Provider collaboratives
NHS organisations that deliver care to patients are known as providers. Across England, providers are increasingly working together in provider collaboratives to improve the way care is planned and delivered.
Provider collaboratives bring NHS organisations together around a shared purpose. By working jointly rather than independently, they can make better decisions, reduce unnecessary variation in care, and improve outcomes and experiences for patients. Provider collaboratives also help services to be more resilient, for example by sharing expertise, staff, or resources when pressures arise.
This way of working supports the wider aims of Integrated Care Systems (ICSs), helping local health and care organisations to tackle inequalities, improve access to services, and make the best use of NHS resources.
The Derby & Derbyshire Provider Collaborative
In Derby and Derbyshire, NHS providers work together through the Derby & Derbyshire Provider Collaborative, part of Joined Up Care Derbyshire, the area’s Integrated Care System.
The collaborative brings together organisations that provide hospital, community, mental health, ambulance, and primary care services. Its members are:
- Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
- Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust
- Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
- DHU Healthcare Community Interest Company
- East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust
- GP practices, represented through the GP Provider Board
- University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust
Many patients receive care from more than one NHS organisation. By working closely together, providers can better coordinate services to deliver high-quality, consistent, and sustainable care to improve health outcomes and unwarranted variation in access and experience for the Derby and Derbyshire population.
The core purpose and function of the JUCD Provider Collaborative is to add value to the ICS and beyond by:
- developing and delivering collaborative approaches to specific challenges within providers’ gift to resolve
- developing partnership relationships, strengthening communication between providers, sharing approaches to challenges and opportunities
- addressing efficiency, productivity and sustainability through collaborative working, integration or the consolidation of service delivery or corporate functions
- reducing inequalities of access and unwarranted variation, where provider collaboration can best achieve this
- taking on some commissioning responsibilities within the ICS where this will align better with operational delivery and transformation, improve decision making and accelerate change
How the Derby and Derbyshire Provider Collaborative Works
The provider collaborative aligns strategy and delivery across partner organisations to ensure services are designed around the needs of people and communities. This includes:
- Planning and delivering services across acute, mental health, community, ambulance, and primary care.
- Supporting both local (‘place-based’) and specialist services that require scale.
- Driving standardised approaches where variation in care, outcomes, and experience is unwarranted.
- Enabling integrated care pathways that go beyond organisational boundaries.
- Supporting the shift of preventative, proactive care delivered closer to home.
Provider collaborative governance consists of two main groups: the Provider Collaborative Board and the Provider Collaborative Executive Leadership Group.
The Provider Collaborative Board (PCB) is responsible for providing strategic leadership to steer the provider collaborative portfolio of work, as well as maintaining accountability for delivery. The PCB is directly accountable to NHS provider Boards.
The Provider Collaborative Executive Leadership Group (PCELG) is an executive group dedicated to delivering the collaborative’s portfolio in order to deliver its priorities and objectives, as well as driving delivery. Various working groups support the work of the Executive.
Message from the Chairs
Julie Houlder – Provider Collaborative Board Chair & Derbyshire Community Health Services Non-Executive Board Chair
“As providers of NHS care, we all recognise that to serve our population we need to work together to design and deliver services that offer the best possible care and value. The Joined Up Care Derbyshire provider collaborative enables us to work through difficult challenges together, take decisions in the best interest of our population, and have a single voice when engaging with commissioners and other stakeholders.
The environment for NHS providers has never been more challenging, with multiple expectations. Our collaborative programme enables us to agree the things that are most important for us to do together which we cannot achieve by working as individual organisations. There are some ambitious things that we can do together and my aspiration for the collaborative is that we demonstrate how we can together deliver positive change.”
Stephen Posey – Provider Collaborative Executive Leadership Group Chair & University Hospitals of Derby & Burton Chief Executive
“The provider collaborative brings together organisations that often care for the same patients – just at different points in their journey. By working as one system rather than as individual organisations, we can join up care more effectively, reduce unwarranted variation, and tackle the inequalities that too many people still experience.
“The collaborative builds on long standing partnership working across Derby and Derbyshire and gives us the structure and shared purpose to make decisions together for the benefit of patients and communities. Whether it is improving clinical pathways, strengthening fragile services, or working differently on workforce, digital and estates, collaboration allows us to move faster and make better use of our collective expertise and resources.
“Our ambition is that this way of working continues to mature and deliver tangible improvements that patients can see and feel – shorter waits, simpler access to services, and more consistent, high-quality care – while also creating a more resilient, sustainable NHS for the future.”
Derby & Derbyshire Provider Collaborative Achievements in 2025/26
Positive progress was made in strengthening partnership working and laying the foundations for future transformation, while delivering early benefits in key areas. Progress highlights include:
- Stronger system collaboration – improved governance, shared leadership, and more aligned decision making across partner organisations.
- Foundations for transformation – developed a robust evidence base to support future service re-design and large-scale change, including a greater focus on benefits realisation to ensure efforts are focused on opportunities with the greatest output.
- Improvement capability – expanded the Joined Up Improvement programme, building skills, tools and a culture of continuous quality improvement.
Estates and procurement programmes were identified as priority areas for 2025/26, with opportunities identified to improve the utilisation of available space, improve efficiency through shared approaches, and deliver cost savings. Significant work has taken place to set the foundation for these opportunities, with some early benefits delivered and further measurable impact expected in 2026/27.
Significant work has also been completed to collaboratively develop proposals for improvement and changes to how providers deliver care in children & young people’s services, as well as gynaecology and musculo-skeletal services – these will continue to be priority areas in 2026/27 as we move into implementation.
Overall, 2025/26 has been an important year of progress characterised by stronger system collaboration and governance, greater clarity on priorities and opportunities for change, delivery of tangible benefits, and a solid foundation for future transformation. The provider collaborative is now well positioned to move from planning to delivery, accelerating improvements that will have a meaningful impact on patients and communities across Derby and Derbyshire.
Read the provider collaborative’s 2025/26 annual report below.
Derby & Derbyshire Provider Collaborative Priorities for 2026/27
The provider collaborative has agreed a set of priorities which focus on those areas which are anticipated to have the largest impact on patient care and outcomes, also reflecting NHS10-year plan priorities and the DLN cluster ICB commissioning strategy.
These opportunities also support delivery of the neighbourhood health model, as set out in the Neighbourhood Framework, and will require close working with the Neighbourhood Executive and Integrated Care Board.
The provider collaborative will focus on pathway redesign to improve quality, productivity, and sustainability, as well as delivery of services at scale, shared assurance and decision-making, enabling change through continuous improvement, and developing risk sharing arrangements.
Priority areas include:
- Enabling services –work to improve quality and value, creating efficiencies in estates, procurement, people services, and data & digital programmes through shared working.
- Scheduled care transformation and left-shift, (hospital to community, illness to prevention) – developing collaborative, more integrated care through pathway review/redesign in areas including gynaecology, cardiovascular disease and metabolic risk, dermatology and musculoskeletal services to improve patient outcomes and experience.
- Fragile clinical pathways – identifying opportunities for improvement, a key priority in 2026/2027 will be children and young people’s services.
Meet the Team
Tamsin Hooton – Provider Collaborative Programme Director
Tamsin has led the development of the provider collaborative since 2022, working closely with provider leaders in the partner organisations. The role of the Programme Director includes working with the collaborative leadership to agree their priorities and develop delivery and programme arrangements that progress the collaborative’s ambition. The role is also a system wide role, working across Derby and Derbyshire to develop, strengthen, and co-ordinate the system approach to transformation, programme management, and continuous improvement. Relationship management is key to the role, both across provider teams and with other stakeholders including commissioners and neighbourhood leads. Tamsin’s background is in strategic commissioning, transformation, and improvement working in a number of NHS systems over a period of more than 30 years.
Cath Benfield – Strategic Finance Lead
Cath is the Strategic Finance Lead for the provider collaborative, working closely with provider leaders and system partners to support delivery of the collaborative’s priorities. Her role includes providing strategic financial leadership across key programmes, helping to shape delivery arrangements, and supporting the development of robust approaches to benefits realisation, resource allocation and financial sustainability. Cath works across Derby and Derbyshire to strengthen collaboration in areas including estates, procurement, capital, and transformation, and plays an important role in building relationships across provider teams, commissioners, and wider system partners. Cath’s background is in senior NHS finance, including long service as a Deputy CFO. She has worked across a variety of organisational settings throughout her NHS career and brings previous experience of supporting successful change across Derby and Derbyshire.
Abi Ingram – System PMO Transformation & Improvement Partner
Abi is responsible for supporting the coordination, scoping, implementation, and reporting of the provider collaborative project portfolio – this includes providing bespoke project management input to support the delivery of key system pieces of work. Abi will be working closely with neighbourhood colleagues to embed a consistent approach to project management across Derby and Derbyshire. Abi’s background is in system-facing NHS roles, which has instilled a real passion for collaboration and joined-up working.
Lesley Batkin – System PMO Administrator
Lesley plays a key role in the coordination, organisation, and governance of all things relating to the provider collaborative – supporting effective planning and delivery for the core provider collaborative team, as well as stakeholders across the system. Lesley also supports the sharing of best practice and development of improvement capabilities via Joined Up Improvement. Lesley brings invaluable experience from previous NHS roles, including maternity, children and young people’s services, and haematology.