Government & Public Sector (G&PS)

Health Services

Our Health Sector consultants have led and supported many major Health Sector change programmes, restructures, integrations and policy implementations. Our consultants have worked across most areas of the Health Sector including the Department of Health, NHS Foundation Trusts, Primary Care Trusts and Strategic Health Authorities.

The NHS clients we have worked for include: Bradford Teaching Hospitals FT, Berkshire Healthcare FT, NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement, Barts and The London FT, The Department of Health, Berkshire Shared Services, Cambridge University Hospitals FT, Eastleigh and Test Valley South PCT, Enfield PCT, University Hospital Birmingham FT, South London and Maudsley FT, Solihull PCT, South Essex Partnership FT and The Christie FT.

The PIPC Health Sector team provide support in the following core areas:

• CEO Commercial Advice
• Post Merger Integration Support
• Service Reviews and change implementation
• Foundation Trusts Membership Strategy
• Process reengineering - Lean and Six Sigma
• Delivering change through effective Project and Programme Management (PPM)

CEO Commercial Advice

In these changing times of Payment by Results and Patient Choice there is more pressure than ever on Chief Executives to become involved in business planning, promotion and marketing activities. These are relatively new skills for many CEOs and we therefore provide a number of experienced sales and marketing experts who work directly with the CEO and one or two selected Directors to develop strategies and advise in these specialist areas. Our work has included: marketing strategy, business development strategy, stakeholder engagement plans and out-of-area commissioner marketing.

Post Merger Integration Support

Our Health team is supported by our private sector colleagues in supporting Foundation Trusts and PCTs in the integration of two or more organisations. Our team has advised on the issues facing merged NHS bodies in areas such as Governance, Risk, Finance and Administration. In addition, we are a leading Integration Consultancy in the private sector. For example, we continue to help The Royal Bank of Scotland to transform through acquisition. Since supporting the integration of NatWest, PIPC have supported 5 further post-acquisition transformations, each large-scale and highly complex, across the UK, Europe and the US. The results for RBS speak for themselves, but we have also supported Barclays, ING and Littlewoods in making their mergers and acquisitions a success.

Service Reviews and change implementation

Our consultants have conducted performance reviews and service assessments across many Health service areas. They have highlighted failures, areas for improvement, gaps in service delivery / quality and cost savings. Our consultants not only provide the reviews, but as skilled delivery focused project and programme managers they also provide the commissioning body with a routemap for delivery, the tools to deliver and the appropriate focus on skills and knowledge transfer to enable Health service managers to deliver the improvement. Where appropriate we will also advise and support the Trust throughout the implementation phase. Our approach is to support and transfer our knowledge to your staff, ensuring that you get best value out of your existing resources, even after we have gone. Recent projects include major reviews of Psychological Therapy Services being provided by a Mental Health Trust and working with The Department of Health on new action plans for Salaried Dentists.

Foundation Trusts Membership Strategy

Our team has been in consultation with the Department of Health since 2003 on the role, recruitment and involvement of members of Foundation Trusts. We have worked with Monitor, The FTN and many aspiring and established Foundation Trusts. The work has covered: the role of governors and members, consultation with the public and other interested parties, recruitment of members, creating membership registers, communicating with members and running Governor elections.

Process reengineering - Lean and Six Sigma

Lean and Six Sigma approaches to process improvement are being increasingly sought by the Health Sector. There is much to be gained by applying the principles of these approaches to make efficiencies, but it is not as simple as using a standard model that was developed for making efficiencies in a manufacturing production line - after all the lives of patients are ultimately at risk. Our consultants have successfully and pragmatically applied the principles of Lean thinking and Six Sigma in the Health Sector to: streamline processes, better align capacity with patient demand, standardise work and protocols and facilitate culture change. This has included providing knowledge transfer to client staff by showing them:

• How to improve flow to eliminate waste and reduce delays
• How to get things right first time to improve quality and lower costs
• How to empower staff and motivate them to sustain results
• How to make good decisions using evidence
• That learning by doing gets results, quickly

Delivering change through effective Project and Programme Management (PPM) in the Health Sector

Where Trusts are considering change or implementation programmes we can advise and support you during concept, design and set up together with roll out and outcomes realisation. We are experts in business led PPM and have significant experience of working with the Health Sector, particularly in Foundation Trusts, Mental Health Trusts, PCTs and in partnership working. We can provide you with fit-for-purpose and tailored PPM and change solutions, giving you the re-assurance that your programme will deliver.

PIPC has internationally recognised tools, methodologies and techniques and we are able to provide you with everything from embedding a project management culture within your service, through to delivering a major change programme on your behalf. In line with best practice as defined by OGC, we underpin our programmes with the pragmatic (and not slavish) application of recognised methodologies such as MSP and Prince2.