Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what factors led to the decision to exclude (1) University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, (2) Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn NHS Foundation Trust, (3) Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, (4) Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, (5) Medway NHS Foundation Trust, and (6) Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, from the intensive recovery programme; and whether that exclusion is based on an assessment of improved performance since 4 March.

The intensive recovery programme (IRP) has been built to give the most challenged providers the support to turn around their performance in a precise and structured way. It will not directly replace the National Provider Improvement Programme (NPIP); however we are reviewing the improvement approach to ensure organisations receive the right level of support.

NPIP segmentation is derived from performance against the NHS Oversight Framework (NOF) and provider capability. The most challenged providers have been designated from a combination of sustained financial deficit for 11 or more years, long-standing issues, and those in segment five of the NOF.

The five organisations that have been selected for the IRP are the first wave of providers in the regime, and the programme will aim to cover more organisations in the future.