Improving the patient expirence

The Clinical Therapies and Rehabilitation Directorate at Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust began a project, looking at staff competences and how changes to the workforce could assist in improving the quality and safety of patient experiences in 2006. The result is The Calderdale Framework.

“It starts with the patients and is not just profession led. Looking ahead to the future there will be changing needs and changing expectations and here is the tool to provide the competent workforce to respond to them,” said Karen Middleton, chief health professions officer at Department of Health and a champion of the project since her visit to Calderdale.

One of the keys to acceptance of the change within the service was a series of clinically led awareness raising sessions to make ‘dusty documents real’. Jayne Duffy, project lead, said: “Understanding the political implications of change is a must for any change project. We held lunch presentations and had sponsored meals within the directorate to give clinicians and others a chance to find out more about the project and to have their say.”

There have been benefits for staff across the organisation and a feeling that their roles are valued. ‘Champions’ have been identified and developed at all levels, whilst ‘Super Champions’ have also been developed in leadership and management skills. All these activities have helped to improve morale and contribute to succession planning within the service.

Jayne Duffy said: “The Calderdale Framework means that you can have a competency based workforce, not just a workforce identified by title.”

Patients have benefited in many areas and patient satisfaction has increased. The project has improved patient record keeping with records being kept at the patient’s home in community settings. Rachael Smith, project lead, said “The Calderdale Framework enables competencies for each member of the team to be developed, this has meant blurred boundary working as well as delegation to assistants.”

A recent audit identified that up to 50% of the physiotherapist case loads in the community rehabilitation teams were delegated. This means highly trained physiotherapists are doing specialist therapy work.

A good example of blurred boundary working is on the orthopaedic wards, where nurses and therapists now share tasks, meaning patients don’t need to wait for walking aid assessments which in the past had delayed discharge.

In the last 12 months The Calderdale Framework has received recognition at regional and national level and was highly commended at the Health Service Journal Awards 2008.

In conjunction with Medipex (a regional NHS innovation hub) Rachael Smith and Jayne Duffy are arranging training courses on The Calderdale Framework. For more information on training courses contact:
chris.herbert@medipex.co.uk
To find out more about how The Calderdale Framework could benefit your organisation visit www.healthcareworkforce.nhs.uk/ffc