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.