CHATTER BOX Your fortnightly bulletin for SaTH colleagues and events Friday 30 January 2026
Every Penny Counts The weeks and months ahead are so important for all of us, as we make one final push to hit our financial plan for 2025/26. We are working towards stepping down from NHS England’s Recovery Support Programme (RSP) at the highest level of intervention at the end of March 2026, which we have been in for nearly a decade. This is how we move out of ‘organisation in difficulty’ and into a place where we are trusted to run our own services. While it won’t magically fix everything overnight, it would be a major milestone and recognition of the improvements we have all made. So why should this matter to you? This affects your day-to-day working life. It affects how much change is done to us versus with you. It affects whether we are constantly firefighting or finally able to plan properly. It affects morale, pride, and whether people feel this is a place they want to stay, grow, and recommend to others. #TeamSaTH has delivered a phenomenal improvement this year and delivering our financial plan is the last step. We are so close! We’ve delivered 98.5% of our plan but the 1.5% is critical. If we miss our target, we could have a bigger reduction target for next year and we will have to give back money, impacting on our cash position. If we don’t take some urgent action, we will have a £10m gap at year end, but in a Trust that spends £2m every day, this is achievable. It is not about one dramatic cut - it’s about thousands of small, sensible decisions adding up. Momentum matters now more than ever. Thank you for everything you are doing. Together, 8,000 people CAN make a difference! For more information on our journey to financial balance, please visit the intranet.