Stakeholder update from ShropCom and SaTH

February 2026

Stakeholder newsletter Designing our future: Working together as a Group We wanted to share an update with you on the Boards of Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust (ShropCom) and The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) formalising a Group model.

In December 2025 NHS England gave us their full support to formalise our Group by April and we are working to have our new Board structure in place by April 2026. We are currently recruiting to a permanent Group Chief Nurse, working across both organisations. This is a critical role for both trusts, driving forward our individual and shared quality and improvement priorities.

We are determined that our focus remains on patient safety and supporting everyone through a challenging Winter. We won't let Group be a distraction, but equally we will make progress in bringing about benefits for patients and colleagues.

In December 2025 NHS England gave us their full support to formalise our Group

by April.

We know not everything needs to be in place for April and 2026-27 will be an important transition year. There is a lot of work to do and we want to take the time to get this right for our communities and colleagues. Continued on page 2...

What is a Group Model and what would it mean for us?

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A Transition Committee has been established overseeing a number of workstreams including governance, performance and digital. Chaired by Andrew Morgan, Group Chair, the Committee includes Group CEO, Jo Williams, and Non-Executives and Executives from both trusts. A number of workstreams are in place, including OD and culture, digital and communications. These will help us build the foundations for our Group and accelerate the benefits.

We have held our first Group People Committee. People are at the heart of both our organisations and if we look after our staff we will deliver the best care for patients. During 2026/27 we will be moving towards shared Group Board and Committee meetings.

It is important we take the time to ensure our necessary Governance is right, however our focus is not solely on the mechanics of the Group. Our teams have been holding workshops to explore ways of delivering better care through integrated working. Our aim is for patients and staff to start seeing the benefits of us being a Group. This includes better connecting our care records, exploring how we provide more diagnostic and therapy services in the community and growing our urgent and emergency care and neighbourhoods offer. We are also having conversations about how we can do things once, or build resilience in some of our smaller teams. It is early days, but already we are seeing exciting ideas coming through. We will continue to share more throughout our transition year and will want to listen to our communities as we seek to improve the care we provide.

How we will develop our Group

Preparation: 2025/26

Transition: 2026/27

One Board structure Develop shared objectives Shared People Committee

2027-29

April 26: formally a Group Shared strategy More shared committees Create vision and values Shared services, where we can

Care closer to home - accelerating neighbourhood working Sustainable and financial balance Deliver Hospitals Transformation Programme Digital transformation

Continue to engage patients, communities, partners and staff

What it will mean for our patients

What it will mean for our staff

What it will mean for our partners

More care and resources in the community, supported by two thriving acute hospitals

Modern ways of working with the right tools and environment

A stronger, more unified partner in the system

Better pathways for patients across the system Increased focus on prevention and tackling inequalities through neighbourhood working

More health and wellbeing support A great place to work – everyone has a voice and is valued More training opportunities

Combined expertise to support innovation Improved communication and relationship‑building More resilient infrastructure supporting system priorities

The benefits: What working together looks like Urgent and emergency care

Digital transformation

Together, ShropCom and SaTH work alongside each other to improve the urgent and emergency care pathway.

The ShropCom and SaTH digital teams are working together to look at how we can share systems and records, giving our teams the tools they need.

The Virtual Ward allows patients to get care safely and conveniently in the place they call home, rather than in hospital.

Jodi Ecclestone is a patient on the Virtual Ward. She said: “It was life-changing, both physically and mentally. You have to stop your life for your illness – whereas this Virtual Ward has enabled me to carry on.”

We are using the Virtual Ward more than ever before and are maximising its usage. Our new winter services, including front door triage in our emergency departments and an enhanced community response service, are making a difference this winter.

It is early days, but the teams are engaging colleagues, sharing expertise and planning for the future.

Some of this will take time, but it is great to see teams having conversations about what is possible this year, in 12 months and over five years as we deliver our medium-term plans.

Over recent months, our digital teams have strengthened collaboration, focusing on opportunities that improve patient care, enhance staff experience, and deliver better value for our organisations.

A message from Jo Williams, Group Chief Executive We want things to be better, not just different. We are one NHS and it is the diversity that the two trusts bring that will help us to take forward the excellence that exists in both trusts. Better care and a better experience will come from working more closely together.

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