I don't head out of the Peninsular very often, relying for contact with the wider NHS and policy world on electronic means, so it was useful this week to connect face to face with old colleagues from all over the country and discuss the challenges that we are all facing and the different approaches to tackling them. It is a great location too and amazing to see what has been created through the regeneration of Liverpool One.
In opening the conference Rob Webster, Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation, said that he hoped that the conference would uplifting and inspirational. That isn't as easy as it sounds given that every single presentation had, for at least part of its content, a reference to the financial restrainst, the age of austerity or the £20 billion NHS savings target (which is dwarfed by the true size of savings required).
But there was plenty of optimism and some of it makes it in to this week's highlights....
Highlights of the Week - 6th June 2014 (@jeclo)
Highlights of the Week 1: Area Team annual assurance meeting sets out our challenge and the progress we are making to address them
I doubt I would have predicted that the annual assurance meeting this week would be one of my highlights. We have a number of challenges, most obviously our financial position having made a deficit in 2013/2014 and are predicting the same for 2014/15, but also our stakeholder survey and staff survey point towards a range of areas where we need to improve.
But, we set out clearly what we feel we have done well, for example performance on key NHS Constitution targets, most importantly acknowledged openly where we need to improve and then set out a plan that addressed those areas.
The Area Team from NHS England were clear that we do need to make progress and to speed up our delivery of key items, especially around financial recovery. The reason this is a highlight, though, is because it felt like we were appropriately and robustly held to account, but in a mature and productive way.
Highlights of the Week 2: A morning spent reflecting on our planning and commissioning process in order to start again for 2015/16
It doesn't feel like we have got near to finishing the 2014/15 planning process, due in the main, I think, because we are working on improving our five year strategy with PWC as part of the Financially Challenged Local Health Economy work and we will then need to enact some new cross community programmes of change. But this week we spent the morning looking back to our commissioning cycle that started in September last year and reviewing what we think we did well and where we would want to make changes.
Two areas felt really positive: we adopted a strict commissioning framework structure last year meaning we sent out key indexed documents to all our providers at the same time throughout the process. The framework, starting with the first slide deck mapping out the approach, ran to 23 documents in the end, but meant that we were able to avoid any chance of any providers or stakeholders hearing information at different times or feeling like they were being treated differentially.
The second area was around the internal contract oversight process we had in place with a weekly status meeting that allowed us to review progress on our key contracts and agree how we would handle issues as they arose. We have three major acute providers in our area, two community and mental health organisations, a children's services provider and a range of independent or out of area contracts to manage. Co-ordination is key to that and it felt much better than it had previously.
The overwhelming mood of the meeting was that we need to start next year now, so we have gone away with a determination to release the first of this year's commissioning framework documents before the end of June, leading on from the completion of our work with PWC. Given the amount of effort that has gone in over the last few months, it was hugely encouraging that the teams were up for getting going again with another cycle.
Highlights of the Week 3: Health Secretaries take the stage and give us their accumulated wisdom
There was a session at the Conference that saw three ex health secretaries - Frank Dobson, Stephen Dorrell and Alan Milburn - as well as ex minister Edwina Currie, debate the priorities for the NHS.
It was enthralling (I agree, you would have to be interested in NHS and politics to recognise that description, but if you are, then this was a real spectacle). Milburn and Dorrell in particular are political heavy weights and clearly there was a good level of respect between them about their respective grasps of the NHS agenda.
Plenty of political banter and points scoring on offer, but mostly - in a kind of Michael Portillo / Diane Abbott way - there was a bit more distance and perspective in their analysis that was refreshing and they were able to paint a compelling picture of the strategy needed. I was left thinking how interesting it would be to have a Dorrell/Milburn partnership at the top of the NHS right now, not that working in the NHS under Milburn in particular was cosy, it was full of hard emphasis on targets and improvement, but it did seem to have a coherent and complete vision.
Simon Stevens, the new Chief Executive of NHS England, did set out a high level description of the areas he feels needed to change, including some that I recognise, such as the split between specialised and general commissioning, so hopefully we will get some greater clarity over the next few months.
Highlights of the Week 4: Sitting with @docmdmartin reflecting on our work together and the challenges ahead. See you in Devon soon.
I spent a number of years working with Dr Martin McShane whilst he was with NHS Lincolnshire. I supported him on a number of key change programmes around local hospitals in Louth, Skegness and Grantham as well as other commissioning work. I am really proud of what we managed to achieve and both of us reflect on the positivity of how we worked together.
He is clearly very busy now with his role of National Director for Long-term conditions, so it is only once or twice a year that we manage to catch up, but was great to hear about what he is trying to achieve at NHS England. I ended up listening to a presentation he was part of about ageing and mental health which was (truly) fascinating and a prompted some soul searching.
I have made him promise that he will get to Devon. As I said, social media now betrays movements so whether he tweets or someone else does we hear of visits he makes across the country. The South West will be one of those stops over the next 12 months, so thanks, Martin, for that promise!
Highlights of the Week 5: The Cavern- four blokes in suits and wigs, so cheesy, but so enjoyable. Fab (four)
I've been to the conference a few times in Liverpool and there is little incentive to leave the area around Albert Dock, so generally I haven't. I have been to the Tate once, but that is in the Dock and just a short walk at the end of a conference day.This year, though, we happened to bump in to a Liverpool local who showed us around for a night and following a good tapas meal he suggested the Cavern, which sounded like a good idea. It was exactly as I pictured it and, of course, there were four blokes dressed up to look like John, Ringo, Paul and George playing a set of Beatles covers.
It definitely shouldn't have worked, but it was great and I had a thoroughly enjoyable evening grinning widely at the surprising end to a night at the conference. A bit too much singing along and a few too many dodgy dance moves, but definitely fab.
What was the best thing about the Conference? The speeches, definitely..... now let's see if those pens work
Previously Jerry has been a Chief Executive and Finance Director in the NHS before spending several years running his own business driving programmes of change and delivering executive coaching and team and Board development.
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