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.