…to pioneer the Investors in Excellence Standard.
Wakefield Clinical Commissioning Group is the first NHS CCG in the country to commit to achieving the Investors in Excellence Standard, covering all activities within the organisation. The focus is on achieving what matters most to this pioneering CCG, their patients, staff and other stakeholders, and this was the theme of their two-day session this week on the Standard.
They agreed that what mattered most to them was ensuring that the people of Wakefield receive high-quality healthcare services and an excellent experience of the care they receive.
Principles of excellence
At their two-day session, Wakefield CCG reflected on their engagement with the principles of excellence, the foundation of the Investors in Excellence Standard, set out in four key areas:
1. Leading : having excellence in aspects of their leadership. Wakefield CCG has a ‘Values into Action’ programme that allows staff to start to really look at how they move towards delivering on the vision. Also, they have strengths in how their clinicians are working with staff and managers to commission high-quality services.
2. Achieving: getting measured outcomes that allow them to achieve what matters most.
3. Resourcing : making sure they have the systems, processes and people in place to deliver, including key partnership relationships with, for example, the CSU (Commissioning Support Unit) supporting staff.
4. Delivering: recognising that they need to act on their plans and deliver quality services for their patients. They are doing some really good work within the organisation, but Wakefield CCG have identified a need to strive to do more.
There was intense passion within the room during the two-day session, with high levels of energy to drive towards becoming an accredited Investor in Excellence. The session showed that all at Wakefield CCG have a role to play in becoming excellent at commissioning services for their patients. Taking time out to reflect, be open and honest with themselves, and have detailed debates about their purpose, systems and processes is crucial in their development as an organisation. Staff at Wakefield CCG are very talented and they need to harness this fantastic resource to become a solutions-focused organisation, allowing them to make the right commissioning decisions for the people of Wakefield.
The two-day session led by Investors in Excellence highlighted some challenges, but looked at these as proposals for where Wakefield CCG could improve. And now they want to find patient stories and qualitative information to triangulate performance data. Meanwhile, the Investors in Excellence team are reviewing the opportunities that were discussed against what Wakefield CCG agreed matters most, and the experts at Investors in Excellence are developing an action plan prioritising improvements that will give this pioneering NHS CCG the greatest benefit.
Wakefield CCG will be keeping their stakeholders regularly updated on their progress towards achieving the Standard.
To find out more about the Investors in Excellence continuous improvement programme, take a look at the Investors in Excellence Standard Overview.