hospital

n.

an institution providing medical or psychiatric care and treatment of patients. Such care may be residential (in-patient), including the care of patients for a whole day and their return home at night (day care). Out-patient services include consultation with specialists by prior appointment, X-rays, laboratory tests, physiotherapy, and accident and emergency services for those requiring urgent care. Most health districts have a district general hospital (DGH), which provides sufficient basic services for the population of the district. Some larger hospitals have resources that are more highly specialized, to meet the needs of a wider population, providing so-called regional or supraregional (national) services. Such hospitals often provide training for medical students (teaching or university hospitals) and for postgraduate education. Some smaller hospitals – known as community hospitals – may be staffed by general practitioners and are intended for people for whom home care is not practicable on social grounds. Since 1991 hospitals have become self-governing NHS acute trusts, their income deriving chiefly from contracts to provide services to primary care trusts. Foundation trusts are hospitals with greater freedoms and flexibilities than acute trusts.