University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust

University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust is an NHS foundation trust which operates the Southampton General Hospital, the Princess Anne Hospital, Southampton Children’s Hospital, and the New Forest Birth Centre at Ashurst, Hampshire. It also provides a few services at the Royal South Hants Hospital and previously operated Countess Mountbatten House, a palliative care service at Moorgreen Hospital, which has since been renamed Mountbatten Hampshire.

In 2016 the trust established a subsidiary company, UHS Estates Limited. The intention was to achieve VAT benefits, as well as pay bill savings, by recruiting new staff on less expensive non-NHS contracts. VAT benefits arise because NHS trusts can only claim VAT back on a small subset of goods and services they buy. The Value Added Tax Act 1994 provides a mechanism through which NHS trusts can qualify for refunds on contracted out services.