Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is a major acute and community foundation trust in the North West of England, within the Greater Manchester footprint. On 1 April 2020 we changed our name to include reference to our commitment to education and training, as the first step towards our overarching aim of achieving university teaching hospital status, in partnership with Edge Hill University. Our Research Committee monitors our progress towards achievement of this aim, which is also one of our ongoing corporate objectives, against the University Hospital Association’s recognition criteria and we have made significant progress towards this thus far.
We are registered with the Care Quality Commission without conditions and they rated us as “Good” at our last inspection in November 2019. Every WWL service and location inspected since then has been rated as either ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’.
We serve a local population of 329,300 and we provide specialist services to a much wider regional, national and international catchment area. We provide our acute clinical services from our five main sites: Royal Albert Edward Infirmary, Wrightington Hospital, Leigh Infirmary, Thomas Linacre Centre and Boston House. Our community services are provided from a range of locations across the borough.
Royal Albert Edward Infirmary is our main district general hospital site and is located in central Wigan. Here you will find our accident and emergency department as well as the majority of our in-patient services. There has been a hospital on this site since 1873 and it was named after the then Prince of Wales who officially opened it in 1875. This site is now over 150 years old.
Wrightington Hospital is a specialist centre of orthopaedic excellence and enjoys a world-acclaimed reputation. Situated just over the border in West Lancashire, it was from here that Professor Sir John Charnley developed the hip replacement in November 1962 and in late 2024, a commemorative heritage plaque was unveiled at the hospital in his honour. Our surgeons of today have continued to enjoy a reputation for excellence, working from the site which is now over 90 years old.
Leigh Infirmary is an outpatient, diagnostic and treatment centre in the south of the borough. It is now the home of the Jean Hayes Reablement Unit, which provides intermediate care to help patients recover before their return home and more recently, the Community Diagnostics Centre.
Thomas Linacre Centre is a dedicated outpatient centre in central Wigan and Boston House is a specialist ophthalmology unit, again in central Wigan.
Our Strategy 2030 sets out our vision to be a provider of excellent health and care services for our patients and the local community. To achieve that aim, we will support and empower our people to deliver high quality, patient-centred care. Each year we further enhance our approach to continuous improvement by embedding evidence-based methodologies and fostering a culture of improvement to guide us on our journey.