Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

Ratings - Well-led

• Well-led Our assessments of NHS trusts now focus on leadership. We no longer rate trusts overall for their safety, effectiveness and responsiveness or how caring they are. We do still publish those ratings for the services they provide.

  Good

Our view of the service

Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (LPFT) were established in June 2002 when social care and health services, formally provided by Lincolnshire County Council and Lincolnshire Healthcare NHS Trust were brought together to create a new mental health and learning disabilities service. They were authorised as a foundation trust in October 2007. LPFT provides specialist mental health, learning disability, and social care service, which includes, urgent & Crisis Care, Adult Community Services, Inpatient Care, Older Adults & Frailty and Specialist Services, such as child and young people mental health, eating disorder services learning disability and autism support.

The trust has approximately 200 inpatient beds that support adults of working age, long stay rehabilitation, forensic inpatient or secure wards and wards for older people. The trust employs over 2900 staff and provides services in a variety of settings form over 50 different locations. The trust provides care and treatment to a population of around 813,000 people who are registered with a Lincolnshire GP.

LPFT are part of Better Lives Lincolnshire, the local Integrated Care System (ICS). The trust was placed in segment 3 of the latest NHS Oversight Framework (NOF) segments data from Q3 2025-26, published 18 March 2026. The trust was placed in segment 3 due to its financial position. Without the financial issues the trust have they would have been placed in segment 2.

We undertook a trust level (well-led) assessment of the trust which included an onsite visit between 02-04 June 2026. We also held 15 focus groups on and off site and reviewed virtual board and council of governor’s meetings.

We assessed all 8 of the quality statements in the well-led key question in this assessment.

Since June 2025, we have undertaken a programme of assessments following the Single Assessment Framework (SAF). In total, 5 assessments were completed, covering 5 different Assessment Service Groups (ASG’s) between June 2025 and June 2026. The well led review followed assessments of 5 of the trust frontline mental health services (assessment service groups – ASG’s) wards for older people with mental health problems, acute wards for adults of working age and psychiatric intensive care units, forensic inpatient wards, long stay or rehabilitation mental health wards for working age adults.

We assessed long stay or rehabilitation mental health wards and acute wards for adults of working age due to concerns about patient safety, staff competencies in managing physical health and staff competencies in the legal and clinical requirements for rapid tranquilisation. We took enforcement action against the trust for them to improve in these areas. Prior to the well led review we returned to acute wards for adults of working age and found the trust had taken the required action and were no longer in breach of the Health and Social Care Act regulation 12.

We assessed wards for older people with mental health problems and forensic inpatient wards as they had not been assessed since 2017. We found no concerns and both ASG were rated as good.

All 5 ASGs were assessed against all quality statements within the Single Assessment Framework. This resulted in the re rating of the ASG and we found improvements in the ratings of 1 ASG, 3 had remained the same and 1 had deteriorated.

This trust wide well-led review was carried out to assess how ‘well-led’ the trust was following the programme of assessments of frontline services. The trust was rated as good and we found no breaches of regulations.

We found the trust demonstrated a clear and well-established vision, strategy, and values focused on supporting people to live well in their communities. Leadership and governance were strong, with staff engaged and understanding their roles in delivering objectives. A positive, open culture was evident, where staff felt confident to speak up and contributed to improvement.

Leaders were visible and promoted inclusive behaviours, supporting workforce wellbeing and development. Governance arrangements provided clear accountability and effective risk management, though challenges remained around workforce capacity and financial pressures.

Partnership working was effective, supporting integrated, person-centred care and innovation. While quality improvement and digital initiatives progressed, these were not yet fully embedded across all services.

People's experience of this service

The trust was supportive, respectful, and focused on listening. Patients reported that staff took the time to talk with them, listened carefully to their concerns, and treated their views seriously. It was clear that their experiences, both positive and negative were valued and used to improve services.

We spoke with a total of 51 patients from our service group assessments and well led assessment. Patients felt encouraged and supported to have their voice heard. They were given opportunities to raise concerns directly with staff, in ward meetings, or through wider forums such as Every Voice Group. For those who did not feel confident speaking up, staff acted on their behalf, ensuring their views were still represented.

People described feeling involved in decisions about their care and in shaping services. Patients and carers were invited to share ideas and work in partnership with staff on service development and improvement initiatives. This helped patients feel like active partners rather than passive recipients of care.

When concerns were raised, patients experienced a responsive and transparent process. They reported that issues were escalated appropriately, feedback was provided, and actions were taken. Importantly, patients saw that changes were followed up to ensure they made a real difference, which increased confidence in the service.

Patients also valued the variety of ways they could share their experiences, including face-to-face conversations, phone calls, and the new every voice app. This flexibility made it easier for people to communicate in a way that suited them best.

Overall, patients felt that the service was committed to reducing power imbalances, creating a more equal and respectful relationship between staff and those receiving care. By listening, acting on feedback, and involving patients in meaningful ways, the trust had fostered a culture where people felt heard, safe, and empowered.