Services we offer to Commissioners
Commissioning expertise | Intelligence-led benchmarking | Simulation and modelling | Lean transformation
We have a dedicated team of consultants who have direct experience of mental health commissioning.
Our range of expertise covers the following areas:
• In depth health needs assessments using bottom up and top down aproaches to research local needs and aspirations
• Detailed reviews of services by our experienced clinical, financial and managerial teams
• Approaches to deciding priorities and redesigning services using our expertise in clinical and managerial care pathway design
• Referral and choice administration
• Market assessments enabling the restructuring of supply
• Sophisticated approaches to the task of demand and disease management
• Transaction processing
• Developing service specifications, contract currencies and performance frameworks
• Establishing ongoing performance measurement and monitoring tools
• Delivering meaningful public and service user engagement
• Detailed costed commissioning strategies incorporating the above
Intelligence-led benchmarking is the backbone of all we do. For several years we have carried out service and financial mapping for the Department of Health.
We have supplemented this core intelligence with experience from our provider and commissioner projects to develop a unique database of intelligence on the cost and delivery of mental health services.
This has been used to help providers and commissioners to:
• Assess at a strategic and service delivery level relative efficiency and quality
• Benchmark performance against others
• Drill down into specific service area performance
• Guide investment and disinvestment decisions
• Assess relative market attractiveness
• Evaluate workforce productivity
The ‘NHS world’ is changing very quickly. Commissioners and provider trusts need a tool help them to model the impact of change and to better plan for the future. We think we have at least part of the answer.
Simulation and modelling are processes to help clinicians, commissioners and providers better understand current and future demands on services and, critically, where potential blockages and barriers lie. It can test (simulate), in a controlled way, the impact of changing circumstances (scenarios) on service delivery.
Simulation and modelling use the service improvement tools of process mapping and capacity planning in unique ways. They do this by starting with your data and understanding of the use and efficiency of services. They also use your knowledge of the capacity and skills of each service – or even each practitioner.
With our partners Focused_On, we will integrate this information to predict where you are likely to have blockages and barriers to service delivery. This will then help you to plan the capacity to overcome these barriers, and to minimise inefficiency.
Lean transformation in mental health care
The impending down turn in NHS funding poses questions for provider organisations & commissioners alike. How will it be possible to square the need for major clinical & structural change, to deliver the consequences of reduced funding ,with the requirement to maintain & improve quality? Lean techniques have been successfully used in the private sector to deliver such transformation.
We have developed an approach helping you deliver operational excellence and quality care within an increasingly constrained budget. It is about helping you embed change processes and leaving you with a structure to continue to improve. Clinical ownership is key and our expertise and credibility will ensure this is delivered.
To assist us in delivering this we have teamed up with The Manufacturing Institute (TMI).
This partnership combines our clinical, financial, operational and strategic expertise with the experience of TMI, one of the leading providers of Lean Transformation development both in health care, and a range of other industries.
TMI delivers practical support and training in operational excellence, using disciplines such as Lean to help organisations achieve sustainable performance improvement. Partners include such recognised names as Airbus, BNFL, Jaguar and Kellogg’s. TMI also has many NHS clients working with them.
We are aware many people are still uncertain of the benefits which Lean, and other similar techniques, can bring to mental health services. Initially we were too. However, having evaluated what TMI can offer, and having assessed areas of mental health care where this could help, we are clear that it has value. You may wish to test out ideas with us & this can be done in two ways:
• A rapid diagnostic review of a particular area or service that you feel could benefit from such an assessment e.g. a community service, an inpatient area or a functional team perhaps. We could jointly agree this area with you. The diagnostic would give you a structural understanding of:
- Where and how change could improve the service
- Efficiency and quality
- A pathway to implementing the changes
- The benefits and how to achieve them
• Board Presentation. As an alternative and/or a supplement to the diagnostic we could present our ideas to your board. This could be based on experience elsewhere or following initial conversations with you into particular areas of interest. The board presentation would be free of any charge.
If you would like further information please contact Tom McCarthy, Managing Director on 0161 785 1001 or email tom.mccarthy@mentalhealthstrategies.co.uk
