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The Cheshire & Wirral Partnership NHS Trust is a specialist trust working across Wirral and Cheshire. Local Primary Care Trusts commission specialist mental health, learning disabilities, drug and alcohol services from the Partnership Trust.
A project was set up around the development of a new mental health facility in Chester to encourage the full involvement of managers, employees, unions and service users. The Trust wanted to ensure there was full support for the new facilities and that they fully met the needs of employees and service users.
The first step is identifying the service improvement…
The project took a two-pronged approach, looking at how services could be improved and increasing employee and user engagement.
'Building User Groups' were set up to bring together employees to look at how they viewed their working environment and how facilities could be improved for service users. The groups were established to look at the specification of the design of the new building and provided input into planning the layout of the wards, reception facilities, dining room and other departments. Consultation at the initial planning stage ensured that the whole building was fit for purpose and safe and dignified for people using the service.
One of the key innovations in the project was construction of a mock up room to provide all employees and service users with a clear idea of what the new facilities would look like. This allowed them to experience the look, feel and functionality of the new unit. Users and staff were encouraged to view the room and to make comments on how it could be improved. As a result of the feedback, over 100 changes were made to the layout, including the location of beds, furniture and lights so that nurses would be able to observe patients in the best possible way.
…supported by effective communication…
Extensive consultation with service users and carers about the changes was undertaken using the existing service users forum. This helped to ensure that service users were involved in decisions about the type of facilities provided and the look of the new centre. Other opportunities for communication and consultation were also used, including the Acute Care Forum. The Trust also provided Talk Back Boxes to allow users to make comments or suggest improvements on services.
…and employee engagement…
Using the toolkit, the Partnership Institute supported the Trust in enhancing employee engagement and increasing staff involvement in the provision of the new facilities.
Work with the Trust revealed a high level of satisfaction from employees and managers about the process of developing the new mental health services. Angela O'Grady from the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said that the involvement of managers, unions and staff in the project had helped to improve service delivery. The high level of employee involvement had also helped to secure proper facilities for UNISON and the RCN, with the provision of easily accessible rooms for staff to see their representatives.
Building on the staff involvement, an action plan was developed around improved communications, decision making, engaging people in training, and personal development plans for all staff.
Building on this the Consultation and Negotiation Panel, which comprises trade union representatives and managers, has been charged with developing an action plan to address the issues raised in the staff consultation sessions. The plan will focus on improved communications and decision making, engaging people in training, and personal development plans for all staff.
…on an ongoing basis…
Marion Needham, Director of Human Resources explained that service user and staff involvement in change is part and parcel of the way of working in the NHS, but this project gave the team the impetus to ensure involvement in the design of new facilities and services. She also pointed out that due to the redesign and restructure of the Trust, new managers have been brought in who may be unused to the Trust's approach to employee relations and staff and user engagement. This project has given them the opportunity to ensure consistency of procedures and advice given to all managers.
The Trust works to the TUC's six principles of partnership and these strengthen other partnership working initiatives such as Improving Working Lives and Agenda for Change.
…with the aim of service improvement
Marion Needham and Angela O'Grady agree that although difficult to quantify, the benefits of the new facility, designed in partnership with staff and users have been seen in more appropriate care being given to users and people being put at the heart of the service and treated with respect. They also say that staff feel increasingly confident in suggesting changes to the service and that the systems are in place to take forward those changes.