Sara's Leadership Blog for February 2026
Hello,
Welcome to my leadership blog for February 2026.
We’re now in quarter four of the financial year 2025/6, which means we’re now planning for the year ahead, and will soon be turning our attention to reviewing the year gone by.
The talk of the town continues to be our integration with Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust (LCH) – which continues at pace.
The executive teams from both trusts met in December to talk through the legal, technical and regulatory processes – which we’ve made a good start on already. On 7 January there was a workshop between both full trust Boards where we shared our service portfolios and discussed timescales.
We’ve since received expert advice that the best way to keep the financial freedoms and other benefits of being a foundation trust is to use a legal process of acquisition. Put simply, LCH would be contractually brought into LYPFT, so that preparations for a new joint organisation can move forward. So, this is what our Strategic Outline Case (SOC) will propose. We will submit the SOC later this month for review and (hopefully) approval by NHS England which we anticipate receiving back around Easter time.
In the meantime, I’m encouraging colleagues to reach out and get to know their counterparts in both organisations to find out how we can bring the best of what we do together into the new organisation.
A provider partnership for Leeds
At citywide level, health and care leaders are developing what’s called the Leeds Provider Partnership. This is a way for local health and care organisations to work together as one team instead of separately. It means sharing responsibility for planning and delivering services, using our resources together, and focusing on the same goals – like reducing health inequalities and improving care for people in Leeds.
We think we can do this by:
- Reducing duplication so teams aren’t doing the same work in different places,
- Responding faster when services come under pressure,
- Making the most of our workforce by sharing skills, teams, and expertise, and
- Using our money more wisely, making sure it goes further for the people who need it.
The Leeds Provider Partnership will be governed by a joint committee, a formal decision-making body. The full scope and powers of the joint committee are currently being agreed. It will be operational as a shadow joint committee by April 2026, with full implementation expected no later than April 2027.
Emergency Department Trial
Our most recent analysis of what we call patient flow (how patients move through various services on their journey to recovery) shows a mixed picture. We’ve had pockets of success coupled with downward trends.
However, I wanted to highlight some great work taking place to reduce waiting times for mental health assessments in Leeds’ emergency departments (or A&Es). A key priority for us is to ensure people presenting in our emergency departments requiring mental health treatment are identified quickly and receive appropriate care without delay.
Our Acute Liaison Psychiatry Service (ALPS – who work in those emergency departments) is looking at different things that might help achieve their one-hour response rate target. This includes the introduction of a triage function to screen referrals on arrival. This pilot will focus on ‘walk ins’ initially to identify people who need our service at St James’s Hospital.
This will better inform the response to those service users to avoid the time they have to wait for assessment and signpost them early to appropriate services. The pilot will continue throughout January, with the findings being reported back in March 2026.
Inpatient services’ Culture of Care
For the last two years we’ve been actively engaged in the Culture of Care programme – a national quality transformation initiative for mental health inpatient services. Its designed to strengthen the culture within inpatient mental health, learning disability, and autism wards, ensuring that they provide safe, therapeutic, and equitable environments for patients – while also making it rewarding and supportive for staff.
The programme is scheduled to conclude in March 2026, with preparations already underway for a phased implementation across all inpatient services thereafter.
The Culture of Care Lived Experience role is now a central component of the organisation’s Culture of Care implementation plan. They can share valuable insight from individuals with direct experience of inpatient services, enhancing programme delivery and strengthening engagement across participating wards.
The Lived Experience Lead has been fully introduced to all participating wards and is providing leadership on key components of the programme, with the longer-term objective of ensuring that the Culture of Care approach is embedded across all inpatient areas.
Final call for nominations for Governor elections (and congrats to Amy)
Time is running out for anyone interested in becoming a Trust Governor with nominations closing on 6 February. Governors do an important job for the Trust representing the interests of service users, carers, staff and the public. They meet at least three times a year with the Board of Directors to scrutinise the performance of the Trust, ask questions, raise concerns and hopefully shine a light on good performance. Find out more on our website.
And a huge congratulations to our Principal Dietitian Amy Pratt (pictured below) who has been nominated as our new Lead Governor. Amy had previously been a Clinical Staff Governor, serving on the Council of Governors since March 2023.
When Crisis Calls – a review of the NHS 111 mental health service
Healthwatch Leeds has published a review of the NHS 111 Mental Health Crisis Support Line to understand people’s views and experiences since its introduction. Over 350 people from Leeds who have experienced a mental health crisis provided their input into the report.
The key findings included:
- 57% of people did not know this was an option,
- 3 in 5 people didn’t find the support offered by NHS 111 helpful in managing their mental health crisis,
- People’s experiences of call handlers on the phoneline were inconsistent – with positive and negative experiences of call handlers.
Healthwatch made several recommendations which have been presented to relevant leadership boards across the patch. The findings and recommendations have been taken into consideration by the West Yorkshire ICB and the provider of the NHS111 Mental Health Crisis Line, who are working to implement the recommendations.
Reasons to be Proud
Vaccination campaign packs a punch
We are now 13 weeks into our flu and covid vaccination campaigns, and we have already achieved our target of increasing uptake of flu jabs by five percent on last year. So, well done to our Infection Prevention and Control Team, and to our Communications Team for their superhero-style campaign.
Patient Perspectives on Inpatient Mealtimes
Our Principal Speech and Language Therapist Dr Susan Guthrie has seen her work on insights on swallowing, mental wellbeing and recovery published in the Mental Health Nursing Journal. It features feedback from 13 patients aged between 20 and 60 years across a range of inpatient services at LYPFT.
November’s Team of the Month was . . .
The Crisis Resolution Intensive Support Service east team (pictured below) who’ve shown exceptional strength, unity, and commitment to delivering high-quality, person-centred care during challenging times. At the heart of CRISS East’s success is compassion. They not only prioritise service users but also care for one another, creating a culture of mutual support and trust. Their honesty, accountability, and transparency have strengthened confidence among colleagues and service users alike.
Our Individual of the Month for January 2026 is . . .
Charlotte Kelly (pictured below) who has demonstrated exceptional professionalism and dedication in her role as a Band 5 nurse, earning recognition from colleagues and judges alike. Charlotte was nominated for her outstanding performance during a particularly challenging shift. She was responsible for coordinating care for several young people, both on-site and off-site, when patient plans unexpectedly changed. Despite the complexity and pressure of the situation, Charlotte adapted quickly, reorganising the shift and ensuring that care remained safe and responsive.
December’s Team of the Month is . . .
The Complex Dementia Wraparound Team – who are part of the Older People’s Service. Despite facing the challenge of being decommissioned, the team has shown exceptional resilience, mutual support, and dedication to each other during a time of uncertainty.