Social Value
Bury Hospice’s vision is to ensure all patients and families in the locality receive compassionate and outstanding palliative and end of life care. Early support and intervention maximises patients’ time at home or in their Preferred Place of Care surrounded by family and friends, whilst minimising avoidable hospital admissions. Bury Hospice is part funded by the NHS, making up 20% of its’ cost requirements, with the remaining funds generated directly through fundraising and applications to Lottery funds. A significant proportion of the workforce are volunteers who give their time to ensure the ongoing delivery of vital care services. Demonstrating the value of services to support applications for recurrent NHS funding is critical for the sustainability of service delivery and ongoing patient care.
Bury Hospice identified a level of unmet demand across palliative and end of life care in the locality and commissioned the Consultancy to:
- Design and pilot extension of services to provide 24/7 access to palliative and end of life care.
- Develop the Hospice’s workforce through coaching and training.
- Source funding and develop an approach for improved site access.
- Develop a digitisation strategy.
The Consultancy delivered the work at reduced cost due to the alignment of the Hospice’s charitable status and the Consultancy’s social value strategy. Consultants worked in an integrated way with the Hospice’s team, establishing a rich understanding of service delivery to best assess quantitatively and qualitatively the piloted services and make recommendations for development. The Consultancy set up a Transformation Programme Board, bringing together clinical and management staff to review progress, and make decisions collectively. The Consultancy co-chaired the Board with the Chief Executive, demonstrating alignment and strength of partnership. This Board was used to work through issues as a combined team, developing shared ownership for change.
The Consultancy adapted its project management approach to fit with Bury Hospice’s practices, size and culture. Discipline of planning, reporting, governance and engagement was maintained while acknowledging and respecting existing approaches and the ongoing organisational maturity work that was being carried out by the Chief Executive. Being co-located at the Hospice allowed consultants to meet with patients and families, as well as staff and volunteers, to understand in full the value of the Hospice and the positive impact it had.
1:1 delivery updates, informal joint working, team meetings and governance forums were all used to build a strong working relationship through which experience and viewpoints were welcomed and encouraged. A coaching scheme was also launched providing individual coaching for 6 of the small clinical and management senior team, providing open and safe spaces for the Hospice team to explore current professional and personal challenges. This was coupled with a group coaching initiative which focused on building the team as a collective.
Consultants bought their analytical, strategic and project management skills, delivering the requirements of the project and seeking opportunities to upskill the Hospice team. Dedicated training sessions on data analytics, performance reporting and Green Book Business Case methodology were delivered.
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