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Achieving Best Care - Developing the Culture for Innovation

Speakers:

Ian Hall, Deputy Director, Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Martin Smith, Lead Practitioner, Unipart

QIPP Room Facilitator: Neil Morgan AQMAR Lead, NHS East Midlands 

Setting out the innovation culture journey for the trust and the successes in delivering change through partnership with Unipart

 

Delegates heard how Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS FoundationTrust have collaborated with Unipart Expert Practices in developing their organisational culture.
Sherwood Forest Hospitals told how they had sought out a partner with a proven track record in introducing cultural change and bringing about improvements in working practices. Following a competitive selection programme, Unipart Expert Practices were chosen.
The purpose of the session was to explore with delegates the ways in which the culture for innovation can be developed in support of lean-based service transformation based on the experience of the collaboration.
Unipart drew on their experiences of transforming from a traditional car parts supply company into an international Group which now offers full service logistics and operational excellence and supply chain consultancy services.
The session started with a question to the audience on their awareness of the culture for innovation in their own organisation and how this either can either support or hinder service transformation and QIPP delivery. The Achieving Best Care (ABC) approach at Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust which was formed as part of the collaboration was then outlined. This included cultural and operational improvements  achievements to date.
Working in true partnership fashion, the Sherwood Forest and Unipart team members have so far engaged with over 1500 Trust staff across more than 25 departments in the Trust. Together staff worked to pinpoint delays in patient care processes, and seek innovative ways to improve patient care and levels of productivity.
In its drive to be the leading local provider of health care, Sherwood Forest set out a work programme with staff to build on the recommendations of the culture development work, but interestingly, the costs associated with making the changes were relatively small. Improvements include:
Theatres:
  • Increased theatre productivity by 33%
  • Maintained patient satisfaction
  • Improved employee engagement
  • Reduced turnaround time
  • Contributed to change in Trust culture, moving it towards one of openness, support and ultimately sustainable performance
 
Outpatient bookings team: 
  • Lean working practices resulting in a lower cost per outpatient appointment
  • Better internal systems and processes which resulted in a lower number of outpatient appointments which are not attended by patients
  • Reduction in the number of outpatient appointments cancelled by the Trust.
 
The link between culture and sustainability of Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention (QIPP) improvements was explored further towards the end of the session, along with a general Question and Answer session covering the applicability of our ABC approach to other healthcare organisations.  A number of organisations expressed an interest in learning more about the Sherwood Forest ABC approach after the session ended and this is being followed up.