In addition to the work NHS England’s (NHSE’s) Intensive Support Teams are undertaking at both regional and national level, the launch of the Darzi review has laid bare the critical condition of the NHS. Three key themes now need to be considered as part of recovery and reform: re-engage staff and re-empower patients; lock in the shift of care closer to home by hardwiring financial flows; simplify and innovate care delivery for a neighbourhood NHS.

Following preliminary conversations with integrated care boards (ICBs), we thought it would be helpful to share with you an outline proposal for discussion. It demonstrates the four commissioning support units’ (CSUs’) credibility and current capacity to support you on the investigation and intervention programme as a fellow, yet independent, NHS organisation. 

Why CSUs?

You are looking for support to make the necessary step changes in productivity and efficiency, and we are well placed to add both value and capacity to mandated systems but also to review other ICBs (at a level appropriate and agreed with you) in their delivery of the financial plan for 2024/25. As an NHS organisation we provide independent advice, skills and support and we share your values and principles. We too hold ourselves accountable for the grip and control measures highlighted by yourselves. We know what strong, standard and weak looks like against each area of control and which areas systems should be looking at to improve their run-rate. 

At the same time, systems that are not currently mandated should be considering a tailored version of the proposed scope set by NHSE for mandated systems. This is to undertake an investigation and rapid intervention process (“I&I”) for areas where NHSE have concerns regarding financial plans and targets, whilst achieving the necessary levels of quality, operational, governance and leadership excellence.

This is why we are ideally placed to support you on this programme journey and have the appropriate resource ready to start. We will act as a delivery partner along your programme journey to ensure successful delivery of the outcomes, regularly engaging with you as we progress and managing change in a respectful and productive way.  If there is a need for training and support to embed practices, we will provide guidance from our wealth of experience on how to approach productivity and efficiency reductions.

Our approach to investigation and intervention

Our team are experienced in delivering successful transformation programmes and will collaborate and work alongside you to help deliver the aims of the investigation and intervention programme.

Working together

• Open and frequent communication from all team members. Sharing early and often, establish shared repository.
• We promote an environment of psychological safety where team members feel safe to express their ideas, concerns and feedback. 
• Close partnership to help make our work immediately useful and our approach and progress transparent. Routine online meetings to update on the progress of the work, ongoing risks to discuss emerging findings. 

Multidisciplinary team

• Clearly defined roles and responsibilities, culture of accountability holding each other accountable while providing support when needed.  
• Drawing on the wider expertise of the organisation where applicable. 

Project management

• Structured workflows, defining processes for project initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and closure to streamline collaboration and reduce confusion. 
• Work plan iterated as the project develops to ensure that it is responsive to any changes in circumstances / considering any emergent findings.

What the CSUs are offering

See the information pack below to find out what the CSUs are offering, what our clients say and examples of our support.