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Impact in Healthcare
Impact’s work in English and Scottish healthcare over the last 5 years has been extensive.
This has brought us into contact with every level of the NHS – from Department of Health to frontline Acute staff, the GPs on the road to Clinical Commissioning, as well as programmes through the SHAs.
We bring to bear our expertise and understanding of service rich organisations in a variety of sectors to help NHS organisations to creatively tackle the challenges they face. Whether it’s designing a new service, getting staff engaged and involved in change, developing a whole organisation approach to Patient Experience or creating a better experience for patients in a particular part of their organisation.
We don’t stop there. We also invite our private sector colleagues to share new ideas, learning and best practice with our healthcare clients, so that their programmes may benefit directly.
As with all work that we do, whether in Healthcare or not, we coach as we go, whether developing our clients through a project or mentoring/coaching individuals to develop their capability in their role
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Building the Perfect Patient Experience |
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At Impact Innovation, we pride ourselves in being the leaders at the forefront of Patient Experience in the UK.
We have a huge wealth of expertise in the arena of Patient Experience from working directly with Trusts to improve their Patient Experience, through to co-designing and running national Patient Experience learning programmes on behalf of the DH. Our involvement in these programmes has given us unrivalled hands-on knowledge of the latest thinking in and around Patient Experience.
Our expertise and experience includes:
Setting up and developing a multi-skilled, multi-talented team who can lead on improving the experience in their organisations.
Diagnosing improvement areas in existing patient journeys and experiences, together with the development of compelling benefits case. This may be across the whole organisation, or focused in specific areas or units that need the desired lift. Building visions for Patient Experience, that inspire staff and communicate ambition to patients.
Designing and implementing nimble structures to support the Patient Experience, from committee through to operational practices.
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Designing and implementing a patient-centred culture across all bands, roles and levels of the organisation, with supportive behaviours and skills matched to experience required.
Improving the quality and performance of measurement and reporting systems, including the use of real-time and passive feedback and measurement tools, the creation of different reporting mediums, like patient stories, as well as designing engaging communication mechanisms to patients regarding their experiences, their feedback and the improvements being made.
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Designing and implementing simple Signals of Service™ that boost the experience as a whole.
And, because we understand the complexity and challenges in delivering a great patient experience, we can also work with you to unblock and resolve entrenched problems that just don’t seem to move on or change.
We approach Patient Experience from a service design led approach, getting insight, understanding from ‘real’ patients into the process. We look to design and innovate in areas that will give you the biggest returns possible, whilst recognising and building from what works already. Our aim is to not only leave you with an improved experience, it is also to provide you with the ongoing capability to keep spotting and designing targeted improvements for yourself, getting you independent of external support as soon as possible.
Last year we co-designed and delivered with the Institute for Innovation and Improvement (sponsored by the Department of Health) the Patient Experience Learning Programme for 50 Trusts selected from across the country. We were then commissioned by SHA West Midlands to roll this programme out across their region, whilst adapting the national programme to fit the particular needs of the West Midlands healthcare organisations.
And we are currently co-writing the Institute’s online “essential guide” to Patient Experience… watch this space for more news on this as it develops!
An Acute Trust |
Challenge
We need to improve the Patient Experience measurement activities across our Trust. There is lots going on at all levels, but somehow, we don’t seem to see the improvements making a difference in the areas that we and patients say they want. The board are worried that we might also be missing these improvement opportunities altogether. Help us identify the opportunities to make improvements in our gathering, reporting and measurement processes, as well as making the most of the feedback to positively improve the patients’ experience of care and also to recognise staff in the Trust who are giving great service to patients.
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| Results: |
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A clear understanding of the overall performance of process of Patient Experience measurement, from feedback to reporting to action to re-measurement, including the mapping of different gathering activities across the whole Trust |
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The co-design of a new Patient Experience vision with Patient Experience Champions from across the Trust.
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Design of a new and improved process for measurement, including improved roles, structures, processes and procedures, designed to increase the speed and quality of measurement and subsequent action, from quarters to weeks. |
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The redesign of the committee, and committee structures around Patient Experience, with a greater strategic focus.
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The collation of a comprehensive toolkit to support Patient Experience measurement, with the introduction of new tools, such as Mystery Shopper, to plug gaps in the feedback and measurement process, increasing the quality and volume of feedback gathered from hundreds into thousands.
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The development of a phased implementation plan for embedding this new approach across the Trust, from committee to frontline.
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Mobilising Staff Through Engagement
The most successful organisations in the world understand the value and necessity of creating an environment where their staff are positively engaged and involved in improving the experience they and their customers receive.
In healthcare (and especially in today’s changing political and economic landscape) great staff engagement is more important than ever. The notion that a high level of staff engagement is simply a “nice to have” is a barrier that we encounter surprisingly regularly. The fact is that if you need to achieve challenging financial targets you need your staff, at every level, to help you. Staff engagement is quite simply a “must have”.
There are some harder benefits behind greater Staff Engagement. Engaged staff are more productive, more likely to stay in their roles, more creative at solving problems and developing better solutions, and importantly deliver a patient experience they themselves would be delighted to receive. Evidence from our work in the NHS and also the private sector suggests engaged staff are more likely to be at work more, reducing absence and sick leave as a result; which can have a big impact on your agency and bank staff bills too.
Where we come in is in helping you to create an environment where great staff engagement is inevitable – and we don’t mean introducing loads of new routines and processes. We keep it simple and try wherever possible to build on things that people do already as part of their jobs. Listening and understanding through experience-based design techniques are key. Sometimes it’s the smallest things that have the biggest impact.
Alongside that, we equip leaders (both clinical and non-clinical) to apply practical tools, techniques and strategies which help them develop a more engaged team and overall workforce. In essence, we help them to lead for greater engagement.
All our programmes or one–off interventions are bespoke and tailored to the individual organisation whether that be an Acute hospital, a locality or region, or collection of community services. Of course, having said that, all of our work has its foundations in methodology tried and tested in both public and private sectors.
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A large university teaching hospital
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Challenge
We have had some poor staff survey results especially in areas such as bullying and teamworking and this is having a negative impact on the customer service our patients receive. We need to engage all staff in creating a culture of both excellent patient service and excellent colleague to colleague service through activities that will engage the workforce and patients in shaping the service they want to deliver and receive. Therefore, we need to address the key barriers in the Trust to delivering great service…help!
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| Results so far (this is an ongoing programme): |
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Improved staff survey results. |
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Improved participation from staff and patients around enhancing the service they give and receive.
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Service Champions created throughout the Organisation to be the catalysts for change .
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Indications of improved absence and staff retention |
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Improved Services, by Design
Injecting creativity and innovation into the development of new or improved services does not have to be a long drawn out and laborious process…it is, however, a structured and considered innovation process. And, it’s a process that has one simple objective; to add value to patients and to staff.
Helping people who are in the thick of delivering a service to their patients, to pause and think about redesign may sound difficult…but it doesn’t need to be.
We work with healthcare organisations to really understand what patients and staff want, love, hate or don’t really care that much about, getting right into the gaps of dissatisfaction, and then use this “insight” to help them to develop ideas and solutions that fit together to make a better service by design. That means we help you focus on designing and building activities that patients and service users really value, whilst removing the activities which you may be putting lots of effort and resource into, but in reality they are not that important to your service users.
A critical component in the design of a new service, or redesign of the existing, is thinking about the overall ‘proposition’ to customers. In both the private and public sector world, this includes thinking about the branding of the service, so it raises the anticipation and expectation of service users and staff alike.
Of course, that is only part of the story. Like any process, the innovation process will not deliver the required outcomes unless seen through to the end. New innovative ideas are great but it’s results that count.
We not only help you inject creative sparkle and purpose for patients into developing innovative solutions but importantly into turning those ideas into a reality and then sustaining them through the staff that have to deliver them, whether that is doctors, nurses, directors, HCAs, porters, cleaners etc. And importantly, once the service is designed how can we “train” those staff in a way that not only embeds what they need to do but also doesn’t disrupt the operation of a busy 24/7 working environment.
An area that we like to focus on in the design of new services, specifically in the NHS, is identifying and building in elements that encourage patients to help in the service they receive too. Research suggests that patients actually trigger great service in staff be that consciously or unconsciously. This can obviously be a complex and delicate area. So our service delivery focus always starts from the staff member and then works back from the service user so ultimately they become a supportive unit encouraging each other through service…even if they don’t know it!
Whether it be staff or patients, we help you design new and improved services that are right for everyone.
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Challenge
We have a portering function which is the life blood of the Trust; nothing happens without them. Help us develop this function
into a true service, with a consistent approach and improved
order handling – right porter, right patient, right equipment,
right location, right time.
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| Results: |
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New portering service in action across the Trust, supporting 15,000 patients and 3,000 staff. |
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Development and implementation of a ‘Porting Hub’ as the main focal point for the service.
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New service model, attitudes and behaviours, with new role definitions and performance management approach.
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Service operating with improved SLAs, reduced manpower and reduced absenteeism.
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As a by product, this programme also developed some patient and staff friendly cartoon characters to help engage children in telling their Outpatients stories, which are now being used around the whole Trust.
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