The road to better productivity: Pennine Care’s journey with LOGEX’s Embedding PLICS Report
About Pennine Care
Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust serving Greater Manchester, is dedicated to providing exceptional mental health, learning disability, and autism services. With over 3,800 staff and an annual income exceeding £275 million, Pennine Care operates across 88 locations in the boroughs of Glossop, Stockport, Tameside, Oldham, Rochdale and Bury. The Trust is accountable to the local community, patients and their families through its council of governors.
The challenge
Given the richness of data contained in Patient Level Information & Costing Systems (PLICS), the executive team wanted to understand the organisation’s capacity and capability to maximise the use of this data. Understanding and interpreting flucuations in productivity, particularly since the COVID pandemic, remains a key objective of NHSE England and Pennine Care understood that PLICS data can support this objective whilst identifying opportunities for improvement.
They decided that a strategic report including both evidence-based recommendations, and a clear roadmap to maximizing the use of PLICS data, was essential for both executives and the costing team.
The solution
Jaime Diack, Head of Finance Systems and Process Redesign, recognised LOGEX’s expertise in working creatively with NHS Finance Departments and more specifically embedding PLICS within NHS trusts. She commissioned us to produce the report.
LOGEX’s consultant collaborated closely with Pennine Care’s costing team and a wide range of relevant stakeholders. Through rich engagement, and by analysing their key documents such as the Digital Strategy, LOGEX crafted a detailed, actionable plan tailored to the trust’s unique needs.
LOGEX delivered a powerful report, packed with:
- Executive Summary: Clear purpose, overall assessment, and phase objectives.
- Background Section: National PLICS guidance, LOGEX’s approach, and essential pillars for PLICS.
- Capacity and Capability Assessment: Evaluating readiness with findings linked to key recommendations.
- Key Recommendations: Practical steps aligned with Trust strategies, cross-referenced for easy navigation.
- Detailed Roadmap: Tasks, timelines, and dependencies, color-coded for clarity.
- Assumptions and Risks: Key assumptions and potential risks identified.
- Appendices: Detailed analyses and additional recommendations tied to the Digital Strategy. This also included examples of ways to interpret costing data.
The impact
With LOGEX’s insights, Pennine Care now understand the key constraints to embedding PLICS data within their organisation and have been provided with a clear framework to overcome these challenges. Ultimately, this will support improved productivity and enhance patient care. The detailed roadmap lays out dependencies and potential impacts of delays, addressing critical areas such as:
- Digital Strategy actions
- PLICS strategy development
- Stakeholder data needs
- Data ownership
- National PLICS requirements
- Dashboard development
- Internal benchmarking
- Collaboration with other organisations
This strategic clarity has elevated the costing team’s profile and kickstarted significant progress in improving PLICS data.
“The LOGEX Embedding PLICS report provided a realistic assessment of our readiness and a comprehensive roadmap to embed PLICS deeply. The consultant’s engagement with a wide range of staff resulted in practical and relevant recommendations tailored to our Trust’s infrastructure and needs. We are already using it to transform our PLICS.
“The report delivered both the details required by our costing team and strategic insights for our senior leaders. It’s invaluable to have well-respected external experts outline the necessary steps and achievable actions, many of which incur no additional cost.”
Jaime Diack, Head of Finance Systems and Process Redesign, Pennine Care NHS Foundation TrustJaime Diack, Head of Finance Systems and Process Redesign, Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust
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