The Southend-on-Sea City Council Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee met to discuss updates from the NHS Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board (ICB) and Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT), as well as the council's corporate performance report and work programme. The committee noted the updates from the NHS Mid and South Essex ICB, including the future of community hospital inpatient services, the implementation of the ICB's new medium-term plan, the transition of Long Covid services into mainstream care, and progress towards the establishment of a new Greater Essex ICB. The committee also noted the report to cabinet on the Annual Public Health Report 2024-25.

NHS Mid and South Essex ICB Update

Claire Hankey, Director of Communications and Partnerships, presented an update from the NHS Mid and South Essex ICB, covering key areas including the future of community hospital inpatient services, the implementation of the ICB's new Medium-Term Plan, the transition of Long Covid services, and the transition to a new Greater Essex ICB.

Community Hospital Inpatient Services

Following public consultation, the ICB has made the following decisions regarding community inpatient beds:

• St Peter's Hospital: The ICB has confirmed the permanent removal of community inpatient beds from St Peter's Hospital in Maldon, citing estate safety concerns. Rehabilitation beds will instead be provided at Brentwood, Braintree, Halstead and Rochford Community Hospitals. Stroke rehabilitation services are now available in both Brentwood and Rochford.
• Midwife-Led Birthing Unit (MLBU): The MLBU previously located at St Peter's has been permanently relocated to the William Julien Courtauld birthing centre in Braintree. Maternity outpatient services will continue to be provided at St Peter's.
• Ambulatory and Outpatient Services: These services will continue at St Peter's for up to five years, consolidated on the ground floor.
• New Health and Care Hub Development: Planning has commenced for a new health and care hub on the existing St Peter's site.

Medium-Term Plan

The ICB has launched a five-year Medium-Term Plan, called Together, we can create an NHS that works for you . The plan sets out how local NHS services will transform to meet future needs, with strategic priorities including:

• Prevention over treatment
• Community over hospital
• Digital transformation

Key transformation areas include the development of integrated neighbourhood teams, enhanced urgent and emergency care, strengthened mental health and learning disability support, tackling waiting lists, modernising hospital care, improving cancer pathways, and investment in primary care.

Transition of Long Covid Services

From 31 December 2025, the current Long Covid Service will be integrated into mainstream NHS provision, following national guidance and local review. Patients will be supported via GPs and community health teams, specialist services, mental health and wellbeing services, and paediatric pathways.

ICB Transition and Greater Essex Development

A national mandate requires a 50% reduction in ICB running costs and the streamlining of functions. This will result in the creation of a new Integrated Care Board covering Greater Essex, incorporating the current Mid and South Essex (MSE), and the Essex elements of Hertfordshire and West Essex (HWE), and Suffolk and North East Essex (SNEE) ICBs. The new ICB for Greater Essex is expected to launch in April 2026.

Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT) Update

Paul Scott, Chief Executive, and Lynnbritt Gale, Director of Delivery and Partnerships for South East Essex, presented an update on mental health and community physical health services at EPUT.

EPUT provides community physical and mental health services to more than 3.2 million people living across Essex, Suffolk, Luton and Bedfordshire. At any one time, the trust cares for over 100,000 people and employs around 7,500 staff across over 200 sites.

Upgrades to Care Quality Commission (CQC) ratings

The CQC has published reports and upgraded ratings for three EPUT services this year:

• Services at Clifton Lodge, a residential dementia care home in Westcliff, have been rated Good.
• Adult acute mental health wards and psychiatric intensive care units across Essex have been rated as Requires Improvement.
• Services at Brockfield House, a medium and low secure unit in Wickford, have been rated Good.

Transforming Care in Mental Health Inpatient Wards

EPUT is undertaking a five-year programme called Time to Care, which is designed to transform mental health care for patients, service users, their families and carers and staff. It aims to ensure that every admission has a clear purpose and a defined duration, provide a more diverse mix of skills in ward teams, and create more opportunities for patients and their families to be involved.

Community First Programme

EPUT is preparing to launch a transformation programme in its community mental health teams, called Community First. This programme will help to standardise processes and approaches, better align the community teams with the way in which inpatient mental health teams work, and reflect the move to support and care for more people in their homes and in the community.

Becoming a Trauma Informed Organisation

EPUT is undertaking a project to identify existing good practice within its services, along with opportunities for improvement, in order to adopt a trauma-informed approach. One example of an EPUT service which is already taking a trauma informed approach is the South East Essex Trauma Alliance, a partnership of around 35 health, social care and voluntary sector organisations.

Improving Support for Neurodiverse People

EPUT is taking steps to increase and improve the support it provides for neurodivergent patients and their families, in particular by creating an advisory role of autism specialist consultant psychiatrist, recruiting autistic people and people with learning disabilities to help train staff, and encouraging and supporting neurodiverse staff members to use their personal experiences to support others.

Improving Systems and Processes

EPUT is working with staff, patients and colleagues to develop a new electronic patient record system, which will replace ten existing record systems across EPUT and Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust. The new system is expected to go live for EPUT services in early 2027. EPUT is also rolling out the Patients Know Best (PKB) online patient portal in its mental health community outpatient services, and over 5,500 staff are now using the SOPHIA database and app.

Recruiting, Retaining and Supporting Staff

EPUT's staff turnover rate is 9.3%, and its overall vacancy rate is 12.2%. The trust has more colleagues on track to join, with 74 registered nurses, 35 healthcare assistants, and 22 allied health professionals with job offers or a booked start date. EPUT has been recognised for its work in supporting newly qualified allied health professionals (AHPs). Actions taken as a result of the 2024 NHS Staff Survey include launching a programme to improve staff rest areas, preparing to introduce a new staff recognition platform, providing new guidance for managers, and providing training and additional support for staff around sexual safety incidents.

The Lampard Inquiry

The Lampard Inquiry is an independent statutory inquiry investigating the deaths of mental health inpatients in Essex between 2000 and 2023. EPUT continues to support the Inquiry by providing information requested by Baroness Kate Lampard and her team.

Local Mental Health Services

EPUT is providing streamlined access to care through its Southend Primary Care Mental Health Team, strengthening local partnerships with drug and alcohol services, expanding integrated care for rough sleepers, and delivering a new 12-week course at the Taylor Centre to help families understand specific mental health conditions. The Southend Rough Sleepers Mental Health Team was highly commended in the Creative and Innovative Practice category of the UK Advancing Healthcare Awards in May. Ofsted rated EPUT's Rochford CAMHS Therapeutic Education Department as Good after an inspection in June.

Local Community Physical Health Services

EPUT is the first community nursing service in England to fully implement the use of urethral catheter guidewires, and is training all its district nursing teams in new best practice for lower limb care. The trust has rolled out new technology in its community nursing teams, and continues to raise awareness of the importance of staff talking about death and dying with patients early across all services. EPUT has recently increased the numbers of non-medical prescribers across its district nursing and palliative care teams. The South East Essex Children's Asthma Service is expanding and will cover the whole of mid and south Essex by the end of January 2026.

Outcome of the Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board (ICB) Community Services Consultation

The ICB has approved a split-site stroke rehabilitation model, with services to be based in Rochford and Brentwood. EPUT currently operates 14 stroke and eight intermediate care beds at the Cumberlege Intermediate Care Centre (CICC) at Rochford Hospital. Following the decision, the split will change and will see EPUT providing 22 stroke rehabilitation beds at the CICC.

Work Programme

The committee discussed its work programme for the remainder of the year, including potential topics such as asset optimisation, NHS ICB attendance, women's health, direct payments, and a charity that assists with preventing hunger in children in schools. The committee noted that the work programme should be viewed as a live document subject to change.