Friends Road Medical Practice
Organisation Size: 17
Sector: Health and Care
Organisation Location: London
“The Practice now has one of the best staff retention rates in the area and the lowest level of sickness with rates down by 35 per cent. We see best practice as a great motivator and by sharing this with other organisations; we have been able to encourage 20 other Practices within two neighbouring PCT areas to embark on the Investors in People process themselves.”
Karen Northwood, Managing Partner
Comments
First achieved Investors in People recognition in 1998; granted Champion status in 2005
The Organisation
Friends Road Medical Practice provides extensive general and personal medical services in a primary care setting to a catchment of 8,500 people in Croydon, South London.
Although the Practice has not always been its current location, its history goes back to the early 1930s, well before the introduction of the NHS in 1948.
The team of 17 at the Practice has always been committed to ensuring that patients and customers are cared for in a friendly environment by professional, competent and motivated staff.
As part of the NHS, Friends Road Medical Practice has limited resources. Yet it must find a balance between providing much-needed high quality services to patients and nurturing a progressive and welcoming working environment.
The Challenge
Back in 1998, the Practice desperately needed to develop some kind of framework that would enable it to develop and implement robust policies and procedures, whilst ensuring there was a process for developing the team members to their full potential.
Friends Road was already familiar with output measurement as part of the league table system established by the Government. However these measures are centred largely on the customer experience, not at building a culture of best practice.
The partners at the Practice felt that a renewed focus on staff and the working environment could bring about real benefits in what is very often a stressful place to work. It was starting with a blank canvas as it had no policies or procedures in place and there was no training or development of staff.
“We chose Investors in People because we believed it would improve our recruitment and retention processes,” said Karen Northwood, Managing Partner. “We also wanted to develop the concept of being a ‘learning’ organisation with highly motivated, competent staff in place. We believed that by achieving a recognised quality standard we could really ‘add value’ to the organisation and its people.”
As well as focusing on its staff, the Practice felt it needed to develop a business plan incorporating its vision, along with clearly-defined aims and objectives. It reasoned that a more formal process would enable it to facilitate the development of the business to become a nurturing, forward-thinking organisation that would put it at the forefront of primary care provision.
The Strategy
“Working with Investors in People helped us put together a clear business plan that dealt with both short and long term objectives,” says Karen. “This meant we were able to plan more effectively through the development of the business strategy and by becoming, we believe, a learning organisation.”
Part of the process for the Practice has been to ensure each team member has a clear understanding of their role and responsibilities. This has meant involving them at all levels in the business planning process and empowering them to contribute to the ongoing development of the organisation. This has led to staff receiving good training and having access to a comprehensive continuous learning and development programme.
“Transforming the recruitment and retention process was a key challenge for us,” says Karen. “We now have clear policies and procedures in place and all employees are given a comprehensive employment pack when starting a post. As a result of Investors in People, we have also introduced person specifications, a detailed induction programme and job evaluation along with a learning and development strategy.”
Friends Road now has an ongoing commitment to lifelong learning and development throughout the organisation. It has a continuous in-house training programme, which is complemented by external training and development initiatives.
The GP Partners participate in various ‘clinical’ groups and attend locally-organised forums, usually bi-monthly. The Managing Partner is a member of NHS organisations including the Association of Medical Secretaries, Practice Managers, Administrators and Receptionists (AMSPAR) and the Institute of Health Management, is also the Practice Management Advisor (PMA) to Croydon Primary Care Trust (PCT) and works with 24 other Practices within the Central Locality. In this role Karen offers management advice to all team members and facilitates centralised training programmes on their behalf. She meets with all the Central Practices every six to eight weeks as well as her two PMA colleagues from the North and South Localities and the PCT.
The Practice has also implemented an extensive evaluation process where all team members get to embrace 360º feedback. This is achieved via weekly team briefings, staff development sessions as well as annual reviews.
“We also have two Away Days each year using an external facilitator,” adds Karen. “We use this to share what we feel has worked well and not worked well, with one day for the partners and one day for the whole team. These are really well received and end with some form of celebration to reward us all for our hard work and achievements.
“We believe it ensures everyone truly feels part of the organisation and is one way we can thank the team for their efforts.”
The Result
The Practice recognised that it was essential to both value and develop its greatest asset, its staff. By successfully implementing the strategies, it began to see continuous improvements in terms of performance and effectiveness throughout the team. This is turn meant the team was keen to learn and develop themselves and wanted to have ownership of the process. It has enabled the Practice to develop a culture of continuous learning and development and this has inspired the team to want to grow.
“We have been able to achieve all of our organisation objectives including the ‘Quality & Outcomes Framework (QOF)’, which are clinical and organisation targets set by the Government. This achievement can be attributed to Investors in People because all the team members are working together and know the objectives and have ownership of these. We have, as a direct result, become a much more open and trusting organisation and everyone, irrespective of their role, is involved in the planning, setting and the achievement of the objectives.”
As a direct result of these initiatives, Friends Road has seen a significant reduction in employee turnover. It used to have at least two to three staff vacancies each financial year whereas as today its ‘newest’ employee has been there for almost four years! The Practice now has one of the best staff retention rates in the area and the lowest level of sickness with rates down by 35 per cent.
“Investors in People also taught us the importance of evaluation and review,” comments Karen. “We are now able to measure our performance, identify gaps and continuously review and improve on what we are doing as an organisation. Initially we thought in terms of integrating Investors in People into the culture of Friends Road but it is more than that because it is our culture, it underpins all that we do as an organisation.”
As far as the end customer goes, the Practice has witnessed increased confidence amongst its staff and improved skills, which has lent itself to a higher level of service.
The Practice is subject to an annual patient satisfaction survey conducted by the Public Health Department. It selects 800 of its patients at random and asks a series of questions that come under 43 headings ranging from clinical experience, access to services and premises to attitude of staff.
“The level of service our patients are now receiving has resulted in a significant improvement of customer satisfaction levels across the whole Practice,” says Karen. “The local and national average is approximately 75 per cent; our Practice has improved its performance by an average of 11 per cent and has an approval rating that averages 86 per cent. We are consistently in the top five per cent of all Practices.”
“We are now seen as a leading Practice at the forefront of primary care and as such the PCT has employed some of our team members to work on a consultancy basis as advisers to them and other Practices. All of this means, although we are not a commercial business, we have an enhanced financial position from which to build our Practice due to sound business and financial planning as well as excellent employment policies.”
As a result of sharing best practice with other organisations, Friends Road has been able to encourage 20 other Practices within two neighbouring PCT areas to embark on the Investors in People process for themselves. It made all the appropriate contacts on their behalf, organised funding and facilitated the development of six workshops and a support network.
Karen and the Deputy Practice Manager Vivienne James attended all the workshops and visited Practices to offer support and advice. “Other staff from Friends Road have also visited neighbouring Practices and we have invited them to spend time with us,” says Karen. “This has enabled our team to share experiences, examples of protocols and best practice principles.
“This work is ongoing and we are in the process of encouraging and facilitating another round of Practices to embark upon the Investors in People process.
“In terms of our own learning from sharing best practice and being an Investors in People Champion, we feel that by networking with other Practices we are continuously developing ourselves. We have also implemented a number of changes to our own working processes.
“Everyone lives and breathes the culture and no-one has to work hard at it,” concludes Karen. “Investors in People has become the umbrella for all that we do and much of our culture now seems to come naturally. We are all open to learning and development and want to share what we have achieved through Investors in People with other organisations.”