NHS England’s Independent Assurance Review published today
Working with our service users, people and partners we have made significant progress on our improvement journey and we remain committed to continuously improving our services to ensure we provide safe, high-quality patient care which contributes to improving lives in Greater Manchester.
In January 2024 NHS England commissioned an Independent Review into the failings within the Trust’s services, reported at the Edenfield Centre, and the failure within the organisation to appropriately manage concerns and mitigate against patient harm. This followed concerns raised by patients, their families and staff, some of which were presented through the media.
The Assurance Review published today by NHS England follows the publication of the initial Independent Review and focusses on the actions progressed and implemented in response to the recommendations made in that review. It provides an important moment for us to reflect on how far we have come together.
The review team has recognised positive progress across every area they examined; this has been made possible by the hard work and commitment shown every day by colleagues across the Trust.
The Trust was given a progress rating of “Action significantly progressed” in nine out of the eleven areas which is exactly where an organisation at our stage of recovery should be. This rating means that the foundations are in place and actions are well under way. It also means there is still work to do to test and embed improvements so that they are felt reliably by staff, service users and carers.
The ratings for each area were as follows:
| Area | Progress Rating |
| R1: Patients, families and carers | Action Commenced |
| R2: Clinical leadership | Action significantly progressed |
| R3: Culture | Action significantly progressed |
| R4: Workforce | Action significantly progressed |
| R5: Estates | Action completed, tested but not yet embedded |
| R6: Governance | Action significantly progressed |
| R7: Edenfield | Action significantly progressed |
| R8: Improvement plan | Action significantly progressed |
| R9: Elsewhere in the organisation | Action significantly progressed |
| R10: System oversight | Action significantly progressed |
| R11: Provider collaborative | Action significantly progressed |
The Assurance Review focusses on the actions that have been progressed and implemented in response to the recommendations made in the Independent Review. The report highlights areas where progress is already visible:
- clinical leadership structures are stronger;
- there is greater transparency in how we understand quality and safety;
- our estates work is much more robust;
- engagement with service users and carers is developing, as is the culture of speaking up and supporting one another;
- Riverside, formally known as Edenfield Centre, has reopened safely and staff there have created an environment that feels very different to the one the original report described.
You can read the full report which is published here but a summary of the report’s conclusions is:
- a confirmation that positive progress has been made.
- the review team remind us to not forget the depth of concerns that existed within GMMH and how deeply poor care and culture had become entrenched in some parts.
- the foundations for the future have largely been developed, but these will require commitment and energy from all partners to ensure progress is embedded to meet the needs of the people and communities that we serve.
- many improvements are still at an early stage, which is expected given the scale of change that has taken place.
- building trust with service users, families and carers remains essential and will take continued effort.
- the review team expressed concerns about our community mental health services and a hope that the ICB will promptly complete their independent review of community mental health teams and ensure that its findings are heard and acted upon swiftly.
Clearly, it is not the end of the work; sustaining and embedding our progress, in addition to our strategic ambition is now in our focus. It is imperative that we keep listening to our service users, carers and staff, maintain our focus on inclusion, strengthen our teams and support one another as our new ways of working bed in.
The review team reminds us that full recovery takes time. This report shows that we are moving in the right direction and that the work we are doing is beginning to make a difference and gain traction.
The new GMMH Board is fully accountable for the performance and safety of the organisation. It is now significantly stronger, more curious and visible since the Review Team’s first visit, with a clear and determined focus on continually improving safe, high-quality patient care and providing better support for our staff.
By working together we will keep building a healthier organisation that delivers safe and compassionate care for the people we serve and builds a better place to work.
Your faithfully
Karen Howell OBE and Prof Tony Warne
