As national leaders consider the best approach to shift care into the community, these case studies demonstrate how trusts are already taking collaborative approaches to building capacity in community provision.
By working collaboratively, mental health trusts and local partners are managing resources locally to maximise investment, leverage economies of scale and support improved commissioning to transform service delivery. This has been enabled by the devolved approach to managing resources across a footprint. In this way collaboratives have had the incentives and the freedom to make savings and reinvest them in community support to reduce inappropriate admissions and care away from home.
As national policymakers look to support a greater shift to community-based provision, there is much to learn from the experience of mental health provider collaboratives and the positive impact they have had on patients and communities.
