My placement year at the CCG

4th July 2016- 29th July 2016

I will finish my placement on 29 July 2016, so sadly this will be my last blog post! :-( 

I can't believe how quickly my placement year has gone- I really couldn't have asked for a better placement! I am so grateful to the CCG for the opportunity to gain practical business experience and develop a range of new skills whilst being an undergraduate. 

I have learnt so much in one year and have been lucky enough to gain experience in a range of areas including; Quality & Performance, Contracting, Transformation, Finance, Clinical Project Management, Communications & Engagement, Marketing, Recruitment and Complaints. 

Highlights of my placement:

• Assisting with producing the contracts for the ophthalmology service. I have been fortunate enough to work through the whole process of contracting; starting from going out to tender for a contract to the commencement of the service delivery
• Assisting to manage the Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUINs) schemes- CQUINs are a Quality Improvement incentive for healthcare providers and are worth 2.5% of a provider’s contract. I had the opportunity to assist with monitoring the progress of the schemes and implementing new quality incentive schemes for 2016/17
• Designing a bi-monthly care home newsletter to go out to our 60 care homes in Eastern Cheshire
• Updating the quality schedules to be included in the 2016/17 Contracts
• Writing the Quality Strategy along with my manager for the CCG- I was really keen to learn how an organisation’s quality strategy is written and I’ve really enjoyed contributing to it
• Quality Innovation Productivity and Prevention plans: An NHS system wide financial recovery programme. I was keen to get really involved in this. I have been part of the QIPP Planning Team and learnt a lot about efficiency in healthcare.
• Carrying out the recruitment for the next placement students- from writing the job descriptions, liaising with the universities, shortlisting and interviewing; the other placement student and I were responsible for all of this. It was a fantastic experience being on the other side of the recruitment process
• Development and launch of our NHS CATCH app- I conducted primary marketing research, worked with app developers to design the content, designed adverts that went in the Cheshire newspapers and helped to design and distribute collateral to promote the app
• Writing a Business Case for 6 month funding of the CATCH app- I learnt how to do this on my PRINCE 2 course, though I had never written a business case before it was a great challenge and a good skill to learn
• Creating a new quality section and practice nurse section on the CCG’s website 
• Writing the monthly quality & performance report for the Clinical Quality & Performance Committee
• Working with the Complaints, Concerns & Compliments Team to learn more about how complaints are resolved, Professional Concerns, Serious Untoward Incidents (SUIs), MP Letters and Freedom Of Information Requests (FOIs)
• I’ve been lucky enough to have the opportunity to undertake a variety of training courses whilst on my placement year:

1. Achieved Microsoft Excel Advanced Qualification
2. Achieved PRINCE 2 Project Management Qualification - This required sitting a written exam which I passed. PRINCE 2 is a Project Management methodology that can be used on any sized project. This will be extremely beneficial in my final year and most future job roles
3. Completed and Passed the Edward Jenner Leadership Programme- I learnt essential leadership skills that are transferable to future job roles and my final year at university
4. Completed and Passed the AQuA Quality Improvement Course
5. Completed and Passed a Presentation Skills Course

• Attending the NHS Health and Care Innovation Expo15/16 Event – I gained a great deal of knowledge and understanding and enjoyed learning about the progress we are making and the new systems in place to defragment processes and ultimately improve quality. The NHS England Chief Executive Simon Stevens and Jeremy Hunt MP, the Secretary of State for Health gave particularly interesting talks
• Learning different methods of commissioning – specifically Outcome Based Commissioning- along with the other placement student, I designed a project plan for the CCG to implement Outcome Based Commissioning 
• Producing a couple of Health Matters columns that were published in local newspapers
• Taking part in the CCG Bake Off!
• Not forgetting our Star Wars themed CCG Away Day!

It has been a real pleasure working with everyone at the CCG and for the NHS over the past year. Everyone I have worked with over the past year has been extremely kind and supportive. 

Thank you to everyone at NHS Eastern Cheshire CCG for making it such a great year and I hope to see you all in the future! 

Many thanks,

Katie