With you in mind – Our strategy from 2023
Welcome to our strategy
Our message to you…
This strategy is more than a document. It is a promise. A promise to listen, to act, and to stand alongside the people and communities we serve – especially in times of change, challenge and opportunity.
Our strategy is called, With you in mind, because everything we do begins with empathy, compassion and connection. It reflects our shared belief that care should be personal, respectful, and rooted in understanding. Our strategy is shaped by the voices of our service users, carers, families, staff and partners – those who know best what matters.
But this strategy is also a response to a wider call for change. The NHS 10-Year Plan sets out a bold vision for a healthier, fairer future. A plan which prioritises prevention, tackles inequalities, embraces digital innovation, and strengthens care in communities. Our strategy aligns with this vision. It is our local blueprint for delivering national ambition.
We know the world around us is shifting. The NHS is facing unprecedented challenges. Whilst we all live with these challenges and are aware that health inequalities have deepened, the need for joined up person-led care has never been more clear. We need to be ready to meet that need – not alone, but in partnership. With our partners in primary care, local authorities, voluntary organisations, and most importantly, with you. Together, we will rise to the challenge.
We know that many people who come to us for support have experienced trauma. That’s why we are committed to embedding trauma-informed care across everything we do. This means creating environments of safety, trust, and empowerment. Places of safety where people feel heard, respected, and understood. It means recognising the impact of trauma not just on individuals, but on families, communities, and staff. And it means working in ways that promote healing, resilience, and hope.
This is a time to be bold. To reimagine how care is delivered. To move from crisis response to prevention. To empower people to take control of their health and wellbeing. To make every contact count.
Our strategy reflects the commitments we will live by, the values that guide us, and the ambitions we will pursue. It is a living document – one that will evolve, grow, and respond to the needs of our communities. It is not just about what we do, but how we do it. With integrity. With courage. With you in mind.
About us
Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust is a health organisation made up of 9,000 people across our region. We spend more than £500 million each year, providing healthcare across North Cumbria, Northumberland, Newcastle, North Tyneside, Gateshead, South Tyneside and Sunderland. Along with partners, we support people in their own homes, in their communities and in our hospitals.
We help:
- People with mental ill-health
- Children and young people
- People with a learning disability
- People with neurodevelopmental conditions
- People who need support from secure services
- People with neurodisabilities
- People with problematic substance use or addictive behaviours
We also provide specialist support such as perinatal, mental health for Deaf people and gender dysphoria services.
Developing this strategy to reflect what’s important
To develop our strategy, we asked service users, carers, their families, our staff and partners to describe what matters to them.
They asked us to work together, with them in mind, with compassion, humanity and care. This is at the heart of this strategy.
We have developed long-term commitments in response to these asks, which will guide everything we do. We know that we are not currently achieving these commitments – but we want them to be our guide. We want these commitments to be our inspiration for how we work and how we change over the years ahead.
Our aim is to deliver on these commitments every day, in every contact. In this document we set out how we will meet these commitments, through our vision, our values, and the ambitions that we are setting ourselves.
Commitment to our service users:
- Understand me, my story, my strengths, needs and risks. Work with me and others, so I can keep healthy and safe;.
- Protect my rights, choices and freedom;
- Respect me and earn my trust by being honest, helpful and explaining things clearly;
- Support me, my family and carers in an effective, joined-up way that considers all my needs, and
- Respond quickly if I am unwell or in crisis, arranging support from people with the right expertise. Make sure I don’t have to keep repeating my story.
Commitment to our families and carers (also known as our ‘Carer Promise’):
- Recognise, value and involve me;
- Work with me to ensure you’re aware of my needs as a carer;
- Listen to me, share information with me, and be honest with me when there is information you can’t share;
- Talk with me about where I can get further help and information, and about what I can expect from you.
Commitment to our staff:
- Respect me for who I am, trust me, value me and treat me fairly;
- Allow me freedom to act, to use my judgement and innovate in line with our shared values;
- Protect my time by making systems and processes as simple as possible so I can deliver the work I aspire to, learn, progress & get a balance between work & home;
- Offer me safe, meaningful work and give me a voice, working as part of a team that includes other professions and services, and
- Support me with compassionate managers who communicate clearly and understand what it’s like to do my job.
Commitment to our partners and communities:
- Explain what to expect from CNTW;
- Help us to fight illness, unfairness and stigma;
- Make sure that organisations talk to each other and put the needs of people’s before their own. Share responsibility for getting things right;
- Get to know local communities. Respect their wisdom and history;
- Be responsible with public funds;
- Share our buildings, grounds and land; and
- Protect the planet
Our vision:
To work together, with compassion and care, to keep you well over the whole of your life.
Our values:
Our values are what bind us. We have considered these in the light of what people have asked of us. We believe that these are the values that we share together, and that we need to uphold if we are to meet our commitments:
We are caring and compassionate…
because that is how we’d want others to treat those we love.
We are respectful….
because everyone is of equal value, is born with equal rights and is entitled to be treated with dignity. We want to protect the rights of future generations and the planet that sustains us all.
We are honest and transparent….
because we want to be fair and open, and to help people make informed decisions.
Our five ambitions
To deliver our commitments and the care that we want to achieve, we have five ambitions in this strategy:
- Quality Care, every day – We want to deliver expert, compassionate, person-led care in every team, every day.
- Person-led care, when and where it is needed – We will work with partners and communities to support the changing needs of people over their whole lives. We know that we need to make big, radical changes. We want to transfer power from organisations to individuals.
- A great place to work – We will make sure that our workforce has the right values, skills, diversity and experience to meet the changing needs of our service users and carers.
- Sustainable for the long term, innovating every day– We will be a sustainable, high performing organisation, use our resources well and be digitally enabled.
- Working with and for our communities – We will create trusted, long-term partnerships that work together to help people and communities.
How will we deliver this strategy?
This strategy is our guide.
We must all own it and consider it in everything that we do. Each year we will develop plans to support the delivery of our strategy. These will explain what we will do in each year to deliver this strategy. The plans will consider national policies and priorities but will always be guided by our commitments, values and ambitions set out in this strategy. It will set out specific actions for each area of this strategy, how we will achieve them and what we expect to see as
a result.
Perhaps most importantly, we will build this strategy into the work of every person and every team across the organisation.
This strategy will not be delivered without us all playing our part, through the decisions we make and the behaviours we demonstrate every day. This is a document to enable devolution, to guide decision making and to bind us together in the way we work and the goals we aspire to.We will work to make it a reality every day, in everything we do.
For a PDF of our strategy and an easy read version please visit this page.