Since July 2024, NHS Greater Manchester has been working more closely with NHS England to deliver a set of formalised agreed actions under one Single Improvement Plan (often referred to as SIP) to deliver changes and make improvements in the care of people living in Greater Manchester.
This process is referred to legally as ‘Enforcement Undertakings’. The plan hinges on four key pillars:
- Leadership and governance
- Financial sustainability
- Performance and assurance
- Quality of care
Progress update
There are 36 undertakings in total and, earlier this month, NHS GM presented an interim six-month review of progress against these undertakings to NHS England. This concluded that:
- NHS GM is compliant with 19 undertakings
- NHS GM is compliant with nine undertakings, with ongoing monitoring to be continued
- NHS continues to make progress against the undertakings but is yet to fully achieve compliance in eight of them – note: this is within the plan’s current timescales
This position represents significant progress for our organisation and NHS England has acknowledged the scale and pace of work that has been completed.
What happens next?
While we are delighted with progress to date – all parties recognise the significant work that remains, as well as sustaining the improvements that have been made within NHS GM and the wider GM Integrated Care Partnership.
We anticipate NHS England will shift focus on to the eight undertakings that are yet to achieve compliance. These include:
- Continuing to streamline decision-making and further develop collaboration across the health and care system;
- Continued close working with NHS England to address financial challenges in line with the broader NHS;
- Continued and sustainable performance improvements in urgent and emergency care services; and
- Further demonstration of the sustained impact of the significant progress made in quality oversight arrangements.
A further review will be carried out regarding progress against the remaining undertakings in September 2025. The NHS GM improvement plan expects improvements will have been completed at this point which will represent significant progress by all system partners in conjunction with NHS England.
