NHS England’s latest Mental Health and Community Trust League Table places Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GMMH) 56th out of 58 trusts nationally and classifies it as a Segment 4 organisation – the category described as “challenged”.

League tables never tell the whole story, but they cannot simply be ignored either.

The important issue is not whether GMMH is ranked 56th rather than 50th or 40th. The concern is that NHS England’s overall assessment places the Trust amongst the most challenged organisations in the country. That judgement is based on a range of factors including safety, quality, workforce indicators, operational performance and organisational effectiveness.

For carers, families and service users, this raises some important questions.

What factors are driving this result? Which indicators are causing the greatest concern? Where has progress been made, and where do serious problems remain?

Many families have spent years raising concerns about safety, communication, continuity of care and the Trust’s ability to learn from serious incidents. Against that background, it is reasonable to ask what evidence exists that services are becoming safer and that improvements are making a real difference to people’s lives.

The ranking also comes at a time of major organisational change within GMMH. Supporters of the restructuring argue that it will improve services and help the Trust address long-standing problems. Others worry that it may create additional risks during an already difficult period. Families and carers deserve to know how progress will be measured and how any risks associated with these changes will be monitored.

It is also worth asking why some mental health trusts facing similar pressures have achieved significantly better results. Every organisation is different, but comparison can be a valuable source of learning. Understanding what works elsewhere may help identify what is needed locally.

Most importantly, what should success look like from here? What improvements should families, carers and service users expect to see over the next year? How will we know whether GMMH is moving in the right direction?

This league table should not be viewed simply as a reputational issue. It should be an opportunity for honest discussion about performance, safety, accountability and improvement. Difficult questions are not a distraction from improvement—they are often where improvement begins.

Families and carers have every right to ask those questions and to expect clear and transparent answers.

Paul Baker

Source

NHS England, Mental Health and Community Trust League Table – Quarter 4 2025/26 (published 11 June 2026), which records GMMH as a Segment 4 (“challenged”) organisation with a performance score of 2.98, ranked 56th out of 58 trusts nationally.