Our strategy

Healthier Together – Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals strategy 2025-2029

You can view our main organisational strategy, Healthier Together on this page and you can access a downloadable PDF of the full document.

The strategy is shaped by our vision, underpinned by our values and The DBTH Way, and sets out four Strategic Priorities – Patients, People, Partnerships and Pounds – along with four Strategic Ambitions that guide our direction of travel.

Click here to find out more.

To help set this in context, you can also explore our primer on the national NHS landscape here, which summarises key strategies and reports such as the NHS Long Term Plan, the Darzi Review, and other system-wide commitments influencing our approach.

Further down this page, you’ll find additional resources that support and complement our strategy:

  • Three-Year Plan sets out how we will deliver Healthier Together – Delivering Exceptional Care for All in practice. In the medium-term, it turns our Trust strategy into clear, practical actions to improve access, reduce waits, support our colleagues and secure a sustainable future for our services.
  • Enabling plans developed by our departments and services, showing how they’ll help deliver the strategy in practice (available as PDFs, with web versions coming soon).
  • Links to partner strategies from across our local health and care system.
  • Our latest Annual Reports, tracking our progress over time.

Three-Year Plan

Our Three-Year Plan sets out how we will deliver our vision: Healthier Together – Delivering exceptional care for all. You can read it here. 

It turns our long-term strategy into practical action, focusing on improving access to care, reducing waiting times, supporting colleagues, and building a financially sustainable future. We are planning for increasing demand, not less, and this plan ensures we are ready.

Over the next three years, we will focus on five key areas:

  • Workforce & organisational design: Building a stable, well-structured workforce with less reliance on temporary staffing and more time for patient care.
  • Shape of DBTH: Clarifying the role of each hospital and expanding care closer to home through stronger partnerships.
  • Access & flow: Helping patients move through services more quickly, reducing delays, cancellations, and waiting lists.
  • Productivity & financial reset: Using resources more effectively, improving productivity, and restoring financial balance.
  • Culture & leadership: Strengthening leadership, supporting colleagues through change, and fostering a positive, accountable culture.

By 2028/29, we aim to deliver more timely care, eliminate long waits, improve cancer and emergency care performance, and achieve financial stability – all while treating more patients.

This plan is underpinned by the DBTH Way and our We Care values, and delivered through a structured programme of improvement known as the DBTH Dozen, ensuring all change is coordinated, measurable, and focused on what matters most: High-quality patient care.

Ultimately, this is a plan for sustainable, long-term improvement, delivering better care for our communities and a stronger future for our services.

Enabling Plans

Although presented as individual documents, our enabling plans are interconnected, with the Strategic Priorities and Strategic Ambitions acting as golden threads that integrate all actions towards a unified direction.

All of our enabling plans can be viewed below. Please note, some of these documents may reference our previous vision and organisational objectives which have since been replaced – however the documents are still relevant.

Please note: We are currently working towards making these documents as accessible as possible – as such some are presented as web pages, and others as PDFs (which will be transitioned in the future).

People: This plan ensures we can attract, recruit, and retain the best by being a welcoming and inclusive employer of choice within our local area. Aligned to the four pillars of the NHS People Plan, it focuses on improving the working lives and experiences of all our colleagues within Team DBTH

Digital: Sets out how we will use technology – such as electronic patient records, improved infrastructure, data analytics, and digital innovation – to create a more efficient, connected, and patient-centred service while supporting colleagues and improving care outcomes.

Green Plan: Focused on improving and providing the best environments for both patients and colleagues, this plan ensures healthcare facilities meet the highest standards. It aligns with the Trust’s annual capital expenditure and includes a rolling programme of works to achieve these ambitions.

Health Inequalities: This plan addresses societal challenges and sets out plans for prevention, elective care pathways, urgent and emergency care, maternity and early life care, children and young people, and research and innovation. It also enhances awareness of health inequalities among our workforce and provides a framework for improvement.

Maternity: Aligning with national maternal and neonatal care themes, this plan integrates its actions with the Health Inequalities document. It supports vulnerable families, strengthens workforce retention and development, and improves patient experience through compassionate, person-centred care in a supportive environment.

Quality: Designed to deliver safe, exceptional, person-centred care, this plan outlines how systems and processes will ensure safety, quality, and effectiveness. It emphasises listening to feedback to provide compassionate, personalised care for all patients.

Quality Improvement and Innovation: Aligned with the NHS Impact model, this plan takes a holistic approach to improvement by building shared purpose, investing in culture and people, and developing leadership behaviours.

Speaking Up: Aligned with national principles, this plan outlines how we will listen to and support colleagues who need to speak up. Integrated with the People plan, it provides measurable actions to foster a listening, learning organisation and a more positive workplace for all.

Research and Innovation: This plan outlines our Vision to become a leading centre of research excellence. It supports the goal of achieving University Teaching Hospital status, growing research talent and increasing innovation capacity to secure grants and funding.

Procurement: Sets out how DBTH will manage its £135m annual spend to secure best value, improve efficiency, and support patient care. It focuses on strengthening procurement systems, stock control, and supplier management, embedding sustainability and social value, and working with regional partners. Aligned to national NHS standards, the plan aims to cut waste, drive savings, support net zero goals, and ensure transparent, resilient supply chains

Partner strategies

As a Trust, we have a role within the health and social care community to respond to the priorities of the local ‘place’ and regional Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) to meet local population needs. The communities we serve in Bassetlaw and Doncaster have slightly different health related needs and challenges. As an active partner, we contribute to the development and delivery of plans locally and regionally and as part of the Acute Federation.

Our Annual Reports

Each year, we publish our Annual Report and Accounts to share an overview of the Trust’s performance, achievements and financial position. It provides a transparent account of how we’ve delivered care for our communities, supported our colleagues, and used public funds responsibly.

You can view the archive here.

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