About us
We are dedicated to providing high quality care with compassion, delivering many of the NHS services that are provided outside of hospital and in the community.
A Trust where you will be valued, encouraged and challenged.
Our Future Leadership Structure
In 2023, NSFT set out how it wanted to work with colleagues to develop a clearer and more logical clinical and operational leadership structure, to underpin the organisations’ future development as a specialist mental health provider.
Over the summer, working with colleagues across the organisation and specifically our care groups, our executive group articulated that now was the right time, as part of the Trust’s work to continually improve services and care, to look at how services are configured and leadership roles are organised across care groups. This is due to many different factors, but some are included below:
This is due to many different factors, but some are:
- The Trust continues to see sustained and growing demand for a number of its services.
- The Trust faces challenges in its capacity to meet the quality and safety standards that it would want for every service user, on every occasion.
- There is widespread variation in roles and responsibilities across care groups which impacts on the function and operation of clinical services.
- There is unwarranted clinical variation in services across our population.
- There is still much more to do to improve service user and staff experiences each day, for example by removing the barriers that get in the way of delivering great care.
In January 2024, workshops took place to engage with staff who currently work within our care groups, particularly those in roles Band 8a and above. Some workshops were also extended to wider NSFT staff who wanted to feed into the engagement sessions and share their views. These workshops were led by Andy Mack and Dr Abrar Sohail who took colleagues through the proposals and the important rationale for working at place across both Integrated Care Systems. Separate conversations were also held with some of our key stakeholders and partners across both ICSs who have also shared their views.
Place-based Leadership Model
Through developing a “place-based” leadership model, the Trust will be better positioned to harness the benefits of working collaboratively to benefit service users. A new leadership structure built around place as well as service line will enable staff to reduce unwarranted clinical variation and deliver consistent, service user-centred care across systems of care. As a specialist mental health provider, it is also likely that our economies of scale will mean more targeted, intensive and longer-term input for people with more complex needs will be provided at this wider community or “place” level (of around 250,000–500,000 people).
Building on learning about what works well internally as well as across peer organisations including Sussex Partnership NHS FT, Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS FT and Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust, we are working towards a place-based leadership model.
To support this important programme, as an organisation, we have:
- Appointed clinical leadership of this important programme of work; Andy Mack, who has significant experience of NSFT and the work we need to do to improve experiences and outcomes for our service users, families and carers and indeed our staff. They have been recruited into this post on a joint basis to lead the restructure work.
- Launched a weekly executive-led programme group to oversee development of the changes.
- The new structure has become a standing agenda item at the new monthly Trust Management Board.
- We are utilising wider engagement forums including “Hear to Listen” to support the development of plans.
Following a detailed and systematic analysis of the feedback we received, a number of key themes emerged. These will set the foundations for our new care group teams, ultimately steered by what is needed in each place across Norfolk and Suffolk.
Which are:
- The importance of designing and delivering services locally, enabled by place-based leadership teams.
- Reduced healthcare inequalities, activated through staff collaborating across organisational and geographical boundaries to provide the best possible care.
- Building leadership capacity and capability to create an expert, compassionate and resilient workforce.
- Reduce unwarranted clinical variation through a multi-disciplinary leadership model that enables a consistency of offer.
- Strengthened multi-disciplinary leadership teams who together, own and make decisions about care and treatment.
- Effective corporate and business support services that enables frontline clinical teams to deliver high-quality, safe and effective care.
- Service user, carer and citizen involvement in decision-making and improvement has to take place at every level.
- Building an engaged and accountable workforce that is enabled by visible, committed and highly motivated local leadership.
- Improving the value of care we deliver to our communities and payers, ensuring provide high-quality care through an affordable leadership model.
About our Trust
The Trust offers specialist mental health services to people in Norfolk and Suffolk. We are committed to making sure that people recover and have good mental health.
Service users and carers are at the centre of all our work. We listen to their opinions and use their views and experiences to shape our services and enhance all aspects of our care.
We are committed to research and innovation and our ambition is to provide high quality and cost effective mental health services.
We also have inpatient facilities across Norfolk and Suffolk, with smaller bases in communities, enabling service users to receive the support they need in a familiar environment.
We support a population of just over 1.6 million people and employ more than 5,000 staff. Our biggest bases are at Hellesdon Hospital, Norwich, Wedgwood House, Bury St Edmunds and Woodlands Unit in Ipswich but our staff are based in more than 50 locations.
Our strategy sets out our overarching ambitions as a Trust, including our vision, our values, our purpose, and our priorities for the longer-term future.
While it rightly acknowledges our history, the challenges we still face, and the lived experience of our communities, it sets out our commitment for continued improvement and a bold ambition for a very different future in the longer term.
Our services include:
- Adult acute and community services
- Services for children, families and young people
- Dementia and complexity in later life
- Learning disability and neurodevelopmental services
- Low and medium secure services
- Wellbeing
