Month: May 2023

Our support in developing the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICS green plan resulted in a robust and deliverable plan that aligned with the ICS’s objectives, demonstrating their commitment to sustainability and net-zero carbon emissions.

Background

The Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care System (S&S-o-T ICS) approached MLCSU to develop their green plan, which aimed to create a comprehensive plan reflecting the ICS’s commitment to sustainability and net-zero carbon emissions. The goal was to ensure that the 9 areas of focus identified in the Greener NHS Programme were understood and aligned with the ICS’s objectives.

Action

To develop the S&S-o-T ICS green plan, MLCSU engaged with relevant colleagues across the system and identified relevant leads to ensure alignment and progress. The approach also involved identifying work already taking place but not aligned with sustainability/net-zero work and aligning it to the green plan. This approach aimed to prevent duplication of work and provide a straightforward way to report on progress taking place across the system. The ICS green plan included local authority requirements and progress, ensuring a true ICS-focused plan and set of priorities were agreed upon.

Following approval of the green plan, the ICS requested MLCSU to work with them to produce a high-level action plan aligned with the priorities identified in the ICS green plan. This action plan aimed to provide a clear timeframe for delivery with clear milestones.
As the project progressed, the ICS also requested a wider governance piece to be included, based on learning from other areas, to identify the best way to use the capacity, skills, and knowledge within the system to deliver the plan. MLCSU aimed to provide a bespoke approach to the green plan, reflecting the ICS’s values, beliefs, and work programs.

By providing a bespoke approach to the green plan, MLCSU ensured that the plan was approved, adopted, and owned by colleagues, placing the system in the best possible position to effectively deliver the plan. This process ensured that a robust, clear, and deliverable plan was produced for the system to achieve its priorities.

Impact

MLCSU’s approach ensured that the green plan was aligned with the ICS’s objectives, had buy-in from relevant stakeholders, and was effectively delivered. This process helped to ensure a robust, clear, and deliverable plan was produced for the system to achieve its priorities, while also preventing duplication of work and enabling progress reporting across the system.
Through this work with the S&S-o-T ICS, MLCSU helped the ICS meet their deadline to produce the green plan and produced a clear and deliverable plan to achieve their priorities. The successful delivery of this work on time and on budget brought the commitments made by the ICS to life, supporting them to make a real difference to their patients and local communities.

Feedback

“We have enjoyed working with MLCSU as we have developed our approach to achieving net zero. The team engaged with us and listened to our requirements meaning the end result will be able to be taken forwards across the ICS. I would definitely recommend working with the team at MLCSU and hope to work with them again on similar projects.”

Liz Mellor | Director of Strategy and Partnerships | North Staffs Combined Healthcare Trust

We successfully streamlined the transition to an integrated single financial environment for 11 CCGs to ICB ledger builds, delivering all implementations on time with minimal issues while mitigating project risks and meeting all milestones. Positive client feedback highlighted our invaluable support and stress-reducing approach.

Background

The Health and Social Care Act in 2012 established Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) to manage healthcare services. However, with the enactment of the Health and Care Act 2022 on 1st July 2022, Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) became legally established, and the CCGs were closed. This transition necessitated the creation of new ISFE (integrated single financial environment) ledgers for the ICBs (integrated care boards).

Action

MLCSU provided project management and subject matter expertise for each workstream to assist in transitioning 11 CCGs to ICB ledgers, as well as offering consultation for eight other CCG transitions. Our team collaborated closely with the SBS Team and ICB clients to ensure a smooth transition.

Our tasks included cleansing all data prior to SBS loading, populating “set up” data templates for P2P, O2C, and A2R, project management, and migration activities. We also ensured that all ICB-specific requirements were integrated into the build, such as procurement rules and establishment hierarchy. We provided ICB-specific communications and training documents and provided weekly updates to the ICB’s senior management team and SBS team. We co-chaired and updated the monthly Project Board, provided monthly risk management updates, led cutover activities, ensured invoices were returned to the same position as when they left the old ledgers, provided PIMS support and assisted where necessary with ESR, banking forms, username, and password distribution.

Impact

With MLCSU’s significant experience in ledger builds with SBS, we have successfully completed various mergers including CSU and CCG mergers, and more recently, the 11 CCG’s to ICB’s transition (including supporting an 8 CCG to 1 ICB merger). Our excellent project management and subject matter expertise has led to all ledger reconfigurations and implementation programmes being delivered on time with minimal issues.
By leveraging our experience, effective management of pre-ledger migration activities and excellent communication with all parties, we were able to effectively mitigate project risks and meet all project milestones.

Customer feedback

“The team at MLCSU provided a great service and proved invaluable during the transition phase.  The CSU project lead liaised with all the parties involved and helped to make the whole process a lot less stressful. I would definitely recommend their service to anyone about to go through a similar process.”

Maria Tongue | Associate Director of Finance | NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin ICB

Our e-learning product on net-zero carbon emissions raised awareness amongst staff of both organisational and national net-zero targets and helped to raise awareness of MLCSU’s green plan, resulting in individuals making personal pledges to reduce their carbon emissions.

Background

MLCSU was tasked with creating an e-learning product to educate on the net-zero carbon emissions target, which would be available on the Electronic Staff Record(ESR) system. The training aimed to raise awareness of both organisational and national carbon net-zero targets.

Action

To achieve the objective of raising awareness of both organisational and national carbon net-zero targets, we created an e-learning product on net-zero carbon emissions target which covered several topics, including:

– Carbon Literacy – Introduction to the course and learning objectives
– Climate Change – Causes and effects of climate change including a video
– A Greener NHS – Why we need a ‘Greener NHS’ and national/local ambitions & initiatives
– Delivering a ‘Net Zero’ NHS – Carbon Footprint (Plus), CO2 Emissions, NHS Green Plans
– Interactive Assessment – Multiple choice learning evaluation covering course content
– Further Reading – Links to case studies and follow-up resources
– ESR material can be tailored to include an organisation’s Green plan to increase awareness and inform of the green initiatives.

Impact

Our e-learning product had a significant impact, achieving its primary objective of raising awareness amongst MLCSU staff of organisational and national net-zero targets. The training also helped to raise awareness of MLCSU’s green plan, and individuals were required to make personal pledges to reduce their carbon emissions.

Feedback

One staff member who undertook the training reported that they were already environmentally aware, but completing the training gave them a better understanding of the negative effects of climate change and the need for urgent widespread action. They found the training interesting, informative and with lots of credible sources. They shared some of the information within their household, provoking conversations about what they could do to reduce their carbon footprint, and it did not go unmissed that being eco-friendly could also save them money. They found the training an enjoyable and interactive experience and made a personal pledge to make a difference in their little bit of the planet.

PJ Thorniley, IFR Service Manager for Cheshire & Merseyside, MLCSU