NHS Humber Health Partnership, which includes Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (HUTH) and Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust (NLAG), has been placed in special measures by NHS England. A spokesperson for the partnership has said it has been informed by NHS England it will move into segment 5 of the National Oversight Framework (NOF).
The NOF was introduced last year and provides a dashboard of how NHS trusts are faring in key services including urgent and emergency care, elective services, mental health. Based on performance, there are four core segments.
A trust in segment 1 faces the narrowest range of challenges, while one in segment 4 has the broadest. But if they are placed in segment 5, as NHS Humber Health Partnership has been, intensive, tailored support may be provided through a provider improvement programme.
This is reserved for trusts facing the most significant performance or governance challenges. The Humber Health Partnership will be one of the first NHS bodies to enter this new form of special measures.
In July 2025, Lyn Simpson took over as interim chief executive of the partnership and according to the BBC, in August an improvement team comprising five senior staff members and an external contractor was brought in.
A Humber Health Partnership spokesperson confirmed it has been informed it will move into segment 5. Further, it “has agreed a set of enforcement undertakings with NHS England. This reflects the scale of challenges which the organisation has been managing for some time,” the spokesperson said.
“These issues are not new. Since the summer, we have taken a deliberate decision to surface those challenges openly through the development of our clinically-led Improvement Plan.
“That plan, shaped by frontline clinicians and teams, sets out clear actions to strengthen patient safety, stabilise services and improve reliability of care. The additional oversight and enforcement undertakings provide a structured framework to support delivery of that work,” the spokesperson said.
This includes strengthening leadership, governance and organisational arrangements across the group. In the latest published NOF quarterly update, from December, HUTH fell to a ranking of 130 out of 134 NHS acute trusts.
While ranked above average for effectiveness and experience, which includes discharge performance, it was ranked as low performing in financial, patient safety and access to services categories. NLAG did not fare in December markedly better than HUTH.
It was placed 115 out of 134, though this represented a rise in the table from the previous quarter. It likewise performed lowest in financial, patient safety and access to services categories, but was rated as high performing for effectiveness and experience.
By: Ivan Morris Poxton, LDRS
