Working in partnership
We continue to operate in a complex external strategic environment and actively participate in partnership working across our Integrated Care System (ICS), our five boroughs and the South London Partnership. 
Our Integrated Care System
Our external strategic environment continues to evolve as the South West London’s Integrated Care System (ICS) takes shape.
Our ICS is a broad alliance of organisations and representatives concerned with improving the care, health and wellbeing of the population and reducing health inequalities. South West London’s ICS is being developed to:
- Improve outcomes in population health and healthcare
- Tackle inequalities in outcomes, experience and access
- Enhance productivity and value for money
- Help the NHS support broader social and economic development
We have continued to be an active partner in the development of our local ICS, working with providers and commissioners across the system. The Trust plays an important leadership role within the ICS with our leaders participating in ICS structures.
The South West London ICS Mental Health Transformation Board continues to meet to drive forward improvements in mental health across South West London. The development of a South West London mental health provider collaborative is being scoped and recommendations around how to progress this building on the existing South London Partnership have been accepted.
Our South West London Mental Health Strategy
The NHS in South West London has developed a Mental Health Strategy setting out the ways it will improve and support the mental health of everyone who lives, work or studies in Croydon, Kingston, Merton, Richmond, Sutton and Wandsworth over the next five years.
The Strategy, which will be delivered by the NHS South West London Integrated Care Board (ICB) together with the two local mental health NHS trusts, South West London and St George’s and South London and Maudsley, is the first ICB-wide strategy of its kind in London.
The vision is to make South West London the best place to live for emotional wellbeing, with everyone having access to high quality, accessible wellbeing and mental health services.
The Strategy will focus on going further and faster for children and young people, whilst also increasing equity of access, experience and outcomes for all South West Londoners and tackling issues earlier to prevent mental-ill health.
Trust leadership at ‘Place’
The boroughs we serve represent five of the six ‘places’ in South West London that our ICS covers: Kingston, Merton, Richmond, Sutton, Wandsworth and Corydon. The purpose of our ICS at place level is to:
- Support and develop primary care networks which join up primary and community services across local neighbourhoods
- Simplify, modernise and join-up health and care including through technology and by joining up primary and secondary care where appropriate
- Understand and identify – using population health management techniques and other intelligence – people and families at risk of being left behind and to organise proactive support for them
- Coordinate the local contribution to health, social and economic development to prevent future risks to ill-health within different population groups
Within the Trust we have aligned members of our executive and senior leadership team to each borough to ensure that we are actively participating in the development of each place. We are pleased that mental health is a key priority area in each place and the Trust is working with partners to develop delivery plans and structures.
Trust leadership across the South London Partnership
The South London Partnership has now been operating for five years and is an innovative collaboration between our Trust, Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM).
By working at scale across the population of South London, we bring together an exceptional standard of clinical expertise and a greater understanding of peoples experience of care. We apply this knowledge for the benefit of service users, carers and their families, with these benefits extending out into the community to reduce stigma, increase early intervention and improve the overall mental health of the people of South London.
The Trust has continued to play active leadership role in South London Partnership moving forward the following programmes:
• Forensic (Adult Secure) Provider Collaborative
• CAMHS (Tier 4) Provider Collaborative
• Adult Eating Disorders Provider Collaborative
• Nursing Development Programme
• Complex Care Programme
• Acute Care projects including NHS111
• Corporate Services Programme
The Trust also worked with colleagues to review and refresh the South London Partnership’s strategic direction in 2021-22 with strategic commissioning, workforce planning and research and innovation identified as priority work. These priorities are being progressed and feed into consideration of provider collaborative approaches for local mental health commissioning in South West and South East London.