Autumn In-Brief 2018 V10 FINAL - Flipbook - Page 7
Continued from previous page.
Over the last few years commissioners have put
community services ‘’lots’’ (sometimes together with
social care) out to tender in increasingly large bundles.
Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire CCGs
recently announced that they are putting all of their adult
and children’s community services out to tender in a tenyear contract worth around a billion pounds. In other
areas, commissioners are supporting the development of
accountable care approaches to encourage community
and other trusts to work together in a different way.
Putting the lean into clean
Change is also being stimulated by the emergence in the
community services market of a number of independent
service providers, most notably Virgin Health who have to
date won contracts worth over one billion pounds to
deliver NHS community health care. This is driving NHS
and social care providers to come together (sometimes
with local social enterprises or third sector organisations)
to compete in this increasingly competitive market place.
Many organisations have introduced a ‘Clean Desk
Policy’. Having such a policy may help your
organisation reduce the risk of information theft, fraud,
or security breach caused by sensitive information
being left unattended on desks and workspaces. A
good clean desk policy will not only prevent your staff
being distracted by things they are not currently
working on, it will save time when trying to locate
paperwork, or anything else that may be kept on the
desk.
Estimates vary but sources such as the King’s Fund and
the Health Foundation suggest that around 50% of all
community health care spend is now provided by nonNHS providers. By non-NHS we do not necessarily mean
for-profit organisations. Many organisations currently
delivering NHS community services are in the not-forprofit sector and include the aforementioned social
enterprises/community interest companies (CICs), third
sector organisations and local authorities. However, a
significant and increasing amount of NHS community care
is now being delivered by companies whose driving aim is
to make a profit.
The community services market is being squeezed by
competitive forces as price still seems to win over quality
in many tender evaluations. The providers who ‘win’ focus
on improving productivity, stripping out duplication and
embracing technology. This will have a significant impact
on how care is delivered by frontline staff and received in
the community. These organisations are also being
encouraged to join in the cooperative ‘place based’
delivery model.
The organisations which thrive will need to walk this
compete/cooperate tightrope carefully and, if they have
any organisational memory left, remember the good old
days of the 1980s… bacon sandwich anyone?
Jenny Treanor is a Senior
Consultant in Evaluation at Niche
Jenny.treanor@nicheconsult.co.uk
Susan Bagshaw, Niche
A cluttered and untidy working environment may not
just make it more difficult for us to focus, it may also
make us less productive as well as less safe. Having a
clear desk and tidy environment may help us to think
with greater clarity; if this helps us to work more
effectively, more safely and to reduce our stress level,
then that is a good thing.
A clean desk policy needs to be taken seriously - at all
levels. If your employees see that senior management
does not abide by the policy, they will soon lose faith.
The fact that senior management also usually handle
more sensitive documents should reinforce the need
for a clean desk policy.
Putting into place a clean desk policy ensures that all
confidential materials are removed from the desk and
locked away when not in use, or properly protected;
this extends to printers, fax machines, meeting rooms,
etc. – documents should never be left behind.
Tips to support the implementation of the clean
desk policy.
• Shredding some of the clutter can be a great
starting point. Get rid of everything on your desk by
sorting, filing or confidentially destroying papers.
• Organise your desk and drawers by importance. Put
whatever you use the most in the drawer nearest to
you, and store what you use the least in the drawer
furthest away. If you don’t use something very often,
could it be placed in a separate cupboard?
• Tie up loose cables and tuck them out of sight. If
you can, run them along the back of your desk and
away from the floor, so they don’t add to the chaos.
• Give everything on your desk its own place and
make sure it goes back in the correct place at the
end of your working day. This doesn’t need to take
long – just five minutes at the end of your day is all
this will take.
• Develop a ‘clean desk audit’ schedule and aim for
full compliance; it is amazing how quickly things
improve when they are policed!
Susan Bagshaw is the Niche Business Manager
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