Month: September 2022

Posted on

OTiS Tactical helps ICSs track patient flow and emerging pressures

Our flexible OTiS Tactical tool is helping integrated care systems to monitor emerging pressures on urgent and emergency care and impact on patient flow through acute hospitals.

To inform tactical responses to COVID-19, Lancashire and South Cumbria (LSC) Integrated Care System required a flexible tool to monitor emerging pressures and impacts on the delivery of urgent and emergency care within acute hospitals.

To understand the changing current position in the context of medium-term trends, there was also a need to improve how existing data sources were interrogated.

They needed a tool that allowed system partners, including the LSC Resilience Hub to access the latest data 24/7, and that would facilitate the production of regular snapshot reports.

Our Clinical team built on their experience of developing the OTiS (Operational, Tactical, Insightful and Strategic) system – an interactive digital reporting suite to pinpoint blockages in a healthcare system. Working alongside developers and Business Intelligence analysts, they understood LSC’s requirements and built a solution.

Feeds from multiple data sources including national SitReps (situation reports), COVID-19 testing data and critical care data for the local network were secured and integrated in a dashboard accessible through Aristotle – MLCSU’s innovative business intelligence portal.

Data could then be analysed and benchmarked at ICS, provider or individual site level. The dashboard’s flexibility allows viewing in different time periods, in the context of longer-term trends, or in comparison with pre-COVID levels.

Functionality was added to allow commentary to be added and key issues to be highlighted for key decision-makers to review.

OTiS Tactical is used daily to support the tactical work of the LSC Resilience Hub, highlighting key issues such as those related to bed occupancy, long-stay patients, and discharge issues and pressures in the urgent care system.

It has been the main tool for spotting emerging pressures in Lancashire and South Cumbria. By tracking the emergence and impact of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, the team were able to advise on appropriate mitigating measures.

OTiS Tactical streamlined the production of a daily COVID-19 report, making it more timely and less resource-intensive. It has also informed other regular reporting for the system, including briefings for the various teams and boards overseeing the local urgent and emergency care system.

Having proved its worth in Lancashire and South Cumbria, OTiS Tactical has been adapted for system diagnostics in Cheshire and analysing the impact of COVID-19 on acute hospital flow across all North West providers. OTiS Tactical has proved to be invaluable in these applications.

Posted on

Financial framework supports system transformation

Our Transformation Unit supported an integrated care system (ICS) to develop a financial framework that ensured a consistent approach across all its transformation programmes, ensuring progress and momentum.

Finance is changing in the NHS. The focus is shifting from organisational financial sustainability to system sustainability. Organisations are working ever closer together to provide better population focused health care.

This creates potential financial benefits for organisations, for example leveraging economies of scale. It also requires a paradigm shift.

System change programmes will have different financial implications for affected partners.

Northamptonshire ICS required support to:
• develop a financial framework to support system transformation programmes
• ensure progress and momentum across system transformation programmes.

Our first step was to work with the system directors of finance to develop a financial framework. We then supported the appointment of finance leads for each of its transformation programmes. A key focus of our support was to enable the finance leads to implement the framework.

One flagship programme, focusing on integration, needed business case approval. We helped articulate both the benefits and the financial implications of the programme. This involved working through difficult conversations that require significant maturity of system working.

The co-produced financial framework helps ensure a consistent approach across all transformation programmes.

The system also approved the business case of the flagship integration programme, which is now being implemented and is helping reduce avoidable admissions.

Posted on

Digital leadership for new hospitals

We have been supporting the Lancashire and South Cumbria’s New Hospitals Programme to design and deliver digital infrastructures to benefit new hospital services, enhancing usability, data driven insights and automation.

Background

As part of the national New Hospital Programme, the Lancashire and South Cumbria region has been recognised as in need of funding to replace or refurbish existing hospital estate to address problems with ageing facilities and infrastructure in Preston at Royal Preston Hospital (RPH) and Lancaster at Royal Lancaster Infirmary (RLI).

Proposals also include investment in Furness General Hospital, required due to its geographically remote location and its proximity to some of the UK’s major strategic national assets.

This funding provides the region with a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform hospitals by 2030, with the positive effects set to enhance the lives of local people living and working in Lancashire and South Cumbria both now, and in generations to come.

Action

Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit are providing specialist digital leadership for the Lancashire and South Cumbria New Hospitals Programme to ensure that all digitally enabled functions and services are fully understood, considered and coordinated into the vision and delivery strategy.

Designing, integrating and delivering digital infrastructure and services that meets the needs of the new hospitals users, and that is innovative and user-centric are some of the key principles.

Impact

The Lancashire and South Cumbria New Hospitals Programme is benefitting from specialist digital in construction leadership to set strategic direction and to coordinate the integration of Lancashire and South Cumbria wide and site-specific digital services within a multi-site, large-scale construction programme.

The inputs will maximise the opportunities to create digitally enabled and coordinated hospitals from concept design stage. The eventual outputs will positively impact and benefit across all new hospital services, enhancing usability, data driven insights and automation; improving health and wellbeing; increasing sustainability and reducing capital expenditure by reducing duplication, sharing resources and decreasing operational costs.

“Having specialist digital in construction advice and expertise to develop and articulate a compelling vision and ambitious strategy for what can be achieved through digital transformation enabled by new hospital facilities has been invaluable for the programme. It helps to really bring to life the potential and impact for patients, staff and local communities in a tangible way. Importantly, this has been delivered within the context of the wider NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board digital strategic objectives, with strong relationships established at a programme and a system level.”

Rebecca Malin | Programme Director, Lancashire and South Cumbria New Hospitals Programme

Posted on

Bringing back staff to continuing healthcare

A project to bring back a considerable number of staff to complete outstanding continuing healthcare assessments attracted skilled people from across health and care.

Background

The NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) framework was suspended for six months during the COVID-19 pandemic. To complete 38,484 outstanding NHS CHC assessments within the six-month deadline, a significant number of additional staff were needed with the right skills to handle the workload to ensure patients were assessed and that their care needs were coordinated in a timely way.

In partnership with NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSEI), we developed a virtual workforce via the Bring Back Staff (BBS) returners programme. Our solution was a rapid, flexible and targeted recruitment and training process on a scale never seen before.

Action

NHSEI commissioned the NHS Midlands and Lancashire CSU to design and implement a national database to capture details of staff recruited or seconded, any training given, and additional working hours completed.

The CHC Workforce Project and talent pool built on ‘bank’ models for clinical commissioning groups to offer a choice of provider for temporary staffing.

We collaborated both internally and externally with recruitment specialists, IT services, business admin support and clinical leaders from a variety of health professional groups to ensure the processes worked smoothly and that we were able to target the training at the appropriate level for all candidates.

Impact

The success of the project was the result of highly-effective collaborative working as one to deliver at pace.

Training BBS returners at pace and then mobilising this agile workforce illustrated just how adaptable and transferable their skills and previous experience as nurses, paramedics, medical support workers, pharmacists and other allied health professionals were, and how useful their expertise is to CHC.

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.

A rapid recruitment, induction and training process enabled us to bring candidates on board in two to four weeks. Candidates were sourced from many healthcare professions and came with a wealth of valuable experience.

We adapted to the challenges of lockdowns and remote working, we provided equipment by courier, and developed a bespoke training package via interactive webinars and training videos.

CHC employers saved at least 260 hours of recruitment, administration and onboarding time. This blueprint for CHC workforce development recruits professionals considering CHC as career option, retaining their skills and knowledge within the NHS.

Feedback from applicants:

“My experience with MLCSU CHC team has been so different from the others. I feel supported in all aspects… I only wish I had started sooner.”

“The recruitment experience was impressively thorough and rapid, with a swift DBS check, provision of a laptop, phone and training.”

Feedback from a manager:

“The recruitment process was straightforward… very easy to navigate and a positive experience all round.”

Posted on

NHS smoking cessation service in Leicester

We helped the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust implement the national smoking cessation service referring patients discharged from hospital to GPs for ongoing stop smoking support.

Background

The University Hospitals of Leicester NHS trust required support with the new national NHS smoking cessation service. The NHS Midlands and Lancashire CSU (MLCSU) facilitated the service’s implementation and provided support throughout.

Action

We analysed the trust’s current resources and worked with various teams to establish working groups, agree on a referral pathway and engage with community pharmacies.

* We interpreted and applied all the necessary guidance from NHS England.
* We worked with pharmacy, IT, tobacco dependency, respiratory and other teams to highlight and work through technical and logistical issues.
* We worked with the trust and other stakeholders to set up a referral pathway and worked out how data and referrals will be exchanged throughout the stages of the service.
* We supported the local pharmaceutical committee with engagement events to ensure abundant local uptake of the service and that there was sufficient geographical coverage.

Impact

Our support allowed the trust to become one of the early implementors of the NHS smoking cessation service.

The trust is now set up to digitally refer patients being discharged from secondary care for ongoing smoking cessation support via their chosen community pharmacies.

The guidance we provided helped establish a digital referral pathway allowing for referrals to be quickly sent electronically and then received back to the trust upon completion of the patient pathway in a timely manner.

Our support helped the trust to efficiently deliver and contribute to the prevention ambitions as part of the NHS Long Term Plan.

“The MLCSU have been an outstanding partner to work with setting up our ‘Community Pharmacy pathway for smoking cessation’ in Leicester.

“The team have all the key qualities to get a new pathway up and running including being key members of our task and finish group, being responsive to queries, problem solving, working effectively with other stakeholders and generally being friendly, respectful and having a ‘can do’ approach.

“In addition, sharing their knowledge and experience working with other stakeholders across the country has been pivotal in getting our local pathway up and running in record time..”

Professor Sanjay Agrawal, Consultant in Respiratory and Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust (UHL)

National Clinical Advisor for Tobacco Dependency, NHS England

Chair, Royal College of Physicians (RCP) Tobacco Advisory Group

Posted on

INSIGHT 2022: festival of analysis

We are delighted to invite you to INSIGHT 2022, the annual festival of learning and sharing about analysis for the NHS, local government and other partners across health and care, hosted by the Midlands Decision Support Network in association with the NHS Midlands and Lancashire CSU’s Strategy Unit.

This year’s festival will run over a two-week period from Monday 3 October until Friday 14 October, and will include a mixture of talks, workshops and panel discussions. The theme is ‘The science and craft of decision making’, bringing together inspirational regional and national speakers to explore how insights from high quality analysis can drive change in health and care systems.

All events are online and everyone working in health and care is very welcome to attend. All sessions are free. You can commit as little or as much time as you’d like. Most of the sessions will be recorded so you can fit them into your schedule in a way that suits you.

Confirmed speakers include:

Nigel Edwards (Chief Executive, The Nuffield Trust)
Dr Bola Owolabi (Director – Health Inequalities at NHS England and NHS Improvement.
Sir David Dalton
Ben Marshall and Michael Lawrie (Ipsos UK)
Rony Arafin (Chief Executive Officer, AphA)
Professor Angie Hobbs (Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy).

…and many more will be added in the coming weeks.

How to attend

To register your interest simply complete your details on our Eventbrite page: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/insight-2022-3rd-14th-october-2022-tickets-391179326897 – and we will share the full programme when it is available. You can also see the festival details on the Midlands Decision Support Network website: https://www.midlandsdecisionsupport.nhs.uk/training-events/insight-2022/

We look forward to seeing you!

Further information

If you have any questions, please email Kimberley Messam, Senior Consultant at The Strategy Unit: kimberley.messam@nhs.net