28.08.13
Compassionate teams improve patient care
Small and multi-skilled teams are the most effective at leading NHS networks, a new study shows. Researchers looked at eight healthcare networks providing cancer, genetics, sexual health and elderly care services.
They found teams with a clear, evidence-based policy remit and effective management were the best at joining different organisations and professions across the NHS together.
The study was funded by the National Institute of Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research Programme, and supports recommendations in the Francis report for a shift to more compassionate care.
Professor Gerry McGivern, Professor of Organisational Analysis at Warwick Business School, and one of the authors, said: “Our study supports the Francis Report in calling for compassionate multi-professional NHS leadership teams and suggests that with them in place ‘managed networks’ could address other ‘wicked’ problems facing the NHS.
“Successful healthcare networks often need clear evidence-based clinical guidelines to provide a ‘burning platform’ for service improvement – that is they must do it or there will be consequences.
“But what drives change are small leadership teams, containing doctors, nurses and managers, with the energy to develop and implement local evidence-based guidelines.
“What often provides this energy is relations’, friends’ or personal experience of the difference good and bad healthcare makes. This fuels a compassionate commitment to patient care. When this is combined with a belief in the guidelines you’ve got the ingredients for improving patient care.
“The least effective network we came across was an elderly care network in one region where there was no national guideline or policy and no leadership team, just a single part-time manager.
“With many different stakeholders involved, from the NHS, local authority, voluntary and private sectors, all viewing elderly care in different ways, the network became a ‘talking shop’ and nothing happened.
“In contrast we found that cancer networks were highly effective in improving cancer care, in large part because there was a multi-professional leadership team co-ordinating the network who were passionate about using NICE’s national guideline for best practice to improve patient care.”
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