Meeting the Challenge: Employee Engagement and the future of the NHS – IPA

Employee engagement is vital to high quality care in the NHS. Evidence shows it is linked to both patient satisfaction and quality of care. Argues that by better engaging with employees, the NHS will be more able to face the significant challenges of the next few years. Research shows that NHS Trusts which effectively engage their employees have higher levels of staff wellbeing and more satisfied patients; they have better clinical outcomes and they are more efficient. It’s increasingly clear that engagement is vital to high quality care in the NHS.

View article

Efficiency and perceptions of cost in healthcare – British Journal of Healthcare Mangement article

Are patients and healthcare professionals able to estimate the costs involved in delivering healthcare? Could a better awareness help to improve efficiency and effectiveness? This questionnaire-based study assessed whether those who deliver and those who receive healthcare are able to estimate the costs involved.

View article

Customer Procurement Savings Reports: Guidance Notes – NHS Supply Chain

Guidance on the use of Customer Procurement Savings Reports which have been developed to enable users to view and download details of the savings you have made on purchases through the NHS Supply Chain. These reports are part of a collaborative project between NHS Supply Chain and NHS Business Services Authority. Savings have been classified into seven categories, and two management tools have been specified.

View article

Networked innovation in the health sector: comparative qualitative study of the role of Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care in translating research into practice – Health Services and Delivery Research Article.

The aim of this report is to provide an independent and theory-based evaluation of CLAHRCs (Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care) as a new form of networked innovation in the health sector.

View article

How Monitor, CQC and the NHS Trust Development Authority will work together to assess how well led-organisations are – Kings Fund

One of the five questions CQC now asks of all providers is ‘how well-led is this organisation?’. The quality of leadership is one of the most important determinants of the quality and safety of services. This framework outlines the dimensions of leadership that organisations will be assessed on and allows organisations to align themselves with the common expectation of what good looks like.

View article

Monitor commits to a single view of what good leadership looks like – GOV.UK News

The 3 national NHS partners will develop an aligned framework for making judgements about how well-led NHS providers are.

The framework will ensure a consistent view which will form the basis of regulatory judgements. A joined-up approach will also remove unnecessary duplication and burden on NHS providers.

The partners intend to put these plans into action by October 2014 after testing the approach with NHS foundation trusts and NHS trusts. Monitor’s contribution has been captured in guidance to NHS foundation trust boards on how to assess the quality of their leadership, the ‘Well-led framework for Governance Reviews’ also published this week.

View article
Related publication: ‘Well-led framework for Governance Reviews’

The best leaders are humble leaders – Harvard Business Review Blog

Argues that leadership is about what the team can do together. Links are demonstrated between altruistic leadership and innovation and embededness of the employees within the organisation. It encourages leaders to share their mistakes as teachable moments, engage in conversations rather than debates, embrace uncertainty and be a role model as a ‘follower’.

View article

 Culture and leadership in the NHS The King’s Fund survey 2014 – The King’s Fund

In February and March 2014 The King’s Fund conducted a survey of NHS managers and clinicians about leadership, culture and compassionate care in the NHS.  This is a summary of the survey findings.

View article

 Collective leadership: fundamental to creating the cultures we need in the NHS – The King’s Fund

Positivity, compassion, respect, dignity, engagement and high-quality care are key to creating the cultures we need in the NHS. And, just as importantly, we must deal decisively, consistently and quickly with behaviours inconsistent with these values, regardless of the seniority of people exhibiting them.

View article

How can improving leadership help to transform the NHS? – The King’s Fund Blog

Managing high achievers – Mind Tools

How to recognise high achievers with tips on how best to manage them and keeping them motivated.

View article

The role of informal networks in creating knowledge among health-care managers: a prospective case study, Health Services and Delivery Research Article.

Health and well-being services, in common with many public services, cannot be delivered by a single organisation. Weight loss, exercise, smoking cessation and other programmes require the co-ordination of services delivered by several organisations in a locality. There is some evidence, mostly from other sectors, that middle managers play pivotal roles in this co-ordination. They have to find ways of co-ordinating services such that organisations are able to meet their own objectives while working together, and issues raised by cultural and other differences can be overcome. In doing so, they have to find ways of explaining what they do, and what they need to get done, to one another. This study focuses on the knowledge creation processes that underpin these activities, in the context of health and well-being services.

View article

Reducing sickness absence in the NHS using evidence based strategies – NHS Employers Report

The Department of Health (DH) commissioned a project to reduce sickness absence levels and improve staff health and wellbeing in 102 NHS trusts. The project, known as the Trust Support Project, worked with a cross-section of NHS organisations, including acute, mental health, specialist and ambulance services. The project was part of a series of actions to support NHS organisations achieve the quality, innovation, productivity and prevention (QIPP) target for reducing sickness absence.
This is a summary report of the project findings.

View article

Talent management – Mind Tools

Looks at how to develop talent as part of the organisational culture. It touches on aspects such as performance management, mentoring and succession planning.

View article

Streamlining Programme, Support and Resources – Skills for Health

The Streamlining Programme was a collaboration between Skills for Health, HR for London and NHS Employers, the programme has saved millions of pounds and improved efficiency and quality in three key areas:

• Junior doctors’ rotations
• Employment checks
• Statutory and mandatory training

By working together to benchmark performance and share best practices, the 39 London trusts have increased performance in respect of training compliance, reduced duplication and achieved a dramatic reduction in costs. Simultaneously, the programme has delivered higher quality, improved efficiency and greater productivity.

Case studies, guidance documents and advice from the participating London HR Directors are all available.

View article

A Bigger Difference: Realising The Potential Of Voluntary Organisations And Volunteers – National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO)

Report that identifies voluntary organisations have particular strengths in providing preventative and specialist services. There is compelling evidence that earlier action can lead to major savings for the state1 – and yet, current government spending mechanisms limit investment in these services. It includes examples of best practice of collaboration and joint working between voluntary organisations and public services.

View article

10 Priorities For Resolving The Crisis In Emergency Departments – The College of Emergency Medicine

Concise proposals from The College of Emergency Medicine that are the collective view of practicing emergency physicians and aim to represent cost-effective solutions to ensure that safe patient care can be delivered. It identifies 5 proposals for NHS England to address and 5 for members of the college to address.

View article

Working together to assess how well led organisations are – NHS Trust Development Authority

The NHS Trust Development Authority, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and Monitor have committed to developing an aligned framework for making judgements about how well led NHS providers are.

By ‘well led’ we mean that the leadership, management and governance of the organisation assure the delivery of high quality care for patients, support learning and innovation and promote an open and fair culture.

This article outlines their statement of intent.

View article

The 7 Principles of Personal Effectiveness – An Obsession With Transformation Blog

Blog post from Dr. Peter Fuda that identifies seven principles on the path to personal effectiveness captured by the acronym A-D-D-R-E-S-S.

1. Accept Responsibility
2. Define Success
3. Develop a System You Trust
4. Recruit Your Stakeholders
5. Embed Routines & Rituals
6. Steer Meetings & Interations
7. Stay On Track Under Pressure

View article

Shared Learning – Values Based Recruitment – NHS Empolyers

NHS Employers shared learning on Values Based Recruitment. Case studies on:

• Developing a behavioural framework
• Assessment centre recruitment approach
• Recruiting for values internationally

View article

Three Quick Ways to Improve Your Strategy-Making – Harvard Business Review Blog

The standard strategy processes at most companies share three common characteristics: 1) you wait until the annual strategy review to revisit your strategy; 2) you put together a SWOT analysis as input to the start of the strategy process; and 3) you start the strategy process with a long and arduous exercise to wordsmith a mission/vision statement or organizational aspiration.

These activities are, no doubt, reassuring and familiar. They are also almost completely useless. This article takes a look at each in turn.

View article

Strategy’s No Good Unless You End Up Somewhere New – Harvard Business Review Blog

Innovation isn’t always strategic, but strategy making sure as heck better be innovative. By definition, strategy is about allocating resources today to secure a better tomorrow. It is important, however, to understand the nuances and complexities of innovation as they relate to strategy. The author lists four innovations that they believe are the most important.

View article

Annualisation: an approach to consultant job planning – British Journal of Healthcare Management Article

In this article, we have considered the background of annualised hours and the relevant legislation framework in the UK, advantages and disadvantages for employers and employees, the key principals of implementation of annualisation of consultant job planning. We have also brought examples of the NHS trusts’ formulated policies in support of annualisation.

View article

NHS Qualified Nurse Supply And Demand Survey – Findings – NHS Employers

This NHS Employers survey provides information on demand and supply of the qualified nurse workforce in NHS service provider organisations. The data collected will help to inform and shape co-ordinated recruitment and retention initiatives.

View article

Mobilising identities: the shape and reality of middle and junior managers  working lives – a qualitative study – National Institute for Health Research

Report of a study that aims to capture, chart and explore the work and roles of mid and junior healthcare managers in the NHS.

View article

Health Professional Mobility In A Changing Europe: New Dynamics, Mobile Individuals And Diverse Responses – World Health Organization (WHO)

This report is grouped into three parts: the changing dynamics of health professional mobility, the mobile individual and policy responses in a changing Europe. It presents practical tools such as a yardstick for registry methodology, a typology of mobile individuals, qualitative tools for studying the motivation of the workforce and a set of concrete policy responses at EU, national and organizational level including bilateral agreements, codes and workplace responses.

View article

How to execute a 15-word strategy statement – Harvard Business Review Blog

Explanation of how to create a story which explains your business, which can then be used to help develop a value proposition. It then explains how value statements can be compared used the ‘Blue Ocean Strategy canvas approach’ to help see how your business differs from competition. Once the correct narrative is agreed then it can be distilled down to a more concise statement.

View article

Are you confusing strategy with planning? – Harvard Business Review Blog

This article argues that humans hate failure and try to avoid experiencing it. This results in managers defaulting to planning rather than strategy. An assessment is provided to check personal likelihood of falling into ‘comfort traps’.

View article

Resilience 1 TRP – The Hope Street Centre

Short video explaining what makes us stressed

View article

Using balanced metrics and mixed methods to better understand QI interventions – BMJ Quality and Safety

Improving quality while maintaining or reducing costs requires balancing competing demands to bring value to healthcare. High-value reporting of quality improvement (QI) initiatives similarly requires balancing descriptions of improvements achieved with assessments of potential costs and unintended consequences. Using balanced QI metrics allows simultaneous measurement of intended improvements (eg, reduced length of stay (LOS)) and of processes or outcomes that might worsen as a result of a given intervention (eg, mortality, hospital readmission). In their initiative to improve the efficiency of inpatient care without compromising safety at a large teaching hospital in Edmonton, Alberta in Canada, McAlister et al1 report balanced measures, use a methodologically evaluative QI design, and describe the local contextual factors that influenced their success, thus creating generalisable knowledge.

View article

Early warnings, weak signals and learning from healthcare disasters – BMJ Quality and Safety

Some of the most urgent challenges facing those responsible for improving and regulating patient safety are therefore how to identify, interpret, integrate and act on the early warnings and weak signals of emerging risks—before those risks contribute to a disastrous failure of care. These challenges are fundamentally organisational and cultural: they relate to what information is routinely noticed, communicated and attended to within and between healthcare organisations—and, most critically, what is assumed and ignored. This article analyses these organisational and cultural challenges and suggests three practical ways that healthcare organisations and their regulators can improve safety and address emerging risks.

View article

To Raise Productivity, Let More Employees Work from Home – Harvard Business Review

An interview is presented with Nicholas Bloom, a professor of economics at Stanford University. Bloom discusses his research on the Chinese Internet travel agency Ctrip which found that telecommuting employees were both more productive and less likely to leave their jobs. He states that telecommuting saved Ctrip $1900 per employee in costs for the nine months of the survey. Bloom acknowledges his study involved call center employees, work that can be easily done at home.

View article

This weekly meeting took up 300,000 hours a year – Harvard Business Review Blog

Provides an example of an analysis of a company’s outlook schedules to support a weekly executive meeting. It then looks at the key organisational obstacles to poor time management.

View article

Power To The People: The Mutual Future Of Our National Health Service – ResPublica

This report argues that moving towards an integrated system of healthcare provision would make it possible to offer whole-person, holistic care to patients. It highlights the role mutuals could play in integrating public, private and third sector bodies to both improve patient outcomes and plug any funding gaps.

View article

Safe nurse staffing of adult wards in acute hospitals – National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE)

This draft guidance provides recommendations on safe staffing for nursing in adult inpatient wards in acute hospitals. The guidance was developed following the Francis and Berwick reports and aims to provide evidence-based guidance on safe staffing levels in hospitals. It also calls for hospital boards and senior management to take greater responsibility and includes step-by-step guidance on how to determine the number of nursing staff that should be funded. Feedback on the draft guidance is being sought from registered stakeholders until 10th June 2014.

View article

What Marketers Misunderstand About Online Reviews – Harvard Business Review

The article discusses the effect that user-generated online reviews and peer-to-peer information exchange through social media has on consumer behavior as of 2014, and recommends marketing strategies based on how consumers obtain and process product information. According to the article, managers must understand the influences that affect customers’ purchase decisions, including their prior preferences, beliefs, experiences, and input from others, which the article calls the “O continuum.” Competitive position, communication, market research, and product segmentation are also mentioned. INSET: Upending the “Compromise Effect”.

View Article

blame – Harvard Business Review

The author looks at the psychological side of management, discussing his realization that thinking about and acknowledging his own contributions to organizational underperformance or other work problems is critical to getting employees to improve and generating positive business results. He notes his approach reduced his employees’ defensiveness and says it is valuable in personal as well as work relationships.

View article

Hartnett’s consensus-oriented decision-making model – Mind Tools

This is a tool to help teams come to an agreement when making a group decisions. It focuses on the inclusion of everyone in the group to encourage ownership of the final outcome and it promotes the creative process without judgement.

View article

The FOCUS model  – Mind Tools

This article outlines a structured approach to Total Quality Management. It utilises a team based approach to problem solving and process improvement. It provides tips for the application of the 5 step process.

View article

High-impact leadership: improve care, improve the health of populations, and reduce costs – Institute of Healthcare Improvement

An American white paper which aimed at supporting leadership across the healthcare sector to improve outcomes with their Triple Aim initiative. It focuses on three key elements: New Mental Models;High-Impact Leadership Behaviours; IHI High-Impact Leadership Framework. The white paper also includes examples from a variety of health care leaders, to help illustrate High-Impact Leadership Behaviors in real-world practice.

View article

The trouble with leadership theories – Harvard Business Review Blog

This reflection looks at how overuse of quotes from management gurus can hide true meanings in what we intend and how we can retain inspiration from the texts, but apply to our own environment and avoid the clichés.

View article

Leadership – Easier Said Than Done – Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)

This report explores general leadership issues and looks at the capacity of individuals at all levels of an organisation to buy into and lead on the organisational agenda, highlighting how misaligned organisational structures and processes can get in the way of leadership.

View article

A Taxonomy of Innovation – Harvard Business Review

The article considers innovation management and new product development. A framework for evaluating and categorizing different management methodologies created by the research institute Luma Institute is presented. Methodologies are formed in the framework into three large categories of research, analysis and implementation, with 12 subcategories with each large one. A chart is presented indicating the links between research, analysis and implementation in a successful innovation management process.

View article

Simplifying a complex system – British Journal of Healthcare management

Colin Jervis, an independent healthcare and management consultant argues that the NHS has many challenges to overcome to go ‘paperless’, and bring about a simplified system.

 View article

 Attracting Top Contributors to an Open Innovation Project – Harvard Business Review Blog

This article looks at a paper recently published by researchers at Duke and the London School of economics  which aims to shed light on how to attract and motivate the best external contributors to an open innovation project.  is issue by studying contributions to open source software. It suggests that to attract the most productive contributors, companies may have to give up more control over their project. At the very least, they need to consider the values of the community they’re hoping to attract, and not just offer financial or professional incentives.

View article

NHS eProcurement strategy – Department of Health

Reprt providing details of actions to improve NHS data and information as part of the NHS Procurement Development Programme, which aims to help the NHS save £1.5 billion by the financial year 2015 to 2016.
The document also sets out how e-procurement can better support the NHS procurement processes that manage transactions and pricing with suppliers.

View article

3 Myths That Kill Strategic Planning – Harvard Business Review Blog

In its simplest form, strategic thinking is about deciding on which opportunities to focus your time, people, and money, and which opportunities to starve.   This articles examines three pervasive myths that continue to make strategic thinking an elusive skill set in today’s organizations.

View article

Monitor publishes a Guide to Special Measures – Monitor

NHS Trusts and NHS Foundation Trusts can be put into special measures where there are serious failures in the quality of care and there are concerns that the existing trust management cannot make the necessary improvements in quality without support.

The guide to special measures was developed jointly by Monitor, the Care Quality Commission and the NHS Trust Development Authority.

View article

Power to the people: the mutual future of our National Health Service – Kings Fund Health Management Policy Alert

This report argues that moving towards an integrated system of healthcare provision would make it possible to offer whole-person, holistic care to patients. It highlights the role mutuals could play in integrating public, private and third sector bodies to both improve patient outcomes and plug any funding gaps.

View article

Piercing the Illusion – The Health Foundation: Inspiring Improvement

‘Probably most of us think we are doing a good job… But how much of this is comfortable illusion?’ In her latest blog, Dr Jennifer Dixon suggests we are often blind to the quality of our own work. Which is why using intelligent data and measurement is central to improving quality – ‘from the “national” health system level, to the local, to the personal’.

View article

Delivering for Patients: the 2014/15 Accountability Framework for NHS trust boards

Improving quality for patients at a time of growing financial constraint is an increasingly demanding goal for NHS trusts, one which we must take on at a time when the scrutiny applied to the NHS is rightly more intense than ever before. This Accountability Framework sets out how the TDA will work alongside NHS trusts to meet this challenge.

View article

View article

Wanted: an even Better Care Fund – The King’s Fund

The King’s Fund’s new analysis of serious and growing financial pressures in the NHS should serve as a wake-up call to politicians of all parties. Analysis shows that with an increasing number of providers in deficit, and the prospect of a further seven years of no growth in funding, the NHS is rapidly approaching a major crisis.

View article

Organizational impact of evidence-informed decision making training initiatives: a case study comparison of two approaches – Implementation Science ArticleOrganizational impact of evidence-informed decision making training initiatives: a case study comparison of two approaches – Implementation Science Article

The impact of efforts by healthcare organizations to enhance the use of evidence to improve organizational processes through training programs has seldom been assessed. This article endeavored to assess whether and how the training of mid- and senior-level healthcare managers could lead to organizational change. The article demonstrated that factors before, during and after training can influence the extent of skills and knowledge transfer. It reveals the influence–both positive and negative–of specific organizational factors on extending the impact of training programs.

View article

The Best Leaders Are Humble Leaders – Harvard Business Review Blog

In a global marketplace where problems are increasingly complex, no one person will ever have all the answers. That’s why Google’s SVP of People Operations, Lazlo Bock, says humility is one of the traits he’s looking for in new hires.  Rather than selecting those who excel at self-promotion, as is often the case, more organizations would be wise to follow the lead of companies like Google, Rockwell Automation, and others that are re-imagining what effective leadership looks like.

View article

Leadership.  Easier said than done – Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development

Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).
This report explores general leadership issues and looks at the capacity of individuals at all levels of an organisation to buy into and lead on the organisational agenda, highlighting how misaligned organisational structures and processes can get in the way of leadership.

View article

Launch of Regional Innovation Fund – 1st May 2014

A Regional Innovation Fund (RIF) of £2.5m is available this year to support and promote the adoption of innovation and the spread of best practice across the NHS.
The fund is open to NHS England, as well as the NHS and AHSNs. All allocations made through the fund will seek to deliver significant improvements in quality and efficiency in the NHS through innovation. Bids can be developed alone, or through collaboration with other partners such as providers, local government, the third-sector, private healthcare and industry.

 The closing date for submitting applications is 5pm, Friday 30th May 2014. All allocations made through the fund will be allocated by end June 2014.

For more information on the RIF competition process and to access the RIF application form and guidance, please click here. 

Healing Medical Product Innovation – Rand Corporation

Many experts identify costly new technology as the biggest driver of health care spending. Previous studies aimed at reining in spending on technology have focused on changing how existing medical technologies are used. But what about also encouraging the creation of technologies that could improve health and reduce spending, or that provide large-enough health benefits to warrant any extra spending?

View article

How to Know When Your Great Idea is Ready for the World – The Discipline of Innovation Blog 

Timing is important in innovation, this blog post discusses the use of two tools:

1. The Technology Readiness Level – developed by NASA to evaluate technologies that they could use in their various programs.
2. The Investment Readiness Level – an adaptation to identify the investment readiness of an idea

View article

 Mobile app puts ‘doctor in your pocket’ – eHealth Insider

A mobile app lets users see their GP through video consultations and order prescriptions on their smartphone or tablet. Speaking at Wired Health, part of EHI’s Digital Health Festival, Ali Parsa, the creator of the ‘Babylon’ app, said he wants to provide people with a “doctor in your pocket”, and give patients access to GPs and specialist nurses six days a week.

View article

NHS eProcurement strategy – Department of Health

Reprt providing details of actions to improve NHS data and information as part of the NHS Procurement Development Programme, which aims to help the NHS save £1.5 billion by the financial year 2015 to 2016.
The document also sets out how e-procurement can better support the NHS procurement processes that manage transactions and pricing with suppliers.

View article

Wanted: an even Better Care Fund – The King’s Fund

The King’s Fund’s new analysis of serious and growing financial pressures in the NHS should serve as a wake-up call to politicians of all parties. Analysis shows that with an increasing number of providers in deficit, and the prospect of a further seven years of no growth in funding, the NHS is rapidly approaching a major crisis.

View article

View article

How to make the NHS payment and pricing system work more effectively in 2015/16? – Kings Fund Health Management and Policy alert

Foundation Trust Network –
This briefing looks ahead at the changes NHS foundation trusts and trusts need in next year’s payment and pricing system to help them better manage the financial risks expected in 2015/16.  It highlights ten issues NHS England and Monitor need to take into account in setting this year’s payment and pricing system and five enablers for ensuring this process works effectively.

View article

Meeting the challenge: successful employee engagement in the NHS – Kings Fund

Involvement & Participation Association –
This report is based on case studies of employee engagement at eight high performing NHS Trusts. It identifies the approach and interventions associated with high levels of engagement, and provides some recommendations for trusts looking to drive up engagement. It concludes that only through effectively engaging with employees will the NHS be able to meet the challenges it faces in coming years. 

View article

Make Your Team Feel Powerful – Harvard Business Review Blog

Research has shown that helping others feel more powerful can boost productivity, improve performance, and leave employees feeling more satisfied on the job. A study conducted by Yona Kifer of Tel Aviv University and published in Psychological Science found that employees were 26% more satisfied in their roles when they had positions of power.
This article looks at the issue of empowering and engaging staff.

View article

Create a Work Environment That Fosters Flow – Harvard Business Review Blog

Everywhere we look in business, timetables once measured by calendars can now be clocked by egg timers. So how can we keep up? In a word — and according to an ever-increasing pile of evidence — “flow.”

Technically defined as an “optimal state of consciousness where we feel our best and perform our best,” the term takes its name from the sensation it confers. In flow, every action, every decision, arises seamlessly from the last. In this state, we are so focused on the task at hand that all else falls away. Action and awareness merge. Our sense of self vanishes. Our sense of time distorts. And performance goes through the roof. This article examines the application of ‘flow’ in the business environment.

View article

Data and Patient Safety – Are we asking the right questions? – The Health Foundation: Inspiring Improvement

John Illingworth looks at the enhanced role data and information will play in improving patient safety in the NHS, and introduces a new practical guide to implementing the framework for measuring and monitoring safety.

View article