The government has announced that five NHS trusts in England are to be placed into a new intensive recovery programme aimed at addressing persistent performance, financial and operational challenges.
“I’ve announced today a new intensive recovery programme. This will target the worst performing providers, sending in our best leaders or delivering the structural changes necessary to get them back on track. No more turning a blind eye to failure,” said Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting.
The initiative, led by Streeting, targets organisations identified as having “deep-rooted challenges”, including long patient waiting times, high leadership turnover and ongoing financial pressures.
The first cohort of trusts entering the programme comprises North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust, Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust, and East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust.
The programme will consist of changes in leadership, where necessary, bringing NHS veterans with a history of success into underperforming areas, merging or separating trusts so resources can be reallocated based on need, and improving access to capital for crumbling estates.
The government said the programme will focus on delivering measurable improvements in patient care, particularly in areas currently experiencing the poorest outcomes and longest delays.
The Department of Health and Social Care said the selected trusts are not failing or showing a lack of effort but are constrained by structural and financial issues that have built up over time.
The move comes amid wider efforts to improve NHS performance, with recent data showing a modest recovery in public satisfaction following record lows in 2024, though experts caution that progress remains fragile.