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It was clear to Angela Hillery, chief executive of two community and mental health trusts in the East Midlands, that if they didn’t reach out to help St Andrew’s Healthcare, patients would come to harm.

The independent mental healthcare provider and charity, based in Northampton, was the subject of a worrying Care Quality Commission report published at the end of last year, which prevented it from admitting patients into certain services without approval from the regulator.

Five trusts in the East Midlands approached St Andrew’s, keen to start a major piece of quality improvement, described by Ms Hillery as “not a quick fix”.

The work focuses on staff, patients and culture and has been resourced so as not to affect the work done within the NHS trusts.

Ms Hillery is clear that the strength of the East Midlands alliance of provider trusts put them in a position to support St Andrew’s.

St Andrews’ medical director Sanjith Kamath is clear – accepting help from the trusts was the logical thing to do as “these patients aren’t my patients or your patients, they are collectively our patients, and we have a collective responsibility to look after their mental health in a way that meets their needs”.

Moving on

Strained relations with integrated care system leaders have ended with mental health chief Caroline Donovan moving to take up a national secondment, HSJ understands.

Her new post with the national mental health team follows what a source said have been significant tensions with the local integrated care board in recent months over the trust’s finances.

It is understood Ms Donovan and the trust board previously agreed to target efficiency savings of around £19m (5 per cent) this year, but were then told by the ICB to seek additional savings on top of this, to cover the costs of out-of-area placements, which are expected to come to around £15m.

OAPs had previously been largely funded by commissioners, the trust said.

Sources said there was a view among some that Ms Donovan had not been supportive of system-wide issues and a system approach, and that trust chair David Eva eventually sided with the ICB.

Also on hsj.co.uk today

In our weekly expert briefing on workforce, The Ward Round, Annabelle Collins looks at the dangers of “moral injury” to embattled NHS staff, and in our comment section, Dean Royles highlights the importance of soft skills in people professionals, managers and union reps, especially during and after the crisis conditions emerging from covid.