Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust serves a large older population and provides a wide range of mental health, physical health and learning disability services for people across Hampshire.
On arrival at Lymington New Forest Hospital, we caught a glimpse of the beautiful New Forest, including some native ponies. In this truly fantastic setting, the trust provides a wide range of diagnostic services including radiology and endoscopy and has four inpatient wards. The modern and bright building was described as a real pull-factor by the staff who worked there and appreciated by patients as well. Staff were, however, keen to note that the rural setting poses challenges to initial recruitment of clinical staff; recent industrial action demonstrates how tricky managing this can be.
Our discussion on the day focused on how the trust is developing system working, specifically through Project Fusion. This project aims to bring together community, mental health and learning disability services across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight into one new NHS trust. This includes services provided by Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, Solent NHS Trust, Isle of Wight NHS Trust and Hampshire’s Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), currently provided by Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. The trusts are sure that Project Fusion will deliver benefits for both patients and staff, with the organisations able to share expertise, equipment, and other resources.
Southern Health has involved families and communities in the project to ensure co-production drives change. Staff highlighted that working with other services has been transformative, giving them opportunities to learn from each other. They’ve worked to establish a consensus around how future clinical services should be shaped e, with physical and mental health integration of services especially important for older patients. The trust hopes to have formed the new organisation by April 2024.
The benefits of system working are already being seen at Southern Health. We heard how the virtual wards programme, musculoskeletal (MSK) programme and community diagnostic centres’ (CDCs) work contribute to improved patient outcomes through strong cross-system relationships. Expanded CDCs, thanks to additional NHS funding, have helped to speed up scans and tests and allowed Hampshire patients to be seen closer to home. The pathways were co-designed with patients; Southern Health is particularly proud of the positive impact the new dementia pathways already had.
There’s a real sense of community ownership at the trust through the very active Lymington Hospital Friends Charity, which has helped to fund a new sensory garden at the hospital. The staff explained the positive impact strong links within the community has, as the population feels invested in the hospital and can play a part in helping to deliver change.
Overall, this was a stimulating and thought-provoking visit. It was great to see first-hand the unique attributes of Lymington Hospital and the positive impact it makes to the wider system.
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