SALISBURY District Hospital (SDH) is the city’s largest employer with around 4,000 staff and today the Journal begins a new campaign which will open up its doors in a way that has never been done before.

Few, if any, of our readers will be untouched by the work that goes on there in pursuit of treating and caring for patients of all ages. The hospital is there for the very creation of birth, with an IVF unit regarded as one of the best of the country, through to dealing with the most complex of ailments affecting all ages.

The purpose of our campaign is not simply to concentrate on the medical side of the hospital but more - through explaining all that it does - help it continue to develop its links with the community.

It is a hospital with a fine reputation and our aim is, through increased engagement with the public, to help it take further steps in the pursuit of excellence.

These are ambitious aims we know, but by helping our readers understand how they can interact with the hospital and widening their knowledge about the raft of employment opportunities there, we believe there is much to be achieved.

Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust which runs the hospital is facing ever-increasing operational and financial challenges. Our hope is we can encourage support from people in this region in a way perhaps never seen before.

On New Year’s Day, the hospital’s chief executive Peter Hill marked 30 years of service at the hospital. He began as a charge nurse across the Salisbury General Infirmary and Odstock Theatres’ Recovery Units, moving from nursing into general management in the late 1980s. In 2013 he was appointed permanently to the position of chief executive.

He said: “I am immensely proud to be chief executive at SDH. One of the many enjoyable duties I have is to welcome new staff to the Trust on their first day.

"Whether you are leaving school, returning to work or switching jobs, we have so many career choices here in Salisbury from porters, cleaners administrative and managerial roles to other frontline positions for nurses, therapists and doctors.

"This is supported by continual education and training and a wide range of benefits that makes our hospital such a great place to work and an attractive place to pursue a career.

“While we have the services of a leading general hospital, we also run a fantastic range of specialist regional services in burns, plastic surgery, genetics, rehabilitation, and a spinal treatment centre that provides care to people across much of southern England. All this makes us stand out from so many other district general hospitals across the country.

“Through the Salisbury Journal, I believe we can provide a better understanding of the hospital and what we have to offer – whether you are a patient who comes to us for your care and treatment or someone looking for a new and exciting career in the NHS.”