Our strategy 2024-27

Using feedback from the people who use our services, carers, members, partners and colleagues working in Oxleas, we have agreed a new strategy for 2024 – 2027.

This takes our 2021 – 2024 strategy to a new phase and builds on the achievements of the past three years.  

For 2024 – 2027, we will be prioritising:  

Great Care - We want Oxleas to be known for kind and compassionate care that puts patients right at the centre. We want to draw on the best in research and practice to improve our patients’ lives. Wherever possible, we want to equip our patients with the tools, skills and services they need to manage their conditions in their own communities.  

Timely Care - The lives of our patients improve when they receive the right care at the right time. We are committed to doing everything we can to enable this. When they experience unnecessary delays in receiving care, their health can deteriorate. We are committed to doing everything we can to prevent this.  

We plan to take this priority forward through the following programmes:   

  • Zero delays  

  • Inpatient beds programme

Best Place to work - Our ambition is for Oxleas to be the best place to work in the NHS. We know that we can only deliver really great care to our patients if we are able to retain and attract high quality and engaged staff. Given the acute NHS staffing challenges, it is more important than ever that Oxleas stands out as an employer of choice where everyone feels included.    

We want everyone, wherever located, to feel the ‘ Oxleas difference’ — a distinct culture that is driven by our unique values.

How did we develop our new strategy

Since Summer 2023, we have been engaging staff and stakeholders on the strategy, including: ​

  • Writing to all our members and sessions at Annual Members Meetings  ​

  • Discussions with our Lead Governor and workshops at the Council of Governors, including partner  governors ​

  • Individual 1:1 discussions with each of our Non-Executive Directors ​

  • Meetings with Place Leads and the Integrated Care Board ​

  • Writing out individually to all staff members to seek their views on key topics in the strategy ​

  • Dedicated session with our Shadow Executive, Board and Executive Teams and Senior Staff Group ​

  • Specific engagement sessions on innovation, creating a culture of kindness and the Oxleas difference ​

What people told us ​

  • We are on the right track and should not change direction.  ​

  • Appetite for clearer and simpler language to describe our plans.  ​

  • Increase focus on research and innovation.  ​

  • Build on culture work to focus on compassion to patients.  ​

  • Focus on ‘One Oxleas’ experience and bring out the Oxleas difference

Our values

Our values express our heart at Oxleas.

They are the lens we look through to guide our behaviours day-to-day, informing how we act, the decisions we make, and how we work with our service users, patients, families, carers, and colleagues.

Our values are:

  • We’re Kind: We show consideration, concern and thoughtfulness towards everyone.
  • We’re Fair: We embrace difference, treat everyone with respect and promote diversity, equity and inclusion.
  • We Listen: We always seek to understand, learn, and improve.
  • We Care: We work together and innovate to put our service users at the heart of everything we do.

Our values have been developed through discussions with our staff, patients, and local people about what our priorities should be to support us to achieve our mission of ‘Improving lives’.

They have also emerged through open and honest conversations about race inequality and difference and how we can continually create an environment that delivers excellent patient care and makes Oxleas a great place to work.

Oxleas_Values

Our commitments

As part of our refreshed strategy, we are also taking forward the following commitments:  

Equity for All  

We know that we can only deliver great care if we tackle health inequalities and strive for fairness, equity and inclusivity for all staff, service users, carers and communities, regardless of their protected characteristics.  

Strong patient and carer voice and involvement  

Our vision is for a ‘nothing about us without us’ approach to the delivery of our care. We have made significant strides over the last three years to create a thriving infrastructure to support involvement and we will continue to build on this.  

Force for good in local communities  

People in our local communities face a range of avoidable and unfair differences in their health that result from social and economic inequalities. We want to use our position in the community to make a positive difference. This includes by being an employer, purchasing goods and services and tackling health inequalities.  

Cultivating continuous improvement   

Like all healthcare providers, we at Oxleas are facing unprecedented workforce, financial and performance pressures. To meet these challenges, and to do so at pace, we are committed to cultivating a proactive continuous improvement system.

A thriving safety, listening and learning culture  

Our vision is to improve lives through our thriving safety, listening and learning culture. Over the next three years, we will continue to embed the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework to create a thriving safety, listening and learning culture.   

Partnership  

One of the keys to our success is working in partnership. We will seek to be an active partner to help shape the services people need to enable them to get the most out of life. We will share our learning and expertise while listening and learning from others and work collaboratively to enable healthcare to be as efficient and effective as possible.  

Innovation  

We want our clinicians and staff to feel empowered and supported to use innovation and research to drive improved outcomes for our patients. We want Oxleas to be known as a trust that delivers research-informed care and uses digital technology to make a positive difference.

Embedding sustainability into our culture  

We recognise the detrimental impact that our healthcare systems are having on our planet and the effects this is having on our people and our communities. We have pledged to reduce our Carbon Footprint to Net Zero by 2040 in line with the NHS pledge.  

Living within our means and maximising productivity  

We are committed to making the very best use of our resources to benefit our patients and improve productivity. We have a clear understanding of our demand, activity and challenges and where our commissioned activity is exceeded by demand.  

Our previous strategy 2021-24

Here you will find the previous version of our Oxleas strategy for 2021 – 2024:

Further information on what we have achieved so far in each of our main priorities can be found below:

we’re kind we’re fair we listen we care

We are kind, we are fair, we listen