Derriford Hospital lies in the north of Plymouth and is the city’s primary hospital, drawing patients from across Plymouth, Devon and Cornwall. Managed by the University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, it handles a volume of care that goes well beyond routine treatment – receiving more than 48,000 people each week across its 900 beds as of 2016. The hospital also provides specialist tertiary services for the entire South West Peninsula, including cardiothoracic surgery, neurosurgery, renal transplant surgery and immunology and allergy care. It is one of five hospitals in England with an attached Ministry of Defence Hospital Unit, catering to service personnel.
History and Development
Plans for a single hospital for the Plymouth area date back to 1950, when the regional hospital board approved a site at Derriford at an estimated cost of £2 million. The original design called for around 900 beds, with services transferring gradually as older Plymouth hospitals were closed. Derriford Hospital officially opened in 1981, absorbing services from Plymouth General Hospital and renal services from Freedom Fields Hospital. At opening, two wards were set aside as a school for children admitted to hospital – a provision that continued for 30 years until the Plymouth Hospital and Outreach School replaced it in 2011. A purpose-built dialysis unit was added in August 2011, and in 2012 the Peninsula Trauma Centre opened within the site, receiving around 400 patients by air ambulance each year.
Helipad and Trauma Centre
In 2013, the hospital was formally designated a major trauma centre. Two years later, a new helipad opened at a cost of £1.7 million, replacing an older grass pad that could only operate during daylight hours. The new structure is large enough to accept search and rescue helicopters and was the first in the region to allow night-time landings. In 2022, the helipad was the scene of a serious incident when a woman was killed and another seriously injured during the landing of an HM Coastguard helicopter.
Training and Transport
The hospital is a clinical training base for medical students from the Plymouth University Peninsula School of Medicine. Its bus terminal is the second largest in Plymouth, reflecting the scale of daily footfall. The site also has 1,000 car parking spaces to accommodate the high number of visitors, staff and patients passing through each week.