About the trust
Sefton Primary Care Trust (PCT) serves a population of around 280,000 people across Sefton and has an annual budget of around £390 million. Most of its 1400 staff are frontline healthcare professionals providing care to local people.
Background to the project
Despite having a strong partnership forum, the trust wanted to find a way to strengthen and embed the principles of partnership to a wider audience. The project used partnership working to implement organisational change and to improve the culture of the organisation to achieve better staff involvement and engagement.
Work was undertaken with trade unions and management to get their views on the best way to share best practice and embed a more collaborative approach at a local level rather than partnership working being seen as the sole preserve of the Partnership Forum.
In association with the Partnership Institute the trust developed a sustainable training plan capable of delivering training in a flexible and targeted manner, depending on the particular needs of staff. The training programme was embedded in core training programmes providing an ‘introduction to partnership working’ module for new staff as part of their induction.
Taking on this practical initiative with clear measurable outcomes was an effective way of strengthening our partnership approach and demonstrated its value to the rest of the trust. It provided significant leadership to the programme and lent strong legitimacy and authority which was backed up through our personal development reviews to identify where partnership training was needed either on an individual or team basis.
Project delivery
The programme involved a four-stage approach:
Stage 1: Diagnostic assessment and training needs analysis
Working with the Partnership Institute experts, a series of focus groups were held involving members of management and trade unions. They looked at current partnership working arrangements, where it worked best where and how it could be improved and this information was used to provide a benchmark against which the project could me assessed and the training programme developed.
Stage 2: Designing the partnership training programme
Working with the Partnership Institute and the partnership forum the project group designed a partnership training programme based on the findings of the diagnostic assessment and training needs analysis. The programme was developed as a modular package so that targeted training could be provided. The programme was designed so as to be consistent with existing partnership working agreements and the training was tailored to the needs of the trust. It included the following areas:
- joint working in a partnership framework
- joint problem solving
- representing members in a partnership framework
- constructively challenging
- business awareness
- understanding unions
- working with representatives
- developing and embedding change management.
Stage 3: Training the trainers
By training staff themselves to do the training the project would be sustainable moving forward. Members of staff and trade unions were trained in delivery of the partnership modular programme. Access to additional support, advice and guidance was provided for trainers to ensure effective delivery.
Stage 4: Review and evaluation
In order to demonstrate the impact of this approach to embedding partnership and to assess the effectiveness of the ‘train the trainer’ programme a review was undertaken with the trainers and the initial trainees to the programme. This review provided an opportunity to assess progress and evaluate cultural and attitudinal change against the benchmark questionnaire carried out as part of the initial diagnostic assessment. They also took the opportunity to identify key successes and to draw out specific learning to share more widely across the NHS.
Project outputs
The project achieved the following outputs:
- raised awareness, understanding and support for staff in partnership working across the trust including the contribution it makes to engaging staff, ensuring they are involved in decisions that affect them and the services they provide
- improved internal communication ensuring effective and early consultation over service and organisational change issues, promoting a culture where managers and trade unions work together to implement new ways of working
- developed behavioural competencies expected from managers and staff side to adopt, supporting the NHS Constitution pledges.
Top tips
- Make sure that you allow sufficient time and resources for staff who are engaged in the project.
- Plan ahead carefully – in terms of what needs to be done, by when and by whom.
- Be prepared to revisit existing processes – for example, your partnership board or agreement may need a revamp to take account of changed circumstances and learning through this project.
- Think creatively – are there different ways in which we can convey the partnership approach rather than rely on old practices?
Further information and contact information:
Employer representative:
Marie Rice, Managing Director
Email: marie.rice@sefton.nhs.uk
Staff side representative:
Details Lin Douglas, Staff Side Secretary
Email: lindadouglas1@nhs.net