Corporate Services Integration: Unifying Corporate Services Across Two NHS Trusts

The Client

Two NHS Trusts employing over 10,000 frontline and 1,000 back-office staff, with an annual turnover in excess of £1.2bn, brought together as a strategic partnership to deliver acute care to their communities.

The Engagement

Following the 2019 formation of a strategic partnership between the two NHS trusts, which aligned the provision of frontline healthcare, the back-office corporate services were integrated in late 2024. A key component of the integration was to align strategic vision and leadership, risk management, resource deployment, accountability, decision authority, ways of working across organisational boundaries, and community and Trust-wide stakeholder engagement.

The Complexity

Geographically separated by a body of water, with different systems, protocols, policies, and processes, and a distinct set of values, the cultures and ways of working were not fully aligned to deliver a single, streamlined corporate service to the Trusts and their communities. The challenge was to ensure the senior leadership team of various corporate services were united behind the strategy and could work together ‘as one’ from the outset as the integration programme evolved.

Design and Delivery

Over a period of three months, a 3-day intervention was co-designed with the executive team to ensure understanding of the integration strategy and its potential impact on delivering excellence to the communities served. The ‘Design Session’ aimed to create a charter for corporate services that would describe how they would work ‘as one’.

The process involved a holistic approach to integration, blending diagnostic review, strategic visioning, and collaborative design. By bringing together 40 leaders from functions including Finance, Procurement, Risk, People, IT, Communications, and Estates, the team conducted an in-depth exploration of existing operational models, identifying unique strengths, critical challenges, and opportunities for collaboration.

Guided by the manifesto’s vision of creating “a united single corporate service that will deliver a set of integrated corporate services that enable excellent patient care,” the team developed a forward-looking strategic assessment. They projected an ideal state for corporate services by 2028, focusing on key principles such as:

• Strategic alignment

• Innovation and continuous improvement

• Governance and risk management

• Stakeholder engagement

• Shared resources 

Results

The integration achieved:

• Comprehensive team alignment across single corporate services

• A unified framework for cross-functional collaboration

• A balanced approach to integrated service delivery

• Strategic alignment opportunities across corporate functions

• Groundwork for a cohesive organisational culture supporting system-wide excellence

Deliverables

1. Toolkit: A resource pack guiding corporate services through integration, including standardised processes and collaborative working protocols.

2. Manifesto: A strategic document articulating the shared vision and core values, emphasising the commitment to delivering exceptional, unified support to frontline healthcare services.

3. Commitment Statement: A detailed agreement defining mutual responsibilities and shared goals for the corporate services leadership team.

4. Programme Coordination Plan: A structured roadmap for implementation, including milestones, resource allocation, and continuous improvement mechanisms.

Key Takeaways

The successful integration demonstrated the power of a collaborative, purpose-driven approach to organisational transformation, underpinned by a clear vision of “working as one” to support patient care and newly created working relationships to ensure effective implementation.

InfoMural created during the 3 days of the DesignSession