4 months at the CCG!

2nd November 2015 -27th November 2015

This week will mark the end of my fourth month working at the CCG! I can’t believe how quickly the time has flown by! I have been extremely busy recently at the CCG working on a variety of projects, hence why I’m doing a month's worth of blogs in one go!

I have been busy developing the CCG’s Commissioning Intentions for 2016/17. I have arranged a workshop in December which will have representation of patients, clinicians and members of staff from the CCG. The purpose of the workshop is to shortlist and prioritise the long list of commissioning intentions that have been proposed. At the workshop, attendees will be completing a relatively complex prioritisation matrix tool using project mandates to inform their decisions. They will be assessing each commissioning intention based on factors such as how it contributes to our strategic goals, how innovative it is, the numbers of people it will benefit, the risk of not achieving the target, how quickly the project can be delivered, the resources it requires and estimated savings. These are weighted to give an overall score which we can then use to compare each intention. It is a relatively lengthy process but it is necessary in order for the commissioning intentions to be decided upon as objectively as possible.

I have also been reviewing the CQUIN evidence for quarter 2 that our providers have submitted. We are holding a workshop next week with the Trust to discuss the themes for CQUINs in 2016/17, based upon what currently requires improvement that they can achieve in an innovative way.  

This month I also attended an Outcomes Based Commissioning AQuA course in Manchester. In my previous blogs, I’ve mentioned how we are trying to implement outcome based commissioning successfully in the CCG. This course was extremely beneficial and it was valuable to talk to people from other CCGs and learn about their challenges and successes in implementing it.

Two weeks ago I spent a week working in the Complaints, Concerns & Compliments Team. I had a really valuable and interesting week; working with Jo to learn about Professional Concerns and Serious Untoward Incidents (SUIs). I then had a day with Chris whereby he gave me an overview of MP letters and Freedom Of Information (FOI) requests. I had the task of completing my own FOI request which has now been signed off and sent! On my last day, Rosie explained to me the Complaints process. It was really interesting to read and understand previous complaints and the uniform procedures that we adhere to in order to resolve them. A lot of thorough investigation is done when a complaint is received. It was really positive to hear that the Complaints Team’s ethos is that we view complaints as a way in which we can identify any problems or gaps in services in order to resolve and learn from them. I then had my own mock complaint to resolve!

This month, I also attended an “inetwork delivering through devolution” event in Salford. Prior to the event, I didn’t know much at all about devolution or how it would impact myself or the CCG. The day was very interesting and helpful and consisted of several seminar sessions and talks from leaders of various councils.

I learnt that as devolution deals are agreed with more places (possibly including Cheshire), it is vital to ensure the devolved public services are also better public services. I also learnt about the evaluation of the schemes in Manchester’s reform, system leader considerations and the value devolution could add in Cheshire.  

A key message I took away from the day was that devolution is a catalyst for collaborative working. It gives us the opportunity to be proactive and redesign our services innovatively. A particularly interesting point that one speaker made is that people want (and should have) complex services, that are often needed in a crisis, delivered in a simple way.

Alongside this, I have been developing my skills within HR. Whilst I have only been on my placement for four months, it is time to recruit for the next placement students for 2016-17 who will fill mine and Amy’s roles when we leave in the summer. Amy and I are responsible for the recruitment for the positions. It has been an enjoyable task redesigning the job descriptions and person specifications and liaising with the placement teams at the selected universities.  The vacancies for the roles are now live being advertised on several university websites. I am looking forward to the next steps in the process; shortlisting candidates and being part of the interview panel. It will give me a good insight into the recruitment process within the NHS and also a good understanding of what qualities and attributes stand out to recruiters. 

For the second year on the run, the CCG has decided to hold its own version of the BBC’s ‘The Great British Bake Off’ in aid of the Alzheimer’s society. We are combining members of staff's love of baking and eating as well as raising money for a good cause! It is a fortnightly challenge  leading up until Christmas. The first challenge took place last week. Bakers were asked to create any biscuits of their choice, following the theme of what we would spend our lottery winnings on. I decided to bake a hut in the Maldives made out of gingerbread. There are some very talented bakers at the CCG! Next week’s challenge is cake following  a French theme…