Introduction
Solent NHS Trust provides community, mental health and learning disability services to communities in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. Our dedicated team of over 6,000 staff deliver compassionate, person-centred care to people close to home, at all stages of their lives.
We are the main community and mental health provider in Portsmouth city and the main provider of community services in Southampton. We also provide a range of specialist services across the Hampshire geography. We have made a firm commitment to support the sustainability of health and care on the Isle of Wight, and we currently provide sexual health, dental and 0-19 services to the island community.
At Solent we share a fundamental belief that the way we work, our behaviours and priorities should be guided by our values – Honesty, Everyone Counts, Accountability, Respect and Teamwork (HEART). We believe in honest, respectful conversations and working together with service users, carers, our staff and people in the communities we work in, to keep more people well and independent throughout their lives.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the most challenging of times for us all, our long-standing commitment to provide Great Care, make Solent a Great Place to Work and deliver Great Value for Money has remained strong. The commitment and dedication of the people who work at the heart of Solent has been exceptional. Teams have approached an incredibly challenging situation with flexibility. Service transformation has happened at pace and people have stepped into roles that they would not otherwise do; ensuring we have been able to continue to deliver care, respond to the pandemic, support people in our communities and one another. We will always be whole-heartedly grateful to every member of Team Solent.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought many challenges for the NHS, our service users, communities and system partners. Never more has the need to address health inequalities within our communities been more apparent.
The pandemic has also created some opportunities and a wealth of positive learning, particularly in terms of how health and care partners can best work together to improve care and achieve common goals. And so, as we learn to live with COVID-19, we have taken the time to think about what “beyond the pandemic” looks like for the local health and care system, for our services and for our communities.
Our original strategy, created in 2016, was framed in context where the NHS had developed the Five Year Forward View, Sustainable Transformation Plans (STP) were emerging, setting out an intention for improved system working, and a blueprint had been developed for the creation of new care models. In March 2020, our Trust Board refreshed the strategy to reflect the latest context, learning and local and national developments.
At the time of writing, the Health and Care Bill is expected to be enacted in law by April 2022. Once passed, the Bill will formally establish Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) across the country and enable improved collaboration between NHS providers, commissioners and other stakeholders, to help health and care partners better respond to today’s challenges.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought many challenges for the NHS, our service users, communities and system partners. Never more has the need to address health inequalities within our communities been more apparent.
By working together with our partners in the Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICS, we will make lives better. There are already many excellent examples where we are improving service user experience and outcomes of care through partnership working with hospital services, social care, other mental health and community services, GPs and other primary care colleagues. We must further develop this collaborative approach in the coming months and years; increasingly also working together with colleagues in non-NHS services, such as housing, employment services, the police and the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector. We must make best use of our collective experience and assets and ensure all people can access effective, joined-up services which meet local needs, reduce inequalities and improve the health and wellbeing of our population.
We believe firmly in the NHS Triple Aim, set out in the Health and Care Bill: the health and wellbeing of populations, the quality of services provided to individuals, and efficiency and sustainability in relation to the use of resources. Our mission to provide Great Care, be a Great Place to Work and deliver Great Value for Money, aligns with the Triple Aim and remains at the forefront of our approach.
In light of the latest national and local policy direction, challenges, opportunities and learning from the pandemic, we have taken the opportunity to review, refresh and reframe our vision, ensuring it is stretching, challenging and innovative. Our new vision statement has a strong focus on the things our communities and staff have told us are important to them today, as well as the things that need to improve for the future.
Our vision is: Health and care teams working with communities to make a difference, so everyone has easy access to safe and effective care, enabling more people to remain well and independent throughout their lives. It reflects the core belief that everyone deserves equitable access to high-quality health and care services which support their health and independence, no matter who they are or where they live. We are working towards a future where health and care teams work seamlessly together to deliver high-quality care, avoid unnecessary handovers between teams and organisations and improve service user experience. We believe in a future where people have choice and control over the way their care is planned and delivered and where each individual’s priorities, strengths and needs are at the centre of their care.
We have refreshed our strategic priorities to ensure they describe the latest principles and commitments we will work to, to achieve our vision. This strategy explains what each of our 15 strategic priorities mean to us, our people and our communities and the actions we commit to taking to deliver them.
Delivery of this strategy will help Solent continue to improve the services we deliver, support the health, wellbeing and future of our workforce and ensure we use precious NHS resources wisely. For us, this strategy also reflects a new approach for Solent as an NHS organisation: one where we actively act upon our wider responsibility to deliver social value as an anchor institution within Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
Through publication of this strategy we commit to helping our communities manage and recover from the impact of the pandemic, and build a fairer future.
This strategy reflects a new approach for Solent as an NHS organisation: one where we actively act upon our wider responsibility to deliver social value as an anchor institution within Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.