Five months at the CCG!

16^th-27^th November 2015 

The end of November marks five months of me being a member of the CCG team! These past five months feel like the fastest months of my life! The amount of work that I have managed to do in this time is incredible and the experiences I have had so far have been extremely beneficial to me and my personal development.

I have been taking on a lot more responsibility within the Project Management Office (PMO) at the CCG these past couple of weeks which has been really interesting for me. I have been working on putting together an Action Log template for the newly formed Programme Executive Group (PEG) which will be replacing the previously existing group at the CCG, the Caring Together Project Management Group (CT PMG). This newly formed group is a result of changes in Governance structure within the Caring Together Programme.

Also a fairly large project I have been involved with regarding the PMO is the creation of a Programme Plan for both the CCG plan on a page programmes of work and also the Caring Together Programme. It became clear to me that the CCG was previously lacking an overarching Programme plan for all of the programmes of work and the projects that subsequently sit underneath them. The idea of this plan is to identify all of the interdependencies between the different projects and the key milestones and deliverables within each of them. This then allows resources from within the PMO team to track on one document where projects are up to and for the resources to be allocated to certain projects in time for when they are required.
I am very pleased to say that I have only received positive feedback about the document from the members of staff that have seen the documents, which is really nice to hear as it was my first project for the PMO team.

During the past few weeks I attended the annual iNetwork Conference: Delivering through Devolution. This event consisted of presentations from expert speakers who had already started along the journey of devolution through seminar talks and panel discussions. There were also innovation hubs where groups could share their own experiences and discuss key components for successful reform.
By listening to the expert speakers it helped me to understand the concept of devolution in more detail and how it could be an excellent step forward in the right direction for Cheshire if they choose to embark on this in the future. I believe that the best way for successful reform is to learn from others and Manchester is a particularly good example of this. It is all about making sure that there are strong foundations already existing to build upon; economic performance and excellent partnerships.

I also attended the November HealthVoice meeting last week held by the CCG which I found very beneficial. This group is made up of people with an interest in the healthcare services within Eastern Cheshire and several members are part of the patient participation groups within the GP practices. At this group members of both the CCG and other partners present pieces of work/projects that they have been working on and provide the group with an update as to how they are progressing and also to answer any questions the group has around the particular subjects. It was very interesting to see the different opinions and perspectives within the group and how passionate the representatives at the group were.  

Enrolment on Project Management Course (PRINCE2)

2^nd-13^th November 2015

  

This week I was fortunate enough to have another opportunity to enhance my personal development by taking part in a project management qualification (PRINCE2). PRINCE stands for Projects in Controlled Environments. This qualification is designed to provide you with sufficient knowledge and understanding of the PRINCE2 method to be able to work effectively with, or as a member of a project management team working within an environment supporting PRINCE2. This course will run until the beginning of February where each week I will complete different modules of learning including Business cases, Risk and Change to name but a few, and then followed by an examination to confirm my learning. I am really looking forward to developing my understanding in this area and putting what I have learnt into practice at the CCG.

Over the past couple of weeks I have been working alongside the Quality and Commissioning Placement Student at the CCG (Katie Hall) to work on the recruitment process for the next student placements after ourselves. It really doesn’t feel like five minutes since we both started at the CCG and we are already looking for our successors for next year! It’s frightening how fast the time is going! We have been looking into putting together both job descriptions and person specifications for our job roles; Transformation Programme Support Officer and Quality and Commissioning Officer. We have now finalised these documents and they have be sent out to perspective students through regional University Placement websites. I am very much looking forward to the next stage of the process which will be to go through the applications and decide who we will take to the interview process when the applications close at the end of December. It’s very exciting to be on the other side this year and to see all of the other talented students that are applying for the positions. Also the pressure will be slightly off me this year!

I have also been lucky enough to attend a training event around Outcome Based Commissioning this week, which I have been heavily involved in over the past couple of months at the CCG. It was a very beneficial event as it went back to basics around this different approach to commissioning defining what Outcome Based Commissioning is and looking into the successes and challenges that other CCG’s have encountered when trying to adopt this approach. At the event there was a quest speaker, Dr Tony Ryan, who had countless years of experience working for both the NHS and in the voluntary sector who was able to share his experiences of Outcome Based Commissioning and in particular outcomes for Mental Health. It was extremely valuable to hear of other people’s experiences of this alternative way to commissioning as it can help our CCG to learn from both the success and mistakes that others have made and learn from these. Next month there will be a follow up event which I will also be attending to discuss and try to develop a template that CCG’s could follow in the future for use with specific conditions in relation to  Outcome Based Commissioning.

Advanced Excel Training Course!

26^th-30^th October 2015

At the beginning of the week I attended an Advanced Excel course following on from the Intermediate course I successfully completed in September. I wanted to complete the higher level course in order to give me a comprehensive understanding of the Microsoft Excel programme that I will then be able to use in my day-to-day tasks and duties at the CCG and also when completing my final year university projects. The course covered more complex functionality and looked at using advanced elements of some of the features that were covered on the intermediate course. Some of the higher level areas covered on the course included using complex functions, pivot tables and macros. I found this course very valuable as it helped me to understand the more complex functions in excel that I was previously unaware of and it also helped to enhance my continually growing skill set. 

Caring Together Primary Care Service Specification & Outcomes Mapping

5^th-16^th October

These past couple of weeks have been really busy for me so I have decided to combine the last 2 weeks together into one blog post!

Over the past few weeks I have been heavily involved in the mapping of the different outcomes around the new Primary Care Service Specification that is being developed as part of the Caring Together Programme, and the transformation of services for the population of Eastern Cheshire. I was tasked with the job of using the service specification and the overall outcomes for this to then map out the outcomes for each of the individual services that sit underneath these outcomes. Following on from the outcomes, the indicators and data that measure each of these outcomes are then defined. This then enables monitoring to take place of the outcomes to ensure that these are being met by the provider providing the service.  This has been a piece of work that I have taken a lot of time over and has been really interesting to work on as Outcomes Based Commissioning is still a fairly new concept for the CCG to adopt.

During the past couple of weeks I have been working on the Diabetes Integrated Care Service Specification with the project lead. I have been helping to put together graphics to insert into the specification and organising the layout by using the correct formatting. I have also helped to put together an appendices and just make sure that it is an easy to read document.

Also I have been working with my manager to draft together workstream maps for all of the projects currently being undertaken at the CCG and also the programmes of work that sit underneath the Caring Together Programme. We are mapping the strategic outcomes, to the lower level outcomes and then down to the indicators that measure the achievement of each outcome. Finally, I am then identifying how these outcomes meet the eight Caring Together ambitions that have been developed; Empowered Person, Easy Access, Appropriate Time in Hospital, Rapid Response, High Quality Care, Support for Carers, Planned Pathways and Integrated Care. This piece of work will be ongoing as more programmes develop over time, and it will be an easy to read visual tool for the user to identify which relevant outcome corresponds to which Caring Together ambition, rather than having to take the information from complicated spreadsheets.

Finally, over the past couple of weeks I have been helping to conduct some background research into a maternity review that my manager is currently looking into as part of the National Maternity Review that is due to take place within the next couple of months. I have been looking at service specifications for midwifery lead, consultant lead and community lead maternity services in order to see what other CCG’s are currently doing in regards to maternity services. This will identify to us whether we could adopt a similar approach at Eastern Cheshire CCG.  I have also been recognising areas of best practice using Care Quality Commission (CQC) reports for maternity and looking into these to see what areas we could adopt. Moreover, as a CCG for the majority of service specifications we are now writing, we are moving towards an outcome based commissioning approach so I was also looking into developing outcomes we could possibly measure the maternity services against in the future. 

Eastern Cheshire Health Fair 2015!

28^th September-2^nd October

On Wednesday 30^th September the first Eastern Cheshire Health Fair was held at Macclesfield Town Hall. It was an event that was open to everyone and it was a chance for people to see what local health and care organisations are doing to promote healthy lifestyles and access to services. The fair featured a market place of stalls with stallholders including Cheshire East Council, Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and The Caring Together programme to name but a few.  It was very well attended by members of the public and I believe the event was a great success through feedback received on the day from attendees. 

I was very heavily involved in the organisation of the Caring Together stall for the event, creating leaflets, organising a rota for the stall and setting up the stall on the day amongst other things.
After any event held by the CCG an evaluation form is given out to all the attendees to ask for their feedback on how well they feel the event was ran and any suggestions for further events that are held. I was tasked by the Communications and Engagement team at the CCG to create an online SmartSurvey for the Health Fair to send out to all that attended.    

Over the past couple of weeks I have been working with Katie, another placement student at the CCG, on an outcomes based commissioning approach for the CCG. This week we had a meeting with members of the commissioning, contracts and transformation teams to discuss the proposed process we had come up with. This was a very informative meeting for all members as it helped everyone to understand this new approach towards outcomes based commissioning and the process that the CCG could adopt in order to achieve this. It was then decided that this meeting will become a regular occurrence in order for everyone to keep up to date with the progress of this new approach to commissioning.

Towards the end of this week I had my three month review with my line manager. I cannot believe I have been on placement for three months already! The time has flown by! This meeting with my manager was really helpful for me as we discussed and identified my areas of strengths and areas for improvement. It was really nice to hear all the positive things that my manager had to say about me and that she was really pleased with all the work that I have completed so far. Also she identified some areas for improvement for my next review. These areas I had already identified myself such as improving my confidence! This is something that I really struggle with so this could still take some time to develop but I’m getting there! Also I need to take part in some training opportunities for effective minute taking skills which I will definitely sign myself up to do! 

Brushing up on my Excel skills!

14^th-18^th September

At the beginning of this week I attended an Intermediate Excel Training course at Clark House in Macclesfield. I wanted to attend this course just be able to keep my excel skills up-to-date and fresh in my mind for completing work on my placement year and also for when I go back to University. This was very beneficial for me as it refreshed my memory on several areas that I had previously covered at university and also I learnt some new skills that I will now be able to put into practice. Also, I have signed up to an Advanced Excel course in the next couple of weeks which will build upon the skills I have already learned.

Also this week I was asked by my manager Jane to help her with some background research around the maternity review she is currently looking into for the Eastern Cheshire maternity services, before the national review is published in a few months time. I was required to look at different data sets we have available to us including; the Clinical Commissioning Group Outcomes Indicator set (CCG OIS), the Cheshire East Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) and the Public Health Outcome Framework (PHOF) and establish any areas where Eastern Cheshire is under performing in relation to the national average. As a result of this analysis we will then need to identify ways in which we can move forward and improve these problem areas.    

Towards the end of the week I had a meeting with Brenda Smith from Cheshire East Council who is the Director of Adult Social Care and Independent living. This meeting was to give me an overview of how her role in the local council and relationship with the CCG works. Brenda is particularly involved with the Caring Together programme, as am I, so over my time with the CCG I am sure there will be opportunities for me to work alongside her. It was very interesting to understand her role as both a strategic commissioner and a provider of local services and her link with the CCG.        

Outcome Based Commissioning

7^th-11^th September 2015

At the beginning of the week I was working on a project with the other placement student at the CCG, Katie, and we were asked to put together an Outcomes Based Commissioning process that the CCG can follow as it is now moving towards an outcomes based approach to commissioning.  Outcome Based Commissioning is a new approach to commissioning health and social care services in the UK. It is a way of paying for health and care services based on the outcomes that are important to the people using them not simply organisational activities or performance. The process we designed illustrated the pathway from identifying the problem in the current system to service design and agreeing outcome measurements.  This was a really exciting project to be working on as it is a new approach for the CCG to take in regards to commissioning as there are not many other CCG’s in the UK currently adopting this way of commissioning.   

Also this week I attended the monthly Care Professionals Group (CPG) that takes place at the CCG.  For this meeting I was in charge of completing the administrative duties including taking the minutes. I was quite nervous taking the minutes as I had never really done this before and I was afraid I would miss some of the vital information that was discussed. However once I was in the meeting I felt more comfortable taking the minutes and after reviewing them with another member of staff, I was assured that I had collected all of the important and relevant information required.

Finally this week I also continued with the Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions (ACSC) project I have been working on. I have been carrying out some research into the other workstreams that are involved within the Caring Together programme; General Practice and Community Based Coordinated Care(CBCC) and identifying whether there are any overlaps in the specifications that have been written in relation to ACSC. As the other workstreams have been up and running for a while now we wanted to identify any overlaps in the workstreams  before getting underway with the Acute Workstream. 

NHS Health and Care Innovation Expo 2015

1^st-4^th September 2015

This week I was fortunate enough to attend the Health and Care Expo Event 2015 at Manchester Central which was hosted by NHS England. The main theme of the event was the NHS Five Year Forward View 2014/2015 to 2018/2019. The event was showcasing some of the great, innovative work that has been carried out so far and exploring the next steps that must be taken in order to realise the vision of services that are provided within the NHS.

The event was split up into different areas; there were large numbers of stands with all the exhibitors at the event showcasing all of their achievements and providing lots of information regarding the services they are providing. Also there were pop-up universities where experts were providing targeted master-classes in all aspects of transformation including ‘Better care at less cost’ and ‘Managing conflicts of interest’ to name but a few. In addition there were leading national and international speakers on two stages; Future NHS stage and Innovate stage including the Secretary of State for Health, Jeremey Hunt MP and NHS England Chief Executive, Simon Stevens, who gave their unique perspectives and insights into their work and plans.

This was an extremely informative event and I took away a lot of interesting information. It was very clear to see all the attendees at the event were all extremely passionate about changing the way the NHS works for the better, move towards a more innovative approach, and make lasting improvements in both the experiences and the outcomes of the people the NHS serves.  

GP Practice visit...

24^th-28^th August 2015

This week marked two months of me being a member of the CCG team. I can honestly say I am really enjoying my time on placement so far and I cannot believe how quickly the time is flying by!

At the beginning of this week I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to spend a day at Handforth Health Centre to experience what it is like in a GP practice on a day-to-day basis. This was a very worthwhile experience as prior to the visit I had very little knowledge of the running of General Practice. As part of my visit I spent time in the reception area and I witnessed how busy all of the staff are on Monday morning, taking phone calls and also completing administrative duties from the weekend. Each day the surgery has a large number of appointments available that patients are able to book as urgent appointments on the day. As a result the phone lines are inundated with a vast amount of calls on a daily basis, and there has to be the staff at the practice to cope with this demand.     

In addition as part of my visit to the practice I had meetings with both the Practice Manager and Assistant Practice Manager who were able to provide me with a great insight into their varied roles and responsibilities within the practice. They are responsible for everything within the practice from finance to HR. The manager described a GP practice as ‘Its own little business’ which I believe this is a very fitting description, as the practice manager has to take great responsibility for the organisation of the practice so they have to have a very varied skill set. As a result of my visit I gained a vast amount of information relating to General Practice, which has provided me with a great understanding of the day-to-day running of a practice.  

Also this week I’ve been working on a project relating to ambulatory care sensitive conditions and conducting some research into how the CCG can look to integrate care for patients with these conditions within the community setting rather than them being admitted to hospital for treatment. After carrying out lots of research into this area it has become evident that very little locations in the UK have undertaken work in this field, so this is an exciting project for the Caring Together programme as the ECCCG will be one of the first CCG’s in the UK to introduce this scheme. 

Another busy week for me at the CCG!

17^th-21^st August 2015

After being away for a weeks holiday in Ireland it was time again to return to work this week feeling refreshed and ready for the challenges ahead.

At the start of the week I was involved with work around the Community Based Co-ordinated Care (CBCC) specification as part of the Caring Together Programme. I was asked by the project lead to re-organise and put together the appendices for this specification in order for it to be finalised in the coming weeks. Also as part of the CBCC work I have been involved in, I have been working on putting together a summary document for the CBCC Reference Group Workshop which was held on the 9^th July. This document will provide a summary including areas such as; the workshop objectives, a summary of the key points from discussions that took place and also recommendations and suggested actions that came out as a result of the event. This was a very worthwhile task as it helped me to recognise the key themes and areas that came out of the event and recommendations for the next steps within the CBCC Workstream.

I’ve also this week had an introduction to the finance coding system, Oracle, which the ECCCG uses to code all of its invoices. Each day several invoices come onto the system from different providers and they all need to be checked and coded in order for them to be approved and then paid by the finance managers. It was extremely useful for me to gain an insight into this system and I was able to produce myself a useful guide to follow of how to use the system. Hopefully whilst I am at the CCG on placement I will be able to have experience within the finance department.

As part of my time at the CCG I am fortunate enough to be able to take part in extra training and events to develop my skills set. I have been offered the opportunity to undertake The ‘Edward Jenner Programme’ whilst on placement. This programme will allow me to build a strong set of essential leadership skills that can help to enhance my confidence and competence in my role at the CCG. In order to achieve the ‘Edward Jenner’ qualification a written piece of work is required to be completed and focuses on the leadership differences gained from taking part in the programme.

My first month being a placement student at the CCG

3^rd-7^th August 2015

This week marked my first month at the ECCCG and I cannot believe how fast the time has gone already! I have learnt so much in just the short space of time I have been here.

At the beginning of this week I attended the Care Professionals Group meeting (CPG) with my line manager. GPs, clinicians and members of staff at the CCG attend this meeting and discuss relevant topics regarding the Caring Together programme. The areas this meeting covered were relating to; The Integrated Care Dashboard, an update was given on the Community Based Co-ordinated Care (CBCC) specification and the Clinical Accountability Framework.

Also this week I had another 1:1 meeting with my manager and we went through the format of the NHS Personal Development Review(PDR) Appraisal which is required to be completed as part of monitoring my progress whilst on my placement with the CCG and also it outlines some objectives which I should achieve. In addition we discussed and went through my key responsibilities within the transformation team and many projects were outlined that I can get involved with which all sound very interesting!    

Towards the end of the week as part of my introductions to the teams at the CCG I had meetings with members of the Contracts Team and the Clinical Team. This was really helpful for me to get a wider picture of the roles and responsibilities of each team and also how they link together within the CCG.

Finally, this week a new member of staff joined the CCG as another Student Placement, Katie Hall, who will be working within the Business and Commissioning Team. It will be really good to be able to link in with her during my time at the CCG and possibly work on projects together which is really exciting!         

Caring Together Events!

20^th-24^th July 2015

  

At the start of the week I attended the Caring Together Stakeholder Panel event at Poynton Civic Centre. Stakeholders from the local community were invited to attend and presentations were given from several projects that are being ran in the local community-being piloted/in the first year of set up. These presentations were very informative as members of the projects gave their presentations and brought along patients that they helped through the programmes they are running. It was really lovely to see that these projects are making a difference to people’s lives. By attending these events it helps me to keep up-to-date with the great work that is being conducted in the community of Eastern Cheshire.

I was also given my first solo project this week. For every event held by the CCG, we collect feedback from the participants on how well they think the event was organised. In our weekly transformation team meeting we identified that to keep high standards for the Caring Together events it would be useful to have an events pack that contains all of the information that is required for an event; an event plan, facilitators pack and also a report template. This project relies greatly on me so I hope I can do it justice!

Getting used to full-time working life!

13th-17th July 2015

After completing my first week at the Eastern Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group (ECCCG), my second week has come around so quickly! I feel much more settled in this week and part of the team. I am also starting to get more familiar with the complexity of the way the CCG works and the vast amount of terminology and acronyms! As part of the Community Based Co-ordinated Care (CBCC) workshop I attended last week, I was asked after the event to collate all of the feedback from the individual workshop stations into documents that captured the participant’s views. This was a very interesting task as it showed me different sides to an event; both attending the event as a staff member at the CCG and also reviewing feedback after the event on the topics covered and also how well the event was ran.

Also this week I had my first 1:1 meeting with my line manager Jane Stairmand. This meeting is going to be held so that it allows us to go through any areas of concerns we have. In this week’s meeting we discussed the areas of work I am likely to be involved in during my time at the CCG and also Jane outlined mandatory training activities and other training opportunities that I can take advantage of during the year that will enhance my skill set. These meetings will be held weekly for my first few months at the CCG whilst I settle in.

Another activity I was involved with this week was the monthly staff briefing where all the staff from the CCG are invited to attend. This month there was a presentation from Anna Whitehead who is the Cheshire East JSNA lead to inform us about the development of Cheshire East’s Joint Strategic Needs Assessment(JSNA). The aim of this programme is to improve the strategic planning, commissioning of both the Local Authority and the NHS to improve health and wellbeing and help tackle inequalities to deliver the best service for the Eastern Cheshire population. Also in each staff briefing Jerry Hawker, who is the Chief Officer at the CCG, up-dates all of the staff on the important events and projects happening at the CCG. I found this very helpful; as I am a new member of staff it was very informative and provided me with a great insight as to the current projects the CCG is involved with.

As well as these tasks I have completed my mandatory training for new NHS members of staff and also read through documents to help with my understanding of the structure of the ECCCG.

First week at the CCG!

6th-10th July 2015

My name is Amy Towey and I am a student at Sheffield Hallam University studying a Business Studies degree. As part of my degree I have been given the opportunity to take a year out from my studies at university and undertake a work placement where I will be able gain practical experience that I can then relate to my studies. I was extremely lucky to be able to secure a placement at the NHS Eastern Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group (ECCCG) where my role is Transformation Programme Support Officer.

During my first week at the CCG I was involved in many activities, meeting all of the team at the CCG and understanding their roles, reading the starter pack which contained many useful NHS documents and also I was involved in two events that the Transformation Team were running. In addition I attended several meetings at the CCG during the week and this helped me to gain an insight into how it is run on a day to day basis; which is very complex!

On Wednesday I attended my first event with the CCG as part of the Transformation Team. It was an event held at Macclesfield Town Hall where the GP’s and Practice Managers from all 23 practices in Eastern Cheshire were invited to attend. The main aim of the event was to outline to them as part of the Caring Together Programme the draft copy of the service specification for general practice for the coming years. During the event there were workshop based activities where the GP’s and Practice Managers were asked to comment on different areas of the contract. After the event I had the responsibility of collating all of the feedback together which could then be used to assist the creation of the final specification. It was very interesting to see which areas they both agreed and disagreed with.

I was also lucky enough to attend another event with the CCG. This one was the Community Based Co-ordinated Care Workshop with stakeholders from the local community of East Cheshire invited including; CCG staff, members of the East Cheshire Council (ECC), patient representatives and care staff that work in the local community. As part of the event the attendees were split into several groups to discuss areas of difficulty around integrating care within the community; Information Sharing, Cultural Transformation and Workforce, Clinical Responsibility and Empowered Person. I was taking part in the group discussions and it was very interesting to see the different points of view amongst the group. This workshop was very informative for me to help understand the different areas within community based care.

I have really enjoyed my first week at the CCG and learning how it plays a very important role within the community, ensuring that the services they commission now and in the future meet the needs of the Eastern Cheshire population. I look forward to the next twelve months ahead at the CCG and developing my knowledge and skills in this area of the NHS.