South West Provider Collaborative

The South West Provider Collaborative is an award-winning partnership of five NHS organisations, with Devon Partnership NHS Trust as the lead provider, two independent sector organisations and a community interest company working together to improve the care pathway for people needing specialised mental healthcare in the South West.

With a geography that spans from Cornwall to Gloucester, covering 22,000 square kilometres and a population of around five million, our aim is to ensure that people experience high quality care as close to home as possible, so they can better connect with their support network and local clinical teams and return to their family, friends and community as quickly as possible.

Since 2017, our healthcare providers in the South West have been sharing knowledge, resources and expertise, making a significant difference to peoples’ lives.

By bringing together clinicians at the very start of our partnership and involving our patients, their families and carers in decision-making, we have been able to design new clinical pathways. This innovative way of working is already delivering efficiencies that are benefitting our local population.

We commission specialised services for people in the South West including:

• Adult Low and Medium Secure Services
• Children and Young People’s Mental Health Services
• Adult Eating Disorder Services

Anne Forbes, Programme Director said: “Back in October 2020, 50% of medium and low secure mental health patients were treated outside the region, that figure is now less than 15%.”

Dr Jason Fee, Clinical Director, said: “We have already commissioned 78 new inpatient beds and recurrently invested circa £7 million in community forensic and community forensic personality disorder teams at no cost to the health economy. This has enabled us to repatriate more than 180 people back to services closer to home.”

Sarah Hughes, Head of Service for CAMHS Tier 4 and Adult Eating Disorders Commissioning said: “To date we have successfully brought back to the South West, a number of young people who had been placed in services far from home. By working closely with our partners across all the specialised eating disorder units in the region, we ensure that once a bed becomes available, patients are clinically prioritised for admission."

Locations

The South West Provider Collaborative is currently recruiting to a variety of roles.

Find out more

Watch this short film about the South West Provider Collaborative.

We are proud that the South West Provider Collaborative (SWPC) was a finalist at the HSJ Awards 2022 in the Provider Collaboration of the Year category. Read more.