Living the Trust’s values at Ossett Health Centre in Wakefield
Administrative staff for the older people’s community mental health team (CMHT) in Wakefield have been living the Trust’s values by introducing a series of measures to benefit staff and service users at Ossett Health Centre.
Ann Turner, Louise Hunt, Sue Fletcher and Amanda Roberts have helped the team to ‘improve and be outstanding’ through addressing a number of plans to transform the team’s working environment to improve efficiency and productivity. The staff used tools and techniques from the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement’s ‘productive series’ which supports teams to improve their working environment leading to extra time for patients and quality care, whilst reducing costs.
The programme provides a 15-step challenge for teams which helps them to:
- Increase patient-facing focus time
- Reduce inefficient work practices
- Improve the quality and safety of care
- Revitalise the workforce
- Put staff at the forefront of service redesign.
Staff worked together to introduce a range of measures to help the service work in an efficient way. These included archiving old information, introducing a white-board system for staff to pass on key messages and putting up signs within the building to help direct people. The team are also working towards introducing a resource centre of leaflets and information in one area which can be taken out to service users. The introduction of these initiatives has helped to provide a well organised working environment which supports the team to be as productive as possible.
Elaine Struk, team manager at CMHT older people’s service, said “These ideas were introduced following a number of team meetings where staff suggested how we could further improve the way in which we work. The admin staff members were all fantastic; it was really refreshing to see so much enthusiasm and motivation. The changes they’ve introduced have led to savings in materials, better communication between the team, improved staff morale and clearer information for service users.”
Joanne White, clinical lead for CMHT older people’s service added, “The input of the admin team has really helped our service to work in a more streamlined way. Although we’ve already introduced a number of new measures, we are going to continue to review our processes to ensure we’re working in an efficient manner that benefits staff and service users.”
Find out more about the Trust’s mission and values.
