Verto Case Study: working with NHS West Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group

NHS West Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is one of 207 CCGs across England responsible for the planning and commissioning of healthcare services for their local area. Each CCG must assess its local needs, decide on its priorities and buy appropriate services. As local needs change, which they constantly do, CCGs must also adapt and respond to these changes.

 

CCGs have to regularly report on their plans and progress to NHS England, to their local Health and Wellbeing Board and to the public in their area. Their success is measured on how much they improve outcomes.

 

West Cheshire CCG serves a population of about 261,000 and has an annual budget of around £330 million. The CCG is made up of 35 GP practices from three localities each with 3-clusters. Together they work to secure high-quality, high-value healthcare that meets the needs of their local population. Their stated aim is: “Making sure you get the healthcare you need.”

 

What West Cheshire CCG wanted to achieve 

 

West Cheshire CCG wanted to improve their programme management systems. They also had the challenge of needing to deliver a balanced budget in 2016-17 and again in 2017-18.  This meant they had to have a rigorous financial recovery plan in place that detailed how they would find savings of around £10 million in each of the two financial years.  As such it was essential that the CCG could:

 

  • Work to consistent processes
  • Easily and accurately monitor projects
  • Easily and accurately report on outcomes
  • Plan with confidence
  • Make efficiency savings

 

In particular, the PMO team were under pressure. They were managing all the CCG’s projects manually on excel spreadsheets. This was time-consuming and did not allow for robust risk management or confident reporting on milestones.

 

How we’re helping West Cheshire CCG achieve their goals 

 

We started working with West Cheshire CCG in July 2016. By September they were able to start introducing Verto to individual project leads. By March 2017, everyone who needed to be was working on the new system.

 

We configured Verto in line with how the CCG works and to make it easy for them to transfer their project data. This meant that when staff logged on for the first time they could immediately see all their project documentation.

 

“The team from TMI really listen. They’re keen to fix issues and do so in a really short time. They’re open to new ideas and see opportunities for development rather than problems. This makes the whole process of introducing a new system much easier.” 

 

Reza Rahmani-Torkaman, Head of Programme Management Office, West Cheshire CCG 

 

The benefits West Cheshire CCG is seeing

The way Verto is set up makes it easy for people to follow project management best practice. As a result, the PMO team say that since moving to Verto everyone is working in a more calm, controlled and consistent way. This means there is no longer a pressure to find funds to expand the PMO team. And may have helped the CCG deliver their planned savings in 2016-17.

 

Because Verto is based in the cloud, CCG staff and members can now access their data wherever they are and whenever they need. This is supporting more flexible working and is something people have commented they appreciate.

 

CCGs have to measure their progress against national data. Because Verto gives the PMO team reliable and current data they can now measure their progress, project future outcomes and plan with more confidence.

 

As well as the PMO team, Verto also gives individual commissioning managers, the finance team and the business intelligence team easy access to their project data. This means they can manage risk, monitor and report on projects in a much more robust way.

 

We continue to support and work with West Cheshire CCG as they introduce new programmes of work and develop new practices. For example, in the future they intend to work in partnership with other organisations and across boundaries to deliver some major projects. Verto will make this collaborative working much easier for them.

 

To find out more about how Verto can help your CCG please call us on 0118 334 6200 or message us here.

 


Verto Case Study: working with the South West Academic Health Science Network

The South West Academic Health Science Network (SW AHSN) is one of 15 AHSNs across England set up to deliver significant change in the way the health and care sector identifies, develops and adopts innovation.  Each AHSN works to improve the health of its local population and generate economic growth in the area.

 

AHSNs have to regularly report on their plans and progress to NHS England. They also have to report to their own board on the progress they’re making delivering their strategic objectives and work programmes.

 

The SW AHSN has a mission 'to improve the health and patient experience of people in the South West by supporting and accelerating innovation and quality improvement'. To deliver this, they have three strategic objectives supported by ten work programmes encompassing a wide range of individual projects.

 

They work with 18 member organisations and a wide range of stakeholder organisations from health and care sectors in the South West and nationally.

 

 

What the SW AHSN wanted to achieve

 

The SW AHSN’s staff team comes from a diverse range of backgrounds including academia, frontline health and social care, research, IT, analytics and NHS support services.

 

This means, while they are all committed to achieving a common aim, they have a wide range of work practices. This difference was causing an inconsistent approach to project management.

 

The SW AHSN needed a way to easily and clearly report back to NHS England and their board on their work programme, in particular in relation to individual project outcomes. They also needed a system that would make sure they had the most up to date information in their reports. This would mean they could clearly evidence the impact of their work and identify and manage risk.

 

To move to this position the SW AHSN committed to go through a change management process, including a change in culture, to one where they had:

 

  • A consistent approach to project management
  • A commitment to clearly evidence impact
  • Easy access to accurate information on individual projects and programmes of work
  • Comprehensive, easy and flexible reporting
  • Robust risk management

 

How we’re helping the SW AHSN achieve their goal

 

We started working with the SW AHSN in October 2016 and had their system live by February 2017. This rapid installation of the project management software helped them move smoothly through the changes they needed to make.

 

Because Verto is cloud-based project management software, the SW AHSN staff and its contractors can access the system. In the future their member organisations may also have access to the system, which will further help develop a consistent approach to project management across the network.

 

We tailored the Verto dashboard to match the brand colours of the SW AHSN. This familiarity helped their staff engage and feel more comfortable using a new system.

 

Verto has given them a shared database, which means they can generate reports at all levels. And Verto’s tagging facility means they can create reports from the data they choose.

 

“The team at TMI have been really helpful and Verto is proving to be an excellent project management tool. We now have a richness of information we didn’t have before. Being able to tag fields so we can tailor reports is a significant benefit. And we’re able to use Verto to quickly and easily create our quarterly reports and business plan for NHS England. All this has helped us to implement the change we needed to make in both our practice and our culture.”

 

Claire Higdon, Director of Corporate Services, SW AHSN

 

 

The benefits the SW AHSN is seeing

 

The SW AHSN have found Verto really easy to use. Some staff are happily using it without having had any training. However, those who have taken part in a short training session are, to quote Claire Higdon, ‘really flying.’

 

In particular, staff have found Verto is saving them time as they only need to fill in information such as project descriptions and objectives once.

 

The SW AHSN now has a much clearer understanding of how projects are allocated across the staff team and can clearly see who is working on what. They can also get an instant report on all the projects each member organisation is involved in.

 

They are able to capture more information on each project and programme of work. This is making it much easier to see what they’ve achieved and evidence progress. It also means they are better able to identify and manage risk.

 

One of the key benefits the SW AHSN has found is Verto’s tagging facility. This means users can tag the data they want to include to create exactly the report they need.

 

With Verto they can also produce reports as PDF documents. This has proved to be really helpful when staff need to take information to a meeting or share it with someone who doesn’t have access to the system.

 

 

 “The strength of working with TMI has been how they’ve tailored our Verto system to our exact needs – making it part of our organisation, not a bolt on.”

Louise Witts, Interim CEO, SW AHSN

 

 

In March 2017, the SW AHSN sent their first quarter end report to NHS England using Verto. Claire Higdon told us it was really quick and easy to do. She went on to say:

 

“Although many of the changes we’ve seen since we introduced Verto seem fairly basic, they’ve really helped us to engage and motivate staff and members.”

 

We’re still working with the SW AHSN and are currently helping them use Verto to capture more information from their projects and develop more detailed reporting.

 

To find out more about how Verto can help your AHSN please call us on 0118 334 6200 or message us here.


How we can help you help your clients

Verto is widely used across both the private and public sectors.

For example, our clients include Capita PLC, Northgate Vehicle Leasing, NHS and councils across the country.

Many of our private sector clients also work with public sector organisations, helping them build shared services, deliver change and realize challenging efficiency savings.

Even when several organisations from different sectors are involved, Verto’s tools make it easy for them to work together. Because with Verto, everyone can work on the same platform and communicate with each other quickly and easily.

Here are some examples of how we’re helping our clients and what they have to say about us.

 

Capita

Capita uses technology to create and deliver smarter process management and professional support services across the public and private sectors.

They say:

“I have been working with the Verto team for the last 18 months and in that time we have built an excellent working relationship. The reason for this is that not only is VERTO an excellent PPM tool, but what makes the product stand out is the team behind it for their responsiveness, help, support and ability to go the extra mile in both promoting and delivering the tool to clients. The VERTO team understand real problems and issues and how to resolve them in a fit for purpose way and do so in a friendly and open manner that is very refreshing.”

 

Onesource

Onesource provides shared back office support services for local government and other public services. They use Verto to support their project and programme management.

They say:

We have found Verto to be very flexible, especially when embedding our corporate methodology and workflow into a cloud-based application. [It] has enabled better collaborative ways of working and greater transparency in all aspects of project management and expenditure. Furthermore, TMI [Verto] has consistently provided an excellent customer service and [been] willing to support us at all times. We’ve enjoyed working with TMI to achieve our corporate PMO application requirements.”

 

Denbighshire Council

The support from TMI Systems from day one has been outstanding, they are always willing to listen to new ideas and respond to all system enquiries almost by return.

 

Wolverhampton City Council

The support provided by TMI Systems has been brilliant to get the system up and running. The system enables us to have a cross directorate view of the projects and programmes currently being managed within the Council.

 

To find out more about how Verto can help you and your clients please call us on 0844 870 8785 or message us here.

 

 


How Verto is helping the NHS deliver improvements

Health services are under constant and increasing demand. So the best way for healthcare staff to respond to this demand and meet the needs of their patients is through partnership working. As experts in collaboration, Verto is well placed to support the NHS in these partnerships.

 

In 44 areas covering the whole of England, the NHS, local councils and other providers are working together to improve health and care. Each area has developed a proposal, called a sustainability and transformation plan (STP), that focuses on the needs of the local population.

 

We have been working closely with the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire (BNSSG) area.

 

The BNSSG STP

 

The whole of the local health and social care community in BNSSG has been involved in developing the STP. This includes hospitals, local authorities, community providers, mental health organizations, the ambulance service, GPs and other commissioners.

 

Their aim, under the STP, is to design and deliver health and care services that are affordable and sustainable. The different organisations are working together under one vision that focuses on keeping people well rather than treating illness.

 

We’ve worked in partnership with them to create a collaboration hub that makes it easier for them to work together and successfully deliver their STP.

 

The key numbers

 

1 vision

Covering 21 overarching projects

For 15 partner organisations

With more than 48,000 staff

Serving a population of nearly 1 million

Spending nearly £1.5 billion every year

 

 

What Verto is providing

 

We have created a cloud-based collaboration hub where staff can:

 

Manage projects and programmes together

Access their project toolkit

Read the STP and other project documents

Find information on new processes

Access a shared calendar with dates for events, meetings and workshops as well as key project deadlines

Find out the names and contact details of people working on projects

Complete standardised project management approaches

Complete and review reports

Share files and documents

 

Because Verto is based in the cloud it supports mobile working so staff can access the hub from any device, whenever they need to and from wherever they are.

 

It also means staff will receive real-time updates. These will keep them up to date with everything that’s going on. They’ll know when actions are complete and they’ll know if things start to fall behind. This will help make sure the STP stays on track to deliver its 21 key projects.

 

And Verto’s instant messaging tool means staff can communicate with each other quickly and easily. Whenever they need to they can chat to one person, a specific team or everyone involved in a project.

 

 

We’ll include a case study of our work with the BNSSG STP area in a future post. In the meantime, to find out more about how we can support your partnership working, please call us on 0844 870 8785 or message us here.