Month: July 2021

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UBook transforms room booking at NHS trust

We created a single online system which allows staff at Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust to book desks, meeting rooms and clinic rooms. UBook really came into its own during the COVID-19 pandemic as it was quickly modified to enable social distancing and other infection control measures.

Background

Before signing up to use UBook, Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust identified their room booking system as creating major time management issues.

Operating across several sites, the Trust had used several different methods of allocating desks and meeting rooms, including Outlook calendars, Excel spreadsheets and paper diaries. Staff often had to ring around several sites to find the size of meeting room they needed, and there was no audit trail so if bookings were unexpectedly changed or rooms were double booked there was no way to trace the source of the problem.

Action

Since piloting UBook in October 2020, the Trust now enjoys a centralised system which every member of staff across the Trust can access to determine the availability of all sizes of rooms across all sites to book the one closest to their needs. As well as meeting rooms, the Trust is using UBook for clinic room bookings, desk bookings and arranging meetings with approved visitors.

MLCSU has worked closely with the Trust’s Programme Management Office (PMO) to adapt the system to local needs, and attends regular meetings to map out future enhancements, provide updates and seek feedback on changes made. These changes have included the swift introduction of new features to help the Trust coordinate onsite working during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Impact

UBook has had a major impact on improving the efficiency of Trust systems. Teams sometimes book larger (or smaller) meeting or clinic rooms than they need, but UBook allows managers to review bookings and change bookings to ensure the most efficient use of available meeting room space is made. Ubook can also prompt a user that a better-sized room is available before they commit to a booking.

Initially, a desk booking system was introduced at the Trust HQ to support hot desking and reduce the need to provide allocated desks. This was quickly adapted during the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure that desks could be removed to comply with social distancing regulations.

UBook’s new interactive floor map showed staff which desks could be booked at any given time and the system locked out desks for 72 hours after each use to ensure that they were COVID-free before being used again. Before the pandemic, the trust intended to install touch self-check screens, but infection control measures made this inadvisable, so MLCSU quickly created a QR code ‘check-in’ capturing when staff arrived.

The Trust operates three secure forensic units and all patient visitors have to be approved by the clinical team before they visit using a cumbersome paper system. To resolve this, MLCSU worked with the Trust’s electronic patient record (EPR) team to integrate UBook with the Rio EPR, so that details of approved visitors are automatically imported into UBook.

Amanda Tierney, Project Manager, Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust, said:

“MLCSU have been exemplary in their commitment to making the system work for our needs. Their response time to queries is excellent and at no point have I had to chase any updates/actions.

“Hand on heart, I’ve not had any negative feedback about UBook. The admin staff find it extremely useful and easy to use and the ward staff are all positive too. I’ve learned so much from working with CSU and I’m extremely grateful, I couldn’t recommend them highly enough. I think that UBook is phenomenal and will benefit any organisation that uses it.”

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Managing PMO for Shropshire CCGs merger

We created an effective programme management office (PMO) to support Shropshire CCG and Telford and Wrekin CCG during their merger in 2021.

Background

In 2020, Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and Telford & Wrekin CCG sought additional support from MLCSU for a fixed period project/programme management office (PMO) function associated with the proposed merger of the two organisations to create a single clinical commissioning group.

The CCG is about to embark on a significant period of change as it begins its transformation from a ‘traditional’ clinical commissioning group to a strategic commissioner in line with the NHS Long Term Plan. This transformation will require extensive and targeted people and organisational development support to lead the design, development and implementation of the changes needed.

The initial phase of this transformational change involves the formal disestablishment of the two current organisations in order to create a new single CCG; this was proposed to have a target date of April 1, 2021 subject to a successful application, with significant activity undertaken ahead of this to ensure the current organisations were able to transition to this new arrangement successfully and safely.

Action

MLSU’s Improvement Unit provided PMO support for the merger. We focused upon providing a robust and resilient PMO function to the CCGs, to help ensure that all merger activities are coordinated and delivered in line with local delivery and implementation plans, and to support the identification of any risks and issues which might arise – with mitigation actions put in place to deal with them, where needed.

Other actions include:

* Creating a programme plan – developing a comprehensive programme plan which includes all of the detail associated with all aspects of the merger including, lead, key dates, internal reporting, etc. It is essential that the programme plan is sufficiently clear to provide assurance that all steps being undertaken are understood and are fully planned
* A risk register – developing a merger risk register to record and report any strategic and operational risks identified
* Stakeholder engagement/document submission – arranging regular meetings with all of the workstreams, including regular reports, supporting the development of submission documentation with each workstream lead and arranging for the secure storage and submission of documents to NHSEI on the agreed submission dates.
Impact

MLCSU support during the development of the programme has resulted in many benefits to the CCGs. These include the following.

The development of a clear programme structure and PMO:

* Face-to-face meetings, allowing a greater visibility and the ability to structure the programme
* The PMO are involved in the shaping of the programme and in ensuring that progress is sustained and that any risks identified are mitigated.

The development of key documentation:

* We have managed the submission of documents to NHSEI
* Joint meetings have been arranged with workstream leads to support the development of submission documents and to review the documentation against the criteria set by NHSEI throughout the transition.

Improved flow of information:

* We have built a good working relationship between PMO, CCGs and NHS England and Improvement (NHSEI)
* We have helped to improve understanding of the key lines of enquiry (KLOEs) and the requirements from the regulatory body. Following this, we have cascaded them to the CCG workstream leads.

Production and continued management of the programme plan:

* A detailed programme plan has been produced, which has been well received by internal and NHSEI staff, updated and distributed weekly to the Joint Exec group and referred to as a master document for the transition
* This plan includes all of the relevant workstream actions (operational and transactional) and milestones throughout the process from proposal to creation of a single CCG.

Production and continued management of the risk register:

* We have produced a comprehensive risk log which has been well received by internal and NHSEI staff and which is updated and distributed on a weekly basis to the Joint Exec group.

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Digital app streamlines care payments

The objective of the project was to streamline payments for joint-funded packages between MLCSU and Staffordshire County Council (the LA) by moving to a monthly electronic process. We previously used a paper-based process which in some cases could take over six months to reconcile due to disputes. As a result, the full payment would be withheld until there was an agreement on the full payment list, a process which was very resource-intensive.

How we helped

MLCSU currently uses adam for their commissioning and case management systems, so using the same system for this project was a good fit.

Project governance included weekly meetings between adam, MLCSU and Staffordshire project stakeholders. In these meetings the completion of project milestones was tracked and potential risks were raised. The category went live on time and the first payment was made within the agreed timeline.

This new category has been set up as a collaboration between MLCSU and Staffordshire County Council, where MLCSU use the new category to manage the reimbursement of the local authority for the payment of joint-funded packages of care.

Staffordshire council has a provider (read-only) view of their joint funded packages of care, but is able to track changes to any particular package, such as a rate change, throughout the process.

Impact

The new process has resulted in:

* Quicker payments and improved cashflow
* Centralised online storage, records cannot be lost or damaged
* The system configuration has been set up and is ready to go
* Automatic Service Receipt (invoice) generation within the system
* The LA will benefit from transparency and visibility of packages of care
* The LA will view the same package details as MLCSU
* Full audit trail available, including an audit of any changes
* Improved reporting functionality available to the LA and MLCSU
* Payments can be made on a regular basis (monthly)
* LA and MLCSU can review the invoice files generated by the system before payment is finalised
* Any disputes can be removed from the invoice file and investigated separately
* Only disputed invoices will be withheld from payment

Before the project, the average time to pay invoices for the 2019/20 financial year was 376.6 days – the average payment time is now 30 days as standard. At the end of 2020/21 financial year there were no outstanding debts owed to the council for this cohort of packages – for 2019/20 there was a debt owed of £9.2million at the finance year end. The improvement in terms of cashflow and the time taken to resolve the level of queries and reconciliations has been significant.

Karen Webb, Joint Funding Lead at Staffordshire County Council, said:

“Cashflow has been significantly improved. Originally it could take up to 6 months to reconcile and agree any disputes before any payments were made to Staffordshire council. We now get paid monthly and any disputes do not stop payments from being processed.

“The implementation of this solution means there is full transparency over the data which means when the invoice files are shared, there is a significantly less amount of time we are spending reconciling invoices.”

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Rapid recruitment to tackle CHC backlog

The enormous pressures placed on CCGs to recover from the backlog in CHC assessments following the suspension of the CHC Framework for six months during the COVID-19 pandemic required a rapid, flexible and targeted recruitment and training process not delivered before.

We worked in partnership with NHS England/Improvement (NHSEI) to develop a virtual talent workforce pool via the Bring Back Staff (BBS) returners programme.

We sourced staff from many healthcare professions who came to the project with a wealth of valuable experience to share, and we saved CHC employers at least 260 hours of recruitment, administration and onboarding time.

How we helped

We set up a rapid recruitment process and provided people with equipment by courier, allowing us to function even at the height of the national lockdowns. Our candidates received a bespoke training package, and were trained, supported, mentored and given clinical supervision by experienced CHC professionals via interactive webinars and training videos that we developed in-house.

A number of bespoke, tailored packages of support were developed to encourage returning staff to join the initiative and an offer has been developed with a view to ensuring the future sustainability of the project.

Candidates were able to be brought onboard in between two-to-four weeks, which meant that members of this workforce were then ready to begin their roles with partner organisations already trained and ready for local induction to commence. The programme attracted people who wanted to work flexibly in the NHS and retained their commitment, expertise and experience, offering the best use of resources and public investment.

The impact of our work

Being able to train our BBS returners at pace and then mobilise this agile workforce illustrated just how adaptable and transferable their skills and previous experience were and how useful their expertise was to NHS CHC. The project offered CCGs and providers access to an NHS CHC workforce that is trained to national standards and offered the opportunity to offer virtual assessments so that the workforce could work flexibly nationwide, where needed. This virtual workforce model proposes a blueprint for future workforce solutions across the NHS, not just for NHS CHC and will help to reduce the costs associated with delivering and coordinating a solely face-to-face CHC assessment service.

On the recruitment programme, one applicant remarked:

“I was contacted immediately and the process of recruitment began, swiftly and seamlessly. Once contracted to work for the team I received the equipment required for the role – laptop and phone plus a very comprehensive set of instructions for the necessary IT, contacts, team leaders etc, team meetings etc.

“I feel supported in all aspects. The training is thorough and clear, I have a workbook to progress through, I am currently awaiting shifts whereby I will shadow experienced Nurse Assessors, I have practice care plans to follow.

“As I say, I can compare with recent experience plus 44 years as a skilled Registered Nurse and I am enjoying my experience with MLCSU CHC and only wish I had started sooner.”

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Centralising media management in an ICS

Lancashire and South Cumbria Health and Care Partnership (HCP) is an integrated care system where there is a collaborative partnership of local authority, NHS and community organisations that join-up health and care in the area. It’s a complex partnership that needed a central media office function to coordinate a system approach.

How we helped

The NHS MLCSU Media, Editorial and Publication Team provide assurance that media enquiries and requests across the system are being handled in a timely and efficient manner while ensuring that the correct protocols are followed, and stakeholders and partners informed.

Our full-service professional media office function includes an out-of-hours service, crisis management and media monitoring for complete resilience.

What we helped achieve

The NHS MLCSU media office serves as a front-line contact between the Lancashire and South Cumbria Health and Care Partnership and the media, with a focus on building strong relationships and providing reputational reassurance by ensuring all enquiries are managed, approved and handled centrally.

The newsroom supplies local organisations, services, and functions in the partnership footprint with a designated contact for media specialist support and strategic advice.

The extensive logging, reporting and monitoring produce an unparalleled overview of reactive and proactive media whilst the out of hours crisis management service supplies essential resilience to communication teams during evenings and weekends.

In just one month during the Covid-19 pandemic, we managed 105 media enquiries and 8 proactive media releases resulting in a total PR reach of over 1 billion 397 million.

We have also been commissioned to support on shorter-term projects and campaigns more recently working with the Lancashire and South Cumbria Cancer Alliance.

Of the work, Neil Greaves – Head of Communications and Engagement for Lancashire and South Cumbria Health and Care Partnership, said:

“The excellent work and invaluable support that the NHS MLCSU Media, Editorial and Publications Team have provided in Lancashire and South Cumbria over the past four years has been outstanding.

“I am safe in the knowledge that I can rely on their media specialists to work seamlessly with my team to manage media enquiries and that there is increased capacity to support when there are fluxes in requests or if a crisis occurs.

“It’s really reassuring to have the resilience of a full press office function but also a designated Media and Public Relations Manager lead who has extensive knowledge of the local area and our organisation. The media team excel in providing complete end-to-end media management at pace and are adept at following complex protocols across organisational boundaries when liaising with key stakeholders. Their invaluable understanding of how the NHS, integrated care systems and health and care partnerships work makes them a real asset to my team.”

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Medicines management support to Sue Ryder

The Sue Ryder charitable organisation has a portfolio of 10 services, one hub site and central support delivering palliative and neurological care services across the UK. In early 2020, the organisation’s clinical governance group approached MLCSU to scope out what support and advice we could offer in terms of medicines management and medicines governance across the organisation.

How we helped

Two site visits and face-to-face interviews were conducted and the medicines management systems were audited.

From this information, two anonymised questionnaires were developed, one for Heads of Service and clinical directors via Microsoft (MS) Teams and the other was a medicines governance review designed for a wider audience. 53 responses were received.

Additional stakeholders including pharmacists and business intelligence specialists were interviewed by telephone to discuss the support provided to the services, and the use and application of the Datix database.

Weekly meetings via MS Teams and the production of an interim report ensured the board were kept well informed of progress. A full report that included recommendations for next steps for the organisation was presented at the Healthcare Governance meeting.

Impact

MLCSU and Sue Ryder developed an excellent working relationship and both the interim report and full report were well received.

Recommendations included:

* Increase the number of medicines management audits in the services
* Each service to develop its own medicines policy
* Evaluation of the service level agreements with the community pharmacies that provide support to the services
* A scoping exercise to consider senior pharmacist support for the organisation both at central level and within the services
* Develop a governance framework for non medical prescribers (NMP) with audits of prescribing patterns
* Further develop the use of Datix with individual benchmarking for both neurological and palliative services.

Sue Ryder has approached MLCSU to discuss the provision of pharmacist support to assist with progressing the recommendations in the report.

Of our support to the charity, Dr Paul Perkins, Sue Ryder Chief Medical Director, said:

“Sue Ryder commissioned the Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit to perform an assessment of governance in relation to medicines across our charity. 

“It was great to work with people with such knowledge and expertise. 

“The work was conducted efficiently and feedback from staff at our hospices and neurological care centres was positive with regards to interactions with the team. 

“We were provided with a final report which outlined the good things, but also where we could improve. 

“Helen and Rob were a pleasure to work with.”

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Discharging patients during COVID-19

In March 2020 the Government published its COVID-19 Hospital Discharge Service Requirements, placing an immediate requirement on clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to arrange the transfer of patients from hospital as soon as it was clinically safe to do so. It was anticipated this would take no more than three hours, following discharge from the ward. At the time of the COVID-19 outbreak, MLCSU delivered a full tech-enabled CHC service to eight customer CCGs across the Staffordshire and Merseyside regions, via adam HTT – a managed digital platform. The solutions in place covered a population of 11.6 million, with thousands of active patients under management, and approximately 700 referrals and 360 new placements per month.

How we helped

MLCSU liaised with local bodies across the care sector to share important information with their providers. The team at adam took the lead in distributing communications, establishing which would be relevant to specific providers within the region. Subsequent to this, distribution of communications could be automated, improving staff productivity. After the initial phase was over, MLCSU and adam used their Provider Management Tool to help collect data from providers. A survey was sent out via the tool which allowed immediate distribution and management of queries and responses. The responses allowed MLCSU to create a daily dashboard to show where the virus was in the community, and thus where it was safest to move patients to.

Time to place was a key priority. Whilst the solutions MLCSU and adam deliver to CCGs accelerate the placement process, additional efforts were undertaken to improve placement speed. Whereas typically around 50% of CHC placements are coming from hospital, approximately 75-85% of all referrals during March and April were for patients in an Acute setting.

All patients had to be easily identified as COVID-19 patients, so the adam team amended the system within two hours to establish a new DOH stage. This allowed easier management for MLCSU and easier reclamation of funds later if appropriate.

MLCSU was able to further reduce time to place despite the case load more than doubling. With a robust and technology-enabled process, the team in place could take on the additional workload without a long lead time or extensive training.

During March and April MLCSU used the adam commissioning solution to source 1721 placements which represented a 108% increase on normal levels. A new process was established whereby the technology was used to source open care home beds for patients, with calls starting after 60 minutes to supplement the options sourced. Using data held around capacity and availability of local beds, calls were able to be focused on providers most likely able to take new patients.

Impact

With the fast response of MLCSU and adam, time to place for patients needing care homes beds decreased to a customer-wide average of three days.

With the teams working flat-out to engage local providers and ensure that patients were being kept away from local breakouts, they were still able to source two different options per patient on average. Despite caseloads more than doubling during March and April, the time to place patients during this period was halved.

As a result, providers have been able to demonstrate both compliance and the ability to meet the patients’ assessed needs.

Working at scale and underpinning process with technology has allowed CCGs to benefit from a robust and scalable service offering, able to withstand the most serious of events.

Contact our leads to learn more about how our digital platform can help you.

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Cost savings and better care in Staffordshire

We worked with commissioners, providers and other stakeholders across Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire to improve the quality of service for patients and cut costs across planned care.

Background​

Planned care is a top priority for Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Sustainability and Transformation Partnership (STP). The current acute cost is £348million and has been growing by 14 per cent over the last four years, well above the rate of population increase.

National standards are not being met and backlogs are increasing. The target is to improve quality and patient experience in addition to delivering savings of £14million by 2020/21.

Action​

* A planned care workstream was set up with clinical and management representatives from commissioner and provider organisations, and other major players​
* National and local data was analysed and ophthalmology and musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions were prioritised as the two highest-spend areas where changes could most easily be made​
* Engagement events were held with a wide range of stakeholders, and guest speakers from NHS England universities and other trusts​ were brought in
* Seven task-and-finish groups were created, focusing on specific ophthalmology and MSK conditions​
* Site visits by the groups were arranged to map current processes and then use improvement techniques – such as the five whys – to determine why activities were not adding value. Action plans were then established.

Impact

* The programme is predicted to save between £1.9m and £4.4m per annum across seven pathways
* Data sharing at a system level has led to a greater understanding of the way planned care has been provided and has led to changes in practice
* Standard service specifications have been introduced
* The referrals process has been improved and the number of referrals has been reduced
* We have noted improved theatre productivity
* Unnecessary scanning and injections have been eliminated
* Commissioning around pain management has been improved
* Follow-ups are now being carried out in the community, closer to patients’ homes.

Mark Seaton, Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent STP Planned Care Workstream Programme Lead, said:

“During our planned care project in Staffordshire, it was clear we needed to forge much stronger relationships across a number of organisational boundaries and change cultural thinking.

“The CSU has been instrumental in helping us put clinical engagement at the centre of our work. Organising, facilitating and designing workshops to gain insight and involvement; the CSU also invited guest clinicians to share learning.

“This was not an easy process but together we worked hard to share expertise and design pathways to bring real benefits to patients.”

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Transforming NHS CHC across England

MLCSU’s Improvement Unit set up and managed a successful programme management office (PMO) for the National NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) Strategic Improvement Programme.

Background

NHS England established the national NHS CHC Strategic Improvement Programme to contribute towards the transformation and efficiency goals of the Five Year Forward View.

The programme goals were to:

* Reduce variation in patient and carer experience in quality, timeliness and speed of assessment, eligibility decisions and appeal processes

* Establish national standards of practice and outcome expectations

* Ensure the best possible package of commissioning is in place

* Achieve the spending review target of reducing growth in CHC expenditure, through standardisation and adoption of best practice

* Ensure that assessments occur at the right time and place and reduce the number of full assessments for CHC in acute settings

* Influence national policy framework and care market oversight to maximise the policy contribution

* Strengthen the alignment between NHS England work programmes which have a CHC component, such as Personalisation and Choice.

Action

The Improvement Unit established and managed the PMO for this highly complex and challenging national programme, working closely with NHS England colleagues, system leads, clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and social care.

The programme consisted of two programme directors and five workstreams, and the Board was led by an independent chair, ensuring that all decisions received  the maximum challenge and assurance.

Responsibilities

* Programme Board establishment and management

* Overall responsibility for PMO

* Oversight of programme plan

* Oversight and review of papers produced and collated for board by PMO

* Production of additional board papers as required

* Facilitate regular update meetings with workstream leads

* Facilitate workshops/meetings involving multiple workstreams

* Responsibility for benefits realisation plan

* Creation and upkeep of programme plan

* Regular meetings with workstream leads to update plan and challenge on timelines and dependencies

* Collation of workstream highlight reports into board report

* Drafting of/input into additional board papers as required

* Set up and management of Programme Board meetings and additional delivery group meetings as required

* Give support to Programme Manager for Programme Board

* Records management for programme

* Onboarding and offboarding programme resources

* Clear terms of reference and objectives for workstreams

* Responsible for delivery of workstream objectives

* Responsibility for completing workstream highlight report

* Presentation of updates to programme board and national/system leads as required.

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Enabling NHS Digital weight management services

The NHS Digital Weight Management Programme (DWMP) launched this week will help thousands of adults achieve a healthy weight and improve their wellbeing. Patients will access ‘tier two’ digital weight management services via the DWMP Referral Hub designed and produced by Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit (MLCSU). This is a tool that allows people to choose the weight management provider which they feel they can connect with most successfully, and which then provides a flexible and tailored service to match their individual needs.

Part of the government’s obesity strategy, the Department of Health and Social Care announced that new services will be offered across England including online tools and funding for face-to-face consultations. The NHS DWMP will offer free online support for adults living with obesity, who also have diabetes, high blood pressure or both, to help manage their weight and improve their health.

Following an e-referral, MLCSU’s Referral Hub uses a triage algorithm process to identify the appropriate level of intervention based on the patient’s likelihood of completing the programme. The Hub then offers patients a choice of weight management service providers. They can select a provider they choose, and the system links them through and passes across key information to enable the patient to register and get started.

Easily accessing the Hub via smartphone or computer means more people are likely to complete the DWMP and improve their health. By cutting back on applications paperwork and making referrals through the Hub, primary care has seen a potential for major efficiency gains in saved time and resources.

Eligible NHS staff have also been offered free access to the Hub via self-referral.

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New flexible resourcing service: TalentOne

The Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit is launching today a new flexible resourcing service: TalentOneTM, to help you find high-quality resource and staff your projects in as little as half a day!

As the NHS is working vigorously to continue establishing truly integrated care throughout the health and social care system, we are seeing an ever-increasing need to find resources quickly for a wide range of short- and longer-term projects.

The new service benefits from the extensive experience of our HR and recruitment experts in working with NHS talent. As an NHS organisation ourselves, we are ideally placed to have direct access to candidates with the specialist skills you need.

What’s more, TalentOneTM dedicates effort and capability to provide you with swift and efficient access to additional resource, supporting your workforce resilience at short notice. We are aiming to provide options of talented people within half a day of receiving your request.

A new electronic system is in place that will help us match opportunities to people, internally and externally, quickly and efficiently, and provide much needed support where additional flexible resource is required.

TalentOneTM also gives our own people exciting industry leading opportunities for development – supporting and advancing our approach to talent management and staff learning.

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Accessibility innovation: Digital easy-read surveys

By producing easy-read versions of our questionnaires we can improve participation in our engagement and consultation exercises with people who would otherwise be put off by longer, more complicated forms.

Background

Easy-read is a method of presenting written information to make it easier to understand for people with difficulty reading. Easy-read advocates sentences of no more than ten to fifteen words, with each sentence having just one idea and one verb. Active sentences are used instead of passive sentences. Any difficult word or idea is explained in a separate sentence. An easy read document is usually presented in at least 14-point text and includes carefully selected images to help people understand.

Action

This year we developed easy-read versions of the questionnaires and combined them with our online survey tool for even greater accessibility. The survey tool is used to host all of our surveys, but it had not been used to host easy-read versions of the questionnaires before now. We are not aware of anyone doing this before.

As a result, these questionnaires are now accessible online and can be quickly and widely spread to interested individuals and groups via email and social media.

The project was launched six months ago and, so far, we have produced two online easy-read surveys, which are currently live and part of ongoing engagement exercises.

Impact

Hosting the surveys which are prepared in the specialist easy-read format on our online survey tool has increased responses more than 18-fold and provided several other benefits for our clients and their stakeholders. By using the online tool, respondents do not need to send a request for a paper version or download the PDF version to print, complete and post back. The survey is fully accessible online via a click of a button, making it much easier to access and participate in.

The link to the survey can be shared much more easily and this has been particularly useful when working with specific groups or individuals who may or do require the easy-read version, such as people with a learning disability, whose first language isn’t English or who have a lower reading age.

Our easy-read versions have always been visually more engaging for participants, using such tools as photographs and graphics to make them more attractive and understandable. We can now enhance the specialist format further on our online version, using designs and iconography for rating scales (such as smiley faces) to make them more visually appealing and interesting. They also come across as less formal and intimidating to people who might be put off from responding to more official-looking questionnaires which use more complex language.

Sue Venables, Head of Communications and Insight, LLR CCGs, said:

“We commissioned MLCSU to help design our Mental Health consultation survey. During the planning stage they suggested that we may like them to both design and host on their in-house survey tool an easy-read version of the mental health consultation questionnaire. I was immediately interested but requested an example to review first.

“I was delighted! I could immediately see the potential benefits of the easy-read version. We have placed the links side by side on our consultation website.

“The easy read version of the consultation survey has proven far more popular than we initially envisaged. Whilst it still has simplified language and engaging imagery and pictures this has now been extended to a more interactive and impactful approach as things like ratings buttons now have smiley/sad faces.

“I’m really pleased and definitely feel it is assisting us to engage more effectively with our patients and public.”