Coming to a hospital appointment

Hospital appointments are running as normal. Please don’t call to check that a booked appointment is going ahead. If anything changes with your care, we will be in touch.

Mask wearing is optional in our hospitals for patients and visitors. There may be some circumstances where face masks are required, such as when visiting patients with a suspected or confirmed Covid or flu infection, which you may be informed of prior to attending our hospitals or on arrival in ward areas.

Individuals attending hospital for an appointment can be accompanied by one other person.

• Please arrive no earlier than 15 minutes before your appointment.
• Please leave the building promptly after your appointment.
• If you require assistance, a Move Maker volunteer may be able to help. Please telephone 0117 414 3709 for further information to discuss your requirements

Guidance for visitors - hygiene

• Please wash your hands regularly and use the hand sanitiser provided when visiting our hospitals.
• Mask wearing is optional in our hospitals for patients and visitors. There may be some circumstances where face masks are required, such as when visiting patients with a suspected or confirmed Covid or flu infection, which you may be informed of prior to attending our hospitals or on arrival in ward areas.
• Do not visit if feeling unwell with sickness, diarrhoea, fever, sore throat or flu
• If you have had diarrhoea and/or vomiting, do not visit for at least 48 hours after symptoms have stopped. Spreading infections to people who are already unwell may mean they become more poorly or take longer to recover
• Do not sit on patient beds.
• Check with staff about bringing in food items. Wrapped sweets are preferable to unwrapped.
• Talk to staff if you have concerns about the cleanliness of the ward or public areas.
• Use public toilets, not patient toilets and remember to wash your hands.
• If in doubt ask a member of staff for advice.

Understanding Brain Tumours: The Macmillan booklet that describes a practical guide to understanding primary brain tumours.

Read about the treatment pathways at our trust (by following the links on the left), which are based on the improving outcomes guidance from NICE (2004) and download the diagrams in this section.

Privacy Notice: 12 September 2024

This Privacy Notice explains how North Bristol NHS Trust ("we," "us," or "our") collects, uses, discloses, and protects personal information as a Data Controller in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. We are committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal information responsibly.

Purpose of Processing Personal Information

We collect and process personal information for the following purposes:

• Providing healthcare services and treatment.
• Managing and administering your healthcare records.
• Facilitating communication between healthcare professionals.
• Conducting research, audits, and clinical trials.
• Ensuring the safety and quality of our services.
• Planning and managing the healthcare system.
• Complying with legal and regulatory obligations.

Types of Personal Information Collected

We may collect the following types of personal information:

• Basic details (e.g., name, address, date of birth).
• Contact information (e.g., phone number, email address).
• Health and medical information.
• Relevant social and personal circumstances.
• Financial information (where necessary for payment purposes).
• Information related to your care and treatment.
• Identifiers (e.g., NHS number, patient identifier).
• Research data (where applicable and with consent).
• Any other information necessary for providing healthcare services.

What information do we collect online?

You may choose to submit personal information about yourself (e.g., name, email, address) through the webforms we provide. By entering and submitting your details in the fields requested, you are consenting to North Bristol NHS Trust and our service providers to process your data and provide you with the services you select. Any information you provide to the North Bristol NHS Trust will only be used by us, our agents and service providers and will not be disclosed unless we are obliged or permitted to by law to do so.

At North Bristol NHS Trust (NBT) we value your privacy and want to ensure you understand how your data is used and protected. This notice is to inform you about your rights regarding the use of your personal data.

Under UK data protection legislation you have the right to make choices and have certain rights when it comes to your personal data.  However, there are specific situations where these rights may not apply. There is an important exception when it comes to your healthcare.

In the UK, patient generally cannot opt out of their healthcare. The National Health Service (NHS) has a legal obligation to provide healthcare to all residents, and individuals are generally not permitted to refuse necessary medical treatment.

NHS organisations, like NBT have legal grounds to process confidential and sensitive information under various laws and obligations. 

Legal Basis for Processing Personal Information

We rely on the following legal bases for processing personal information:

Legal Obligation: We have a legal obligation to process person identifiable data to provide healthcare services. This obligation is enshrined in various laws and regulations, including the National Health Service Act 2006 and the Health & Social Care Act 2012.

Public Task: Processing person identifiable data is often necessary for the performance of tasks carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the NHS. This includes providing healthcare services, public health initiatives and medical research.

Consent: While consent is an important aspect of data processing, in the context of healthcare, NHS organisations can rely on alternative legal bases such as legal obligations, or public tasks, rather than explicit consent. However, consent will always be sought whenever appropriate.

Vital Interests: Processing person identifiable data may be necessary to protect the vital interests of the patient or other individuals, particularly in emergency situations where obtaining consent may not be feasible.

Statutory and Regulatory Obligations: NBT must comply with various statutory and regulatory obligations related to individuals’ data protection, including the UK General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018.

Sharing Personal Information

International Data Transfers

Data Retention

Your Rights

Security Measures

Complaints

Contact Information

Managing preferences and withdrawing consent

Using personal information in the wider health service

Assigning new NHS Numbers

Connecting Care Records

Counter Fraud