Transformation and change support

We have a clear and well-established approach to working with local health economies to support integrated care provision and commissioning.

We focus firstly on the problems, secondly on the desired results, then thirdly on how different models of integration might help to achieve them. Sequencing our approach in this way ensures clarity and focus.

Starting with the perspective of patients and the wider population is an essential design principle: if an integrated care model doesn’t work from the perspective of its users, then it doesn’t work at all. The support we provide – from strategic advice to back office functions – is based on this understanding.

Working with some of the most advanced integrated health and care economies in the NHS, we pride ourselves on the fact that we provide not just support, but leadership too. We are a real catalyst for practical change.

With our partners, we have the capacity and capability to provide transformation advisory support at scale to a national footprint. We start by building an understanding of the current situation and the desired changes that transformation will bring about, before defining enabling factors and potential barriers.

Opportunities are created as systems come together. Our Strategy Unit (SU), in conjunction with its longstanding strategic partners – particularly the NHS Transformation Unit – provides nationally-recognised analytical and advisory services to address challenges and discover opportunities.

Integrated care requires new roles and ways of working, yet our experience suggests that too few health economies truly understand the composition of their workforce. This should be seen as a starting point for more integrated models of care.

Current staff shortages and prospective skills gaps also need to be factored in, alongside assumptions about changes in the nature and scale of population needs.

We then use techniques to describe likely futures. This includes: modelling changing demography and population needs; examining broader societal trends and workforce preferences); and collating evidence on trends in workforce demography, recruitment, retention and retirement.

It’s important that people at all levels and parts of the system are involved in the design and delivery of the new system. They are able to provide vital insights. Effective engagement with patients, the public, staff, clinicians and key stakeholders is central to the whole process.

The combination of the present and likely future is then synthesised to show where redesign is needed, which we drive through to completion.