- More than nine in 10 trust leaders (95%) said they were extremely or moderately concerned about the impact of seasonal pressures over winter on their trust and local area. The most common reason for concerns related to industrial action.
- Over three quarters of trust leaders (76%) said it was very unlikely or unlikely that their trust will end 2023/24 in a better financial position than it ended 22/23. Respondents who said that it is unlikely that their trust will end 23/24 in a better financial position than in 2022/23 were most concerned about pressures on NHS finance including loss of funding, and industrial action.
- All trust leaders (100%) strongly agreed or agreed that continued industrial action over 23/24 will compromise the NHS's ability to deliver national recovery targets for elective and urgent and emergency care, and nearly all (99%) strongly agreed or agreed that it will compromise the NHS's ability to recover care backlogs including in community and mental health services.
- Eight in 10 trust leaders (80%) strongly agreed or agreed that winter 23/24 will be tougher than 22/23.
- Most trust leaders were extremely or moderately concerned about the current level of burnout (84%) and morale (83%) across the workforce.
- Most (78%) trust leaders were very worried or worried about whether their trust has capacity to meet demand for services over the next 12 months, a higher proportion than before the pandemic in 2019 (61%).
- Over two fifths of trust leaders (41%) rated the current quality of healthcare provided by their local area as very high or high. Less than one third (30%) predicted that the quality of healthcare provided in the coming two years would be very high or high.
- Trust leaders strongly disagreed or disagreed that their trust will have access to sufficient capital funding for example, to: transform and continue the journey to digital maturity over the next three years (63%), invest in business critical ICT infrastructure or systems (60%), or address the maintenance backlog (high or significant risk issues only) (70%).
- Nearly nine in 10 trust leaders (89%) were very worried or worried about whether sufficient national investment is being made in social care.
- Over eight in 10 trust leaders (86%) agreed or strongly agreed that their trust board is prioritising a clear focus on promoting race equality and tackling discrimination.
- Despite the growing challenges, trust leaders told us about numerous innovation projects they and their staff were seeking to drive, such as digital preoperative assessments, outreach programmes into ethnically diverse communities, initiatives to improve patient flow in mental health services, reciprocal mentoring and dementia training.