The North London Forensic Collaborative (NLFC) is the largest specialist mental health collaborative in England, covering a population of six million people across 19 local authorities. The aim of the collaborative is to ensure that people who access services experience high quality care, as close to home as possible.
Action taken
The NLFC has set up a number of staff professional and pathway groups with representation from each provider trust. A central element of their role is to problem solve as a system by sharing best practice and learning.
A patient flow programme was developed to prevent unnecessary delays to admission, enable patients to receive the right treatment at the right time and to reduce barriers and delays to discharge.
The NLFC small grant programme for Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise groups based in North London offers funding to voluntary sector, faith, and grassroot organisations, to build relationships and work together to tackle inequalities and improve quality outcomes for forensic service users.
Patient involvement is central to how NLFC delivers its commissioning responsibilities. A patient council represents the voices of inpatients and plays a leading role in the co-design of quality improvements and new service developments.
Staff professional groups and clinical pathway groups identify and implement quality improvements and lead service redesign and develop workplans which has helped increase staff autonomy, support team effectiveness and create a sense of shared responsibility for addressing challenges at both a system and Place level.
Outcomes and impact
Since its inception in 2020, the NLFC has delivered a programme of work aimed at achieving the national targets set out in NHS Long Term Plan with a specific focus on reducing the number of inpatient beds and creating specialist community services.
This has resulted in a 75% reduction in the number of adult secure placements outside of Natural Clinical Flow (from 67 in December 2020 to 17 in January 2025) and a 63% reduction in out of Natural Clinical Flow placements for patients with a learning disability and autism.
This has released funding which they have been able to reinvest into community services every year. As a result, the NLFC now has specialist forensic community services across each integrated care system for both adult secure patients and individuals with a learning disability or autism who are in the system.
The North London Forensic Collaborative represents a partnership between the specialist forensic services of five NHS Trusts, North London NHS Foundation Trust, Central North-West London NHS Foundation Trust, East London NHS Foundation Trust, North-East London NHS Foundation Trust and West London NHS Trust. You can read the full case study here.