Customer Consulting launches new healthcare division: Transforming Patient Pathways
Customer and change management company Customer Consulting Ltd (CCL) has launched a new division whose offerings are aimed at the healthcare sector. The division, called ‘Transforming Patient Pathways’ (TPP), was set up in response to the increasing levels of work that CCL and its consultants are carrying out in both the NHS and the commercial healthcare sectors.
Brian Jopling, who heads the TPP division, believes that CCL’s extensive experience in customer management and communication centres is proving to be of great value, both to the NHS and private providers – and will become increasingly relevant as the NHS reduces budgets from 2011.
He explained: “CCL has over 25 years experience in helping major organisations develop the infrastructure, skills and culture needed to improve the quality and efficiency of their customer management. TPP has been set up to bring this experience to bear on the current challenges and opportunities facing healthcare and how it manages patients through the care system – in order to increase patient and staff satisfaction and achieve gains in efficiency and effectiveness.
“While many NHS Trusts have defined their strategy for more effective, integrated services, the challenge is how to deliver a robust and sustainable solution,” he continued. “TPP will help NHS organisations to meet core health economy objectives while enabling the service to increase its ability to provide patients with the right treatment at the right place and at the right time.”
Where services across the urgent care system are not well coordinated or integrated, patient and professional pathways can become unclear, inconsistent and fragmented. This results in sub-optimal service delivery, poor patient experience and significant – and avoidable –waste, such as unnecessary acute hospital admissions, re-admissions and excess bed days.
Simon Rustom, CCL’s managing director, added: “Last year, the University of Southampton carried out some research for the Department of Health which revealed that, while some innovative ways of working are in place, their impact remains limited or localised. The report concluded that a more ‘joined up approach across stakeholders is needed to achieve sustainable change’.
“With this in mind, TPP is already carrying out work within the NHS to improve its ability to manage and coordinate both patients and professionals in order to provide more ‘joined up’, integrated services,” he said.
“This requires single, standardised processes and greater co-operation and alignment between the different service areas of primary, community and secondary care. It also involves a cultural and mindset challenge requiring new skills and behaviours and a reduction in ‘silo working’.”
The benefits of instituting TPP’s approach include:
• Avoiding unnecessary admissions to hospitals
• Providing simpler, easier access to services
• Providing care closer to the patient’s home
• More effective and efficient use of resources
• Reduced duplication of effort and resources
• Improved governance and financial control, leading to saving money for both the NHS and the taxpayer
According to Mohammed Khan, TPP’s business development consultant: “In addition to improving patient care, our approach has the benefit of improving staff efficiency and, therefore, job satisfaction because staff get more chances to ‘make a difference’ for good.”
For further details of CCL’s Transforming Patient Pathways services and approach to greater healthcare efficiency, contact Mohammed Khan at [email protected]
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