Nine ICSs get a maximum five stars in the capability category, eight receive the top rating in the performance category.

Read the full HSJi Review here.

Latest investigations

Essex Partnership University Foundation Trust

The trust’s increased mental health demand is stretching capacity. Eliminating inappropriate out of area placements has been a focus for the trust in recent months. Waiting lists continue to increase, with the trust experiencing problems in its adult community psychological service. To address capacity shortages in some parts of the county, trust leaders plan to reallocate some resources from Thurrock’s establishment budget to Basildon and Brentwood. With staffing pressures a major concern during recent covid waves, the trust has embarked on wider recruitment activities in the hopes of boosting resilience and enabling the recovery of waiting lists.

South London and Maudsley Foundation Trust

With performance declining across the board, improving child and adolescent mental health services is a priority for the trust. It has brought in private support for autistic spectrum disorders where waits went over 52 weeks. The trust has had to get external validators in to check its waiting lists for accuracy and safety. The trust’s non-clinical priorities are to get on top of agency spend and recruitment/retention. It is also considering consolidating its recruitment efforts, moving to one central campaign rather than numerous, smaller ones. A staff retention strategy is due later this year.

University Hospital Southampton Foundation Trust

During the pandemic, the trust delivered a very high number of covid studies and was a leader in vaccine development, running one of the biggest studies. This spring, UHS and Southampton University were jointly awarded more than £16m in funding from the National Institute for Health Research. The trust has recently put forward proposals for a new health research and innovation campus. Southampton is part of a national coalition of children’s hospitals, which led to a range of technology-driven innovations. It has an unusual model when it comes to the use of electronic patient records. Rather than using one EPR from a single supplier, it employs multiple different systems which are connected by an integration engine.

Data

Last week the following data points were updated:

Main Location, Number Details, Telephone Number of Acute,Sp,Com,MH,Amb in Q1 2022-23

Leadership of ICS in July

E-COLI HOSPITAL-ONSET CASES (12-MONTH ENGLAND AVERAGE, REGIONAL AVERAGE, ROLLING COUNT) of Acute in Apr-22