ECCCG's Strategic Priorities

17th August 2015- 21st August 2015

This week at the CCG I have been involved in a number of new projects.

A particularly interesting task I am doing at the moment is assisting the Transformation/Caring Together team in determining the CCG’s Strategic Priorities for 2016/17. In order to do this, I am conducting an evidence search of our current priorities such as the CCG’s 5 Year Strategic plan  and how we are performing against these in order to see whether we will continue to include these as priorities for the following two years. I did this using JSNA (Joint Strategic Needs Assessment) data which was extremely interesting to look at as it includes important health statistics for the Eastern Cheshire population and our performance in comparison to the rest of England. I also used  relatively complex Quality Performance data to decide upon the key points we will need to focus on.

As well as this, I have been looking at a process termed Outcome Based Commissioning.  
This is a way of paying for health care and services based on outcomes that are important to the people using them whereas traditional commissioning focuses on organisational performance and processes such as the number of attendances, operations and procedures. There is a strong case for Outcome Based Commissioning and in order for ECCCG to implement this type of commissioning successfully in the future, firstly extensive research must be undertaken to see how viable it would be. I am responsible for conducting research on whether it is has been successful in other CCGs, if so how they made it successful and defining a sample process for implementing it. 

I have also been further introduced to how the CCG draws up contracts with providers which I am becoming slightly more familiar with! My third week has gone by extremely quickly again and I feel I am definitely gaining more of an understanding how a CCG works!

A busy second week!

10th August 2015 - 14th August 2015

I’ve had a great second week at the CCG- though it has flown by! The current placement student at the CCG, Emma, who I will be replacing has been absolutely brilliant helping me settle in to my new work environment and explaining everything to me (including the complicated NHS acronyms!) such as what her responsibilities are and the projects she has been involved in over the past year.

I’ve been working on CQUINs again this week as we’ve had many reports back from the providers as they report quarterly to the CCG. Subsequently, I evaluated the reports which listed their evidence of achieving the agreed milestones in order to determine whether it was sufficient or whether we required further evidence from them in order to release payment. I then discussed the reports with my manager and contacted the providers about the outcome. I have put this information regarding the CQUIN's progress and whether they have achieved their milestones for Quarter 1 into tables to enable other employees in the CCG to be aware of their performance which I am taking in to the Internal Contracts meeting to show.

I’ve been lucky enough to have the opportunity to undertake ‘The Edward Jenner’ Programme whilst I am on my placement here, which is a Leadership learning programme designed to help me build a strong foundation of leadership skills in order to enhance my confidence and competence whilst performing my role.  The programme consists of the latest research and thought leadership, talent management guides and webinars and there is a written marked piece of work at the end of the programme in order to attain the Edward Jenner accreditation.  

I’ve also created the agendas for meetings and had additional meetings with various members of staff within the CCG to further understand their roles and the projects they are involved in which can be particularly diverse.

I have also been introduced and begun working with a Finance system called ‘Oracle’ which is where all the invoices for the CCG come in and are processed. As well as this, I have been given access to the ECCCG website to enable me to edit the Quality section of the website and upload relevant documents to inform the public about Our Performance regularly.

Overall, my second week at the CCG has again been very busy, productive and enjoyable! 

My first week at the CCG!

3rd August 2015- 7th August 2015

Hello, welcome to my first blog post! My name is Katie Hall, I'm a student at Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) studying Business and Marketing. As part of my 'sandwich degree' I have the opportunity to undertake a professional placement year. I have secured a brilliant Business placement here at the NHS Eastern Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group (ECCCG) working within The Business Management team and my role is "Quality and Commissioning Officer."

The first week of my placement has gone extremely well! Everyone at the CCG has been extremely friendly and welcoming. I've had a busy first week attending various meetings which has given me a good initial introduction of what happens on a daily basis in a CCG. I've also been meeting with other employees at the CCG in order to understand their roles better and reading and learning many interesting and useful NHS documents such as the Five Year Plan and ECCCG's prioirties for 2015-2016.

I've also began to learn about a very complex framework termed "CQUINS" which stands for Commissioning for Quality and Innovation. They enable commissioners such as ourselves to reward excellence by linking a certain amount of the provider's income to the achievement of local or national quality improvement goals. NHS England release CQUINs each year that each provider must achieve. I've also been looking at the multitude of complex contracts that the CCG is responsible for with various providers around Eastern Cheshire which I am keen to get more involved in.

Overall I've had a brilliant, informative and very productive first week at the CCG. I am looking forward to next week to learn more about the CCG and the vital role they have in planning, buying and monitoring healthcare services for the local population.

To find out more about ECCCG, visit www.easterncheshireccg.nhs.uk