𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗧𝗼𝗻𝘆 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗹𝗶𝗻’𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗗𝗶𝗮𝗿𝘆

Day three of my five days of workshops and I am in Essex with a national provider of patient transport services, supporting their senior leadership team to better understand how to work towards ‘Outstanding’ in the Well Led domain.

Having worked with them last week on the new Single Assessment Framework, I learned a lot about just how vital this service is – the work they do helping people access and move between services is an essential cog in the huge health and social care machine. Therefore, my theme for today is ‘Partnership Working’.

In 2013, the ground shaking Francis Report highlighted numerous themes from the enquiry into the Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust and one of those things that Francis reported was central in making patient outcomes and experiences so poor was “𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘧𝘧 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘕𝘏𝘚 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘯𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴”.

In my travels across the country looking at and supporting a wide variety of services, silo working or working with an inward looking focus is something I still see, and the providers are often shocked when we map out the huge impact and direct correlation this can have on poor clinical outcomes and poor patient experiences. Our regulatory framework has traditionally conditioned us towards having a laser like focus on our own processes and performances, with little or no emphasis on the importance of services working together to try and provide a seamless care to the person at the centre of everything that we do – the patient.

What the new Single Assessment Framework offers providers now is the opportunity to realign their governance processes and re-evaluate their priorities and relationships. The new patient focused Quality Standards really highlight this:

“𝘞𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦, 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘥, 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥.”

“𝘞𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘶𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱, 𝘴𝘰 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦. 𝘞𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵.”

Patient Transport services are the perfect example of how partnership working can ensure not only a better patient experience when people are ‘accessing, using and moving between services’ (a direct line from the CQC’s new strategy), but can also have a positive impact on clinical outcomes, staff stress levels and their wellbeing, as well as pressures on acute services.

Working with this provider and hearing some of the wonderful stories from their amazing teams, really gives me hope that with a bit of realignment on how we focus our priorities, our wider Health and Social Care sector can not only weather this period of uncertainty, but come through it with a renewed passion and dedication to positive patient outcomes and experiences.