A trust-wide quality improvement programme to reduce out-of-area placements, length of stay and costs across inpatient mental health services
Between April 2024 and March 2025 East London NHS Foundation Trust ran a trust-wide, large-scale quality improvement programme across all geographical directorates, to eliminate out-of-area placements and reduce length of stay. The programme followed a structured improvement approach; directorates moved stepwise from identifying a quality issue through to implementing change ideas that resulted in improvement through testing.
Results:
- Out-of-area placements reduced 93% (from 66.5 to 4.6 per week), avoiding £8.5 million in costs
- Average length of stay on London adult mental health wards fell by 17.5%, (53 to 43.9 days)
- Trust-wide bed occupancy decreased from 106% to 92%
- Service users clinically ready for discharge reduced by 51%, (111 to 55 per week)
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