Case Study

In 2009, Greater Manchester Children, Young People and Families’ NHS Network undertook the expansion of a consultant-delivered service using a ‘Resident Shift Work Consultant (RSWC) work plan’. The public consultation decision to this reconfiguration was to reduce the number of 24 hour consultant-led units for paediatric and maternity services in the Greater Manchester area from 12 to a maximum of eight, and to increase the number of neonatal intensive care units from two to three.

The Releasing Potential programme was first commissioned by the NHS Research and Development (R&D) North West team in 2012. Initially this programme was informed by a programme developed by Mark Brandreth, the Managing Director of Trafford Provider Services at NHS Trafford to provide an in-house approach to developing talent amongst clinical and managerial staff at Band 7.

Recently tariff monies have been released with the intention of maintaining existing standards of learning environments (Tariff clarification letter, Health Education Yorkshire and the Humber July 2013) for pre-registration nursing students. This presents Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust with an opportunity to build on and develop current good practice initiatives as well as introduce innovative strategies to support and facilitate the learning of student nurses.

In 2010 Five Boroughs Partnership NHS Foundation Trust was reported to have an absence rate of nearly 7%, with musculoskeletal sickness absence accounting for 17% of this.A new physiotherapy manager reviewed the existing physiotherapy service at the Trust in the last quarter of 2010 and implemented a number of changes in 2011 in order to improve the service. The new system was based on the principles of rapid access and the results have been extremely positive. 

The North West Simulation Education Network was established in 2010, and with support from NHS North West (now Health Education North West) has steadily grown, so that it now has 950 people registered on its site.There have been numerous national drivers for the increased use of simulation, including Liam Donaldson’s report which highlights the need to further develop simulation and simulation faculties.Therefore the network seeks to increase the capacity and capability of simulation throughout the region, with an overall aim of improving patient outcomes and experience.

A pilot staff training programme was launched in 2010 by Calderstones Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. It was made up of autism-specific interventions and was targeted at a core ward team supporting several men with autism.

In 2012 a peer assisted learning programme was set up for student dietitians at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, which is part of the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust. This is an in-house training programme which was first run in September 2012 and is student self-directed learning with support from supervising dietitians.Topping and Ehly (1998) defined peer assisted learning as ‘the acquisition of knowledge and skills through active helping and supporting among status equals or matched companions’.

Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CMFT) has always offered work experience for school and college age learners, but in addition, since March 2010 a staff volunteering programme has been in place, designed to help inspire young people and to open their eyes to the career opportunities in healthcare.This not only broadens their horizons but serves to nurture the next generation of NHS staff and gives existing staff the opportunity to mentor and support the learning of these young people, which can be a very rewarding experience. 

Looking After Me Looking After You (LAMLAY) was a pilot study launched by Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust in 2012 to explore whether using Cognitive Behavioural Techniques (CBT) and Imagery work could improve staff health and wellbeing.In developing the Trust’s Health and Wellbeing Strategy, it was determined that there was a need for a bespoke intervention to improve the mental wellbeing of staff and to reduce stress, which had been identified as a common cause of absence. Thus the Trust’s health and well-being strategy was the main driver in developing this work.

Cheshire and Merseyside Partnerships (ChaMPs) for Health is a dynamic, award winning public health network that has commissioned the development of an e-learning programme, designed to support ‘Making Every Contact Count’ (MEEC). This is a long-term national public health strategy that aims to help create a healthier population and to reduce NHS costs through changing the behaviour of all frontline NHS staff, not just those that are medically trained or public health professionals.