Andrew Hines, Chief Executive of Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust said:

“It's vital that our leadership reflects the experience of both our staff and our patients, and we welcome the CQC’s report into our Trust leadership and culture as they were last November.

"Since then, we have made major changes to our executive leadership team, implemented a comprehensive improvement programme overseen by the Trust Board, and made significant progress across a number of the areas highlighted by the CQC – including on staff support, Freedom to Speak Up, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, governance and leadership development.

"We are fully committed to becoming an outstanding organisation once again and on delivering the improvements our staff, patients and local communities rightly expect. We know there is much more we need to do but I am confident that we are making positive progress and will continue to build on that in the year ahead.”

Since the inspection, the Trust has:

  • Appointed a new Chief Nurse, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Director of Estates and Facilities.
  • Further embedded its Freedom to Speak Up service – which provides support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
  • Increased support for staff, including enhanced executive sponsorship of staff networks and the introduction of a dedicated Citizens Advice service.
  • Improved NHS Staff Survey results, with higher participation rates and improvements in compassionate leadership, recognition and raising concerns.
  • Launched The SASH Leader programme to strengthen leadership capability and support psychologically safe teams.
  • Begun a governance restructure to improve consistency, accountability and risk management.
  • Introduced a strengthened Equality Impact Assessment process and toolkit.
  • Established a dedicated Equality, Diversity and Inclusion group and are recruiting a Head of EDI.
  • Reinstated the Trust Violence and Aggression Group in response to staff concerns.
  • Refreshed the Trust's Green Plan and confirmed a new Board-level lead.

Further work under way includes:

  • Refreshing the Trust's Digital Strategy.
  • Implementing a new Patient and Public Engagement Strategy.
  • Improving clinical productivity and spreading best practice across services.