The North East and North Cumbria Provider Collaborative (NENC) is made up of all 11 foundation trusts within the integrated care system (ICS), including eight acute and/or community trusts, two mental health, learning disability and autism (MHLDA) trusts and one ambulance trust.
NENC's elective care and recovery programme has been in place for three years and its core priorities have been to improve access and eliminate long waits, improve capacity and productivity and system transformation and increasing resilience.
Through the provider collaborative, they have strived to create a safe and supportive environment for operational teams to openly discuss challenges, share learning and seek support. This has involved the start of a cultural journey and shift in mindset in how the providers work together, moving away from competition, to building true collaboration and teamworking across organisational boundaries.
Action taken
NENC have placed an emphasis on creating psychologically safe spaces which has led to more trusting, open and honest discussions between providers. The NENC elective programme engaged and secured the commitment of leaders in each provider through a triumvirate approach, with a chief executive/senior responsible officer, a lead director and a programme lead for each elective programme workstream.
NENC also developed a 'Mutual Support Framework' and a Mutual Support Co-ordination Group with representation from every provider and chaired by a foundation trust chief operating officer, which meets weekly and has facilitated the easier movement of patients between NENC providers for their elective care.
Outcomes and impact
A key benefit of the Mutual Support Co-ordination Group has been the evolution of a culture of learning and development, honesty and transparency which has led to sharing of best practice including peer review.
They have also seen strong relationships and networks developed across the system, meaning people are better connected than before and in the first half of 2024/25 the Mutual Support Co-ordination Group facilitated conversations regarding more than 1,150 patients across 20 specialties with over 535 patients transferred across providers in the system. Their collective performance is also consistently one of the best in the 18-week national waiting time standard in England.
The North East and North Cumbria Provider Collaborative is made up of all 11 foundation trusts within the ICS, including eight acute and/or community trusts, two MHLDA trusts and one ambulance trust. See the full membership and more on their work on elective recovery here.