Foreword

Welcome to Providers Deliver: Trusts in systems. This is the seventh report in the publication series where we celebrate and promote the work of NHS trusts and foundation trusts, who are constantly seeking to improve care for patients and service users.

In previous editions of Providers Deliver we have explored the role of trusts in prevention, their resilience and resourcefulness during the pandemic response, and their innovative work to address staff shortages. In the most recent edition, which was published as a
podcast series, we explored how hospital, mental health, community and ambulance trusts are responding with commitment and ingenuity to address backlogs of care while working to tackle health and race inequalities.

This time we are showcasing some of the important work being undertaken by trusts to support system working, and the central role they are playing in delivering on the priorities of integrated care systems (ICSs).

This report is timely. ICSs are a matter of months into their statutory existence, and there is a clear opportunity for trusts to be both system players and system leaders, driving the vision of better population health outcomes and greater value for money. However, it is also  important to recognise that trusts are working within a very difficult operational landscape, and this shift presents new challenges and  questions that will need to be ironed out as ICSs develop and mature.

The case studies in this report show how trusts are collaborating and innovating to support system working, and they deal with the increasingly testing operational challenges facing the health and care system. This includes working in partnerships to deliver care close to
home, address health inequalities, and reduce unwarranted variation in service delivery.

We are pleased to share this report with you. This selection of positive and inspiring case studies is just the tip of the iceberg, and we hope that this report will serve to highlight the impressive work of trusts during these testing times.

Saffron Cordery

Deputy chief executive, NHS Providers