Our Approach and Practical Skills

All of our practical skills are required:

• Clinical Engagement is at the heart of most service improvements. Typically starting with a programme of engagement with clinicians, our programme gathers ideas, problems and opportunities to ensure good project identification and buy-in. Feedback on our style of engagement is very positive, and leads to good ‘championing’ of the projects.   
• Pathway Challenge, Analysis and Reform has featured in many of our programmes. We run a checklist of the many ways in which pathways may be reformed within a specialty or across a service type. Reforms and benefits are sought in terms of the patient experience, quality of provision, resource saving, costs to commissioners and costs to the provider.
• Facilitation is at the heart of the programme – speed is usually of the essence, but we also start the transfer of skills on day-1 of the programme. Participating staff are empowered and equipped to deliver projects and outcomes. They should be confident to run a second round of the programme without our support.
• Leadership Development develops the people and the organisation. It helps to implement structures, roles and relationships, with planning and reporting within the programme and at board level. We have long experience in mentoring, reduction of conflict and improvement of recognition at all levels.
• Project Structure and Definition are part of the science of Improvement. Our experience – and publications – identify ‘pathway’ projects, supporting or ‘enabling’ projects and ‘realisation’ projects, each with its own approach and characteristics.   
• Programme and Project Management are vital to success. If the Trust does not have a well-established ‘PMO’, we can provide the basic structure and show how to use it in a critical and positive way.  
• Process Modelling and Development support pathway reform and all areas of organisation and flow. We have a recognised modelling tool which captures flow-charts for clincians, costed resource-profiles for managers and financial analysis for accounting.
• We draw upon standard methods without necessarily using the jargon – the vocabularies of Managing Successful Programmes, Theory of Contraints, LEAN, Six-Sigma and Prince-2 are used only when it is needed.  
• Business Cases and Contract Development are commonly required in service improvement. As well as helping with the formal stage of procurement or contracted provision, we focus on the creative capture and optimal delivery of requirements.