NHS Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit

23 May 2023

Supporting the delivery of the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICS green plan 

Our support in developing the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICS green plan resulted in a robust and deliverable plan that…

12 May 2023

Support for ICB’s ledger build: Streamlining the transition to an integrated single financial environment

We streamlined the transition to an integrated single financial environment for 11 clinical commissioning groups to integrated care boards…

9 May 2023

E-learning product on net-zero carbon emissions target

Our e-learning product on net-zero carbon emissions raised awareness amongst staff of both organisational and national net-zero targets and…

3 May 2023

Determining the impact on patients in a hospital service reconfiguration

We provided detailed travel analysis data that was central to determining the impact on patients in a complex hospital…

28 April 2023

Positive impact of physiotherapy pilot programme 

We increased the coverage of physiotherapy services from approximately 3% to 15% and improved communication and reporting, resulting in…

14 April 2023

Risk and governance processes review and recommendations

We provided specialist support to an acute trust to accelerate improvement by developing a risk management program to reduce…

11 April 2023

From strategy to execution: Delivering a comprehensive digital transformation investment plan

We prepared a comprehensive three-year Digital Transformation Investment Plan that seamlessly integrated into the full Integrated Care Board (ICB)…

3 April 2023

Enhancing clinical audit processes: A review of an acute trust

We made a significant impact on an acute trust’s clinical audit processes by providing a thorough diagnostic report and…

30 March 2023

Improving risk management in an Acute Trust: A case study of streamlining internal processes

We undertook a diagnostic review that optimised the underutilised features of a risk management system and simplified data capture,…

23 March 2023

Transforming healthcare: Developing Integrated Service Models for the Shrewsbury Health and Wellbeing Hub

We supported the development of a new Health and Wellbeing Hub in Shrewsbury by designing and agreeing on integrated…

20 March 2023

Evaluating a digital tool to manage caseload and care in community mental health​

We helped reduce mental health crisis rates and optimise user flows by introducing a new data capture tool, evaluating…

16 March 2023

Maximising value for limited funding: Efficiency analysis for COPD pathway

By analysing the results from stakeholder decision conferences along with the STAR tool, we empowered ICSs to efficiently allocate…

14 March 2023

A pledge to being green: MLCSU staff share personal and professional pledges to reduce carbon…

Empowering MLCSU staff to make personal and professional pledges for a sustainable future A staff campaign to mark the…

9 March 2023

Our Way Of Working: Embedding a new agile and flexible organisational culture at the CSU

Through extensive engagement and consultation processes, and a robust communications strategy, we successfully fostered a culture of agility and…

6 March 2023

Implementing the NHS smoking cessation service at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust

We provided support to the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, enabling them to become an early adopter of…

3 March 2023

Developing shared values for a new PCN

We helped a primary care network create and establish a new set of shared meaningful values developed by staff…

2 March 2023

Improving the process for managing domiciliary care placements

Clinical commissioning groups in Staffordshire wanted to address the lack of a contractual structure for Health-Funded packages of care…

26 January 2023

Using automation to reduce waiting lists across two ICSs

Using a combination of automated chatbot, robotic process automation and human call agents, we helped trusts within two integrated…

17 January 2023

Prioritising health and wellbeing to improve morale and performance

Our health and wellbeing strategy has proven to have improved the morale and performance of our staff. It was…

16 January 2023

Bringing partners together to ensure data protection for lung health checks

We helped a programme targeting ex-smokers with lung health checks to complete information governance procedures and ensure personal data…

13 January 2023

Raising awareness of health inequalities in the Midlands

We raised awareness of health inequalities among the 11 integrated care systems in the Midlands through promoting the government’s…

3 January 2023

Discovering the requirements for implementing a common electronic patient record

Through over 330 hours of focused work on engagement and gap analysis, we identified and consolidated the requirements for…

16 December 2022

Empowering people living with pain to explore alternatives

We helped the Black Country Integrated Care Board deliver an engagement campaign to help people living with chronic pain…

15 December 2022

An innovative, accessible website for Norfolk and Waveney ICS

Our team delivered an innovative, interactive and accessible website to inform and educate patients and the public about the…

8 December 2022

Improving the quality of care at a nursing home in Lancashire

Our Medicines Optimisation in Care Homes team conducted structured medication reviews of patients at a nursing home, avoiding potential…

28 November 2022

Utilising independent sector capacity to reduce waiting lists

We procured independent sector hospital capacity to divert patients at the point of referrals from NHS trusts to prevent…

9 November 2022

Improving communications reporting through an interactive, visual dashboard

Our interactive visual dashboard helped the NHS Leadership Academy report more easily and more clearly engagement with their website…

8 November 2022

Streamlining the month-end close process at an NHS trust

We reduced the month-end process by four days at an NHS trust and introduced new process to streamline payments…

31 October 2022

In-house team applies learning from SEO training to improve performance of new websites

We created a range of bespoke materials to deliver SEO training to the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care Board…

25 October 2022

Delivering elective care planning support to every ICS in the country

We helped NHS England roll out a programme of planning support for the increase and improvement of elective care…

21 October 2022

Developing an accessible, user-friendly new website for Lincolnshire ICB

Designing and developing a new website for the Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board, we created an interactive platform for the…

14 October 2022

Safety Siren monitors quality at the system level

We developed an alert which scans a whole health system for areas of health quality concern that need to…

29 September 2022

Monitoring urgent care and COVID-19 data through OTiS Tactical

Our flexible OTiS Tactical tool is helping integrated care systems to monitor emerging pressures on urgent and emergency care…

23 September 2022

Digital leadership for Lancashire and South Cumbria’s New Hospitals Programme

We have been supporting the Lancashire and South Cumbria’s New Hospitals Programme to design and deliver digital infrastructures to…

21 September 2022

Bringing back staff to continuing healthcare

A project to bring back a considerable number of staff to complete outstanding continuing healthcare assessments attracted skilled people…

15 August 2022

Improving health outcomes using our population health management tool

Using our population health management tool, we have helped identify people with clinical and social issues across Lancashire and…

2 August 2022

Implementing financial reporting tools at the University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust

Our support has resulted in a significant improvement in the quality of financial information held. Background The Finance Department…

22 July 2022

Pharmacy support to Lancashire and South Cumbria COVID-19 vaccination programme

We provided insight to clinical enquiries, produced reports and worked to develop standard operating procedures to help improve patient…

20 July 2022

Improving high-dose opioid prescribing

We helped Greater Preston and Chorley & South Ribble Clinical Commissioning Groups significantly reduce high-dose opioid prescribing, bringing it…

18 July 2022

Cost saving and wider expertise with HR services at scale

We provide a centralised HR function to five integrated care boards which ensures that better quality and a wider…

8 July 2022

Digitally enabling blood pressure monitoring at home

We helped the Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care System increase patients measuring their blood pressure at home, delivering a…

7 July 2022

Improving medicines safety in Wirral care homes

Our medicines management and optimisation team improved safety and care for elderly Wirral care home residents, helped to prevent…

1 July 2022

Facilitating wellbeing conversations with health and care staff: Be Well Midlands

We helped health and care leaders in the Midlands to take a transparent, collaborative approach to uncovering opportunities for…

24 June 2022

Increasing referrals to the National Diabetes Prevention Programme

We engaged with primary care providers to streamline the process for referrals into the National Diabetes Prevention Programme, and…

1 June 2022

Enabling remote healthcare monitoring in Black Country and West Birmingham

We designed and implemented a programme of transformation to enable remote monitoring across healthcare in the Black Country and…

27 May 2022

Improving care for people with learning disabilities and autism

We codesigned and delivered a transformation programme for the improvement of care for people with learning disabilities and/or autism.…

24 May 2022

Achieving the best from primary care network pharmacy teams

We provided a tailored package of strategic and operational support to a newly formed pharmacy team at a primary…

18 May 2022

Discovering efficiencies and service improvements in Leicestershire

We helped an NHS trust analyse and visualise data on key performance indicators with the aim of releasing efficiencies…

17 May 2022

Recovering hospital utility costs

We are helping hospital trusts identify the potential to recover energy costs from telecom devices mounted on the roofs…

10 May 2022

COVID-19 vaccine safety at primary care network vaccination centres

We ensured that vaccination centres functioned with safety at the highest level by training staff and providing ongoing senior…

25 April 2022

Helping a COVID-19 vaccination programme provide an efficient and equitable service

Our business intelligence experts helped the Lancashire and South Cumbria COVID-19 Vaccination Programme to provide an efficient and equitable…

7 April 2022

Informing COVID-19 vaccination centres’ geographical planning

Our dynamic heat maps showed where vaccine uptake was lower, where there was a higher concentration of social care…

5 April 2022

Increasing the uptake of health checks for patients with severe mental illness

We helped integrated care systems increase numbers of annual physicals health checks for patients with severe mental illness by…

4 April 2022

Helping North Staffordshire trust pay suppliers

We quickly mobilised financial services helping an NHS trust to process and pay supplier invoices. Background In April 2021,…

31 March 2022

Integrating data for the Combined Intelligence for Population Health Action (CIPHA) platform

We helped key stakeholders in the Cheshire and Merseyside health system see combined intelligence reports on capacity and demand…

22 March 2022

Support to tackle bullying, harassment and discrimination in the workplace

We facilitated the design of and implemented a bespoke online tool to make it easier for staff to report…

18 March 2022

Success in setting up community pharmacy services

We helped commissioners with medicines management expertise in setting up and maintaining community pharmacy services, freeing up capacity across…

15 March 2022

Embedding equalities and inclusive decision making in the LLR system

We helped an integrated care system implement a framework for making decisions that addresses bias and improves how equality…

10 March 2022

Improving equity and equality in maternity and neonatal care

We combined national metrics and local NHS, council and third sector data to help health systems understand where there…

2 March 2022

Improving use of medicines across Merseyside – Pan Mersey Area Prescribing Committee

We had another successful year in 2020/21 at the Pan Mersey Area Prescribing Committee promoting the safe and efficient…

11 February 2022

Assessing demand for COVID-19 LAMP testing

We helped an integrated care system to evaluate demand and capacity for COVID-19 LAMP testing to ensure labs could…

7 February 2022

Evaluating the national Medicines Optimisation in Care Homes programme

We evaluated the impact of the national Medicines Optimisation in Care Homes programme. Background The national Medicines Optimisation in…

7 February 2022

Taking an integrated approach to equality and inclusion planning

We helped the council and clinical commissioning group in Trafford to develop a joint five-year equality, diversity and inclusion…

4 February 2022

Leading a hospital transformation programme

We developed a strategic outline case setting out the ambitions and next steps in one of the NHS’s largest…

2 February 2022

Incontinence medication reviews offer major patient benefits

We enabled medication reviews of patients with long-term prescriptions for urinary incontinence medication which enabled clinicians to recommend ‘drug…

2 February 2022

Boosting GP community pharmacy consultations

Our work supporting implementation of the GP Community Pharmacy Consultation Service in the East of England led to a…

28 January 2022

Improving health and wellbeing for NHS workers

We developed resources and videos and provided expert advice and evaluation to help NHS England and Improvement gather, develop…

27 January 2022

Supporting redesign of acute services

Our Transformation Unit helped develop a new model of care for acute services at a health and social care…

25 January 2022

Using automation to reduce waiting lists

We have helped a hospital trust to tackle the backlog of waiting lists while maintaining quality of care by using…

21 January 2022

Ensuring a COVID-19 vaccination programme met the Public Sector Equality Duty

Our experts ensured that the Lancashire and South Cumbria Vaccination Programme met the Public Sector Equality Duty. Background Lancashire…

20 January 2022

Advancing engagement and shared learning for COVID-19 support programme

We helped deliver the strategic engagement and created opportunities for shared learning in the development of a national programme…

19 January 2022

Supporting development of national digital strategies

Our Transformation Unit was commissioned by NHSX to support in the development of its national digital strategies for ambulance,…

14 January 2022

Supporting infection prevention and control with analytics

We analysed data and provided insight which informed a national programme for improving infection prevention and control about where…

11 January 2022

Making a difference through Equality, Health Inequality Impact & Risk Assessments

Our Equality & Inclusion Team supported development of a hot hub service managing COVID patients in Leicestershire. Background At…

11 January 2022

Identifying and providing efficiencies for a mental health trust

Our finance experts helped North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust to find significant savings. Background North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare…

10 January 2022

Meeting pandemic demand for oxygen and ventilators

Staff from across the Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit was deployed to support a national programme for oxygen,…

23 November 2021

Supporting infection prevention and control safety during COVID-19

We managed a programme of implementing infection prevention and control safety principles to reduce infection rates and provide better…

22 November 2021

Saving time in the core invoicing process

We saved time from data processing by introducing a new tool to streamline data entry when invoicing key customers.…

3 November 2021

Financial process automation saving up to 50 hours per month

Our Corporate Finance team has saved up to 50 hours per month in financial reporting and invoicing after introducing…

29 October 2021

Data warehouse cuts financial reporting time in half

We reduced the time it takes to process essential financial planning templates by 50% and established a data warehouse…

20 October 2021

Better efficiency in uploading the financial forecast

We halved the time it takes to load the financial forecast into the ledger and reduced the risk of…

20 August 2021

Supporting a successful launch of proxy medicines ordering

Our Medicines Management and Optimisation team worked with the Black Country and West Birmingham Clinical Commissioning Group, GP practices…

11 August 2021

Quick and easy patient referrals for post-Covid illness

Our Data Quality team developed a custom data input template to streamline referrals of patient with post-Covid illness, saving…

5 August 2021

Database supports national CHC workforce recovery project

We designed a national database to record, monitor and report the onboarding, training and development of continuing healthcare (CHC)…

19 July 2021

UBook transforms room booking at Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust

We created a single online system which allows staff at Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust to book…

1 July 2021

Working with Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent STP ​to improve service quality and reduce costs in planned…

We worked with commissioners, providers and other stakeholders across Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire to improve the quality of service for…

30 June 2021

Using expertise to help the Sue Ryder charity improve its medicines management

MLCSU supported the Sue Ryder charity to improve its management and governance of medicines Background The Sue Ryder charitable…

30 June 2021

Improvement Unit leads work to transform NHS continuing healthcare across England

MLCSU’s Improvement Unit set up and managed a successful programme management office (PMO) for the National NHS Continuing Healthcare…

30 June 2021

Helping health and care services across Cheshire and Merseyside to plan five-year programme of improvements

MLCSU are proud to have supported Cheshire and Merseyside Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) with development of their five-year…

30 June 2021

Providing key support to two clinical commissioning groups as they merge to create a single…

We created an effective programme management office (PMO)  to support Shropshire CCG and Telford and Wrekin CCG during their…

30 June 2021

Meeting the challenge of bringing England’s cervical screening programme back within the NHS

In 2019 England’s CSUs were tasked with bringing the National Cervical Screening Programme back within the NHS in a…

24 June 2021

Responding to the challenge of discharging patients during COVID-19

The COVID-19 outbreak placed an unprecedented strain on the health and social care system. A coordinated and well-managed response…

24 June 2021

Working with partners to create a faster, more efficient payment system for joint-funded care packages

The objective of the project was to streamline payments for joint funded packages between the Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning…

23 June 2021

NHS Digital Weight Management Programme uses technology to help hard-to-reach patient groups

We strongly believe that improving patient experience is at the heart of all that we do. In creating the…

22 June 2021

Rapid recruitment and training of expert CHC nurses to tackle the assessment backlog caused by…

Our programme helped the NHS to restore, recover and renew following the enormous disruption caused by COVID-19. It has…

22 June 2021

Boosting consultation and engagement through accessibility friendly innovation: Digital easy-read surveys

By producing easy-read versions of our questionnaires we can improve participation in our engagement and consultation exercises with people…

21 June 2021

Providing rapid recruitment services to NHS trusts in support of COVID-19 vaccination drive

Our work supported the recruitment of the bank and volunteer staff working at vaccination centres, at a time of…

9 June 2021

Providing Media Management Training for CCG Senior Leaders

Background – When NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) became a single organisation, a need for…

9 June 2021

Stepping in to support strategic public health communications during the pandemic

Background – As part of the ongoing response to the Coronavirus pandemic, St Helens Borough Council and NHS St…