This blog was written by Clare Thomason, Director of Delivery at NHS Midlands and Lancashire (NHS ML). Clare represented NHS ML at the NHS Providers Conference 2024, as part of a collaborative presence together with the other three commissioning support units (CSUs) in England – NHS Arden & GEM CSU, NHS South, Central and West (SCW) and NHS North of England Commissioning Support (NECS). Find out more about our collaborative area in our information hub.

On 12-13 November, I was lucky enough to represent NHS ML at the NHS Providers Annual Conference in Liverpool as part of a collaborative CSU exhibition team. Working with our partner CSUs colleagues, we welcomed colleagues, partners and conference attendees to our ‘collaborative networking lounge’ to discuss the collective CSU offers. 

The conference attracts around 600 senior level delegates from NHS providers across the country to share insights and enjoy networking opportunities to help them excel in their leadership role. This year the focus was on collective efforts to maximise the social and economic value of the NHS, ensuring it remains responsive, effective, and centred on patient and community needs.  

Day one of the NHS Providers Conference

I was on the stand at 8am, meeting colleagues from the collaborative team and being handed a journal to take notes from the speaker sessions I’d been allocated to.  

After a quick group photo and a post on the socials, I headed off to the opening address from the current NHS Providers Chair Santham Sanghera and CEO Sir Julian Hartley. The focus was on the great challenge ahead and a stocktake of where we are now; 100 days into a new government, resolution of the Junior Doctors’ strike, publication of the Darzi Report, and the launch of the biggest consultation in history to inform the 10-year plan. 

The ‘three shifts’ were highlighted and repeatedly mentioned throughout the conference:  

• Hospital to community 
• Treatment to prevention 
• Analogue to digital. 

On the way back to the exhibition hall, I bumped into an ex-CSU colleague now working as the Deputy Chief Nurse at University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust. We had a great catch up, including the changes since they left the CSU four years ago and the services CSUs can provide to support acute trusts.  

At another session later in the morning, I sat next to one of the speakers for day two – an Improvement Director at Derbyshire ICS, who was part of the session ‘Equitable improvement across organisational boundaries’. I didn’t get to see her speak, but she talked about the need for investment and resource into improvement work.  

On my way back to the stand, I bumped into the Chief Procurement Officer for Cheshire and Merseyside ICB. We’ve been working together for more than seven months, but it was the first time we’ve met face-to-face! She’d just delivered a session on ‘Boosting productivity, delivering financial, operational and clinical benefits while improving quality of care’. She talked about the system’s ambition to achieve the shift from hospital to community services, consistent with the recommendations of the Darzi Report.  

After lunch, I headed to Theatre A to watch colleagues from SCW and NECS deliver a session on ‘Improving patient experience while waiting: safely validating and reducing waiting lists’. The session was well attended by senior providers, and it was great to see how aligned their service offers were to our NHS Activate solution, highlighting further opportunities to collaborate.

Amanda Pritchard, Chief Executive of NHS England was the keynote speaker for the afternoon. In her speech, she discussed the publication of a new NHS management and leadership framework.  

Her final message was: “Together, now, if we continue to work hard and do the hard yards, we have the opportunity to build an NHS that we can all be proud of, one which provides better service, better outcomes, better value for the communities we serve.” Delegates agreed it felt like she was setting the scene for something to come the following day.  

Day two of the NHS Providers Conference

After dropping the dogs at day care, I was back in the car when I heard reports that Wes Streeting, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, was attending the conference to launch a performance regime for acute trusts.

At 10am, the auditorium was the busiest I’d seen so far, in anticipation of the Health Secretary’s keynote speech. His key messages around the need for reform, triple devolution and the need to develop a new neighbourhood health service were met with resounding support. Messages around provider performance management were received with mixed feelings from those in the audience – mirrored in the reactions seen on LinkedIn and X. He finished with a message of hope for the NHS to be “The jewel in the Government’s National Renewal.” 

Back on our stand, the chair of a mental health trust was keen to discuss our waiting well offer – specifically related to neurodivergent patients. I handled an enquiry about board development support from the chair of a trust in NHS ML’s geography where NECS are also currently delivering some improvement support.  

All in all, a good conference with great networking opportunities. Although I didn’t really hear anything new about the challenges we face, there was definitely a resounding message consistent with Darzi’s Report that the NHS is in a critical state, but its vital signs are strong and there is hope for the future.  

Reflecting on both days as whole, it’s notable how many colleagues highlighted challenges related to improvement and productivity. This discussion clearly aligns with the valuable services that CSUs can offer to help providers address these issues effectively.