Consultants' catch-up
Despite our inclement weather, I still made it to all but two of my field visits this month, and I’m pleased to say that those that had to be rearranged were due, not to my lack of effort to get there but to the trains which at one point inexplicably left me stranded in Manchester for three hours where, as far as I could tell, the sun was shining! Thankfully no one was disappointed, as those that I was visiting over in the North East and Yorkshire were unable to make the meetings because they were dealing with the aftermath of the flooding. There are advantages of living where I do, although as I sit here today writing this article there is thunder, lightening and torrential rain!
My field visit territory initially covered the whole of the North (North West, North East and Yorkshire and Humber) and in the course of my travels I have come across and worked with some truly motivated organisations in the North East and Yorkshire whose dedication and determination to implement NICE guidance has been inspirational. So it is with mixed feelings that I hand over that part of my patch to our 6th Implementation Consultant, Gillian Mathews. Gill joined us in May this year and, after a period of induction, began her field visits in June. Gill is based up in the North East so the hazards of dealing with the British weather when trying to visit her organisations should be less challenging then they have been for me, based far over in the North West!
We have been in post just over a year now and our second round of field visits to NHS organisations, which most of us are doing, have been very gratifying. We have found that the information and support we have offered to those previously visited has been implemented and some organisations have made significant changes to their processes for implementing NICE guidance. Examples include using the costing tool when planning the implementation of guidance where previously it might not have been used, and the commissioning guides which are proving very popular with commissioners and providers alike. Some of us have been invited back for further visits as trusts continue to develop their systems for the dissemination and implementation of guidance.
Local authority visits have featured prominently in the last month, although NHS trusts still figure strongly and will continue to do so. I have found that the visits to local authorities are providing a good opportunity to raise the profile of NICE guidance and to highlight how NICE guidance fits in with their pubic health or health and wellbeing strategies, as well as care delivered within other departments such as social services.
There is some excellent partnership working going on between local authorities and their PCTs, and it’s great to see that NICE guidance is a priority in supporting the work they do, particularly around health inequalities.
On the topic of health inequalities, NICE is keen to ensure that putting guidance into practice positively impacts on health inequalities. In late autumn we are planning to hold a meeting with both internal and external stakeholders which will address a number of issues including what NICE can do through its implementation support programme to ensure putting guidance into practice reduces health inequalities.
One of the local authorities I visited recently was so impressed with the NICE implementation tools, despite the fact that they have been designed predominantly for the NHS, that it has invited me back to work with them to see how they can use them as part of their joint partnership programme with their PCT, another great example of how NICE can support joint working between organisations.
Whilst our implementation tools are clearly of benefit to the NHS, we recognise that we need to develop appropriate support for local authorities, and in June we held a workshop down in London where attendees with predominantly non - NHS backgrounds helped us design a user friendly guide applicable to local authorities. Look out for that publication in early December!
And so the good work continues; how the year had flown! I look forward to continuing my visits within my slightly reduced patch, and whilst I will miss some great people I am pleased to be travelling shorter distances as my sense of direction was always decidedly dodgy - even with a sophisticated satellite navigation system!
Jenny Lewis
Implementation Consultant North Western
