The problem

The system needs to move away from spending unnecessary time on transactional commissioning because otherwise resource for reviewing, understanding and improving healthcare for patients is wasted.

The challenge

How might we move the conversation from transactional contractual challenges to more of a focus on improving the value of healthcare for patients in our system.

The outputs

• Generated accurate data each month for the initial secondary uses service (SUS) submission.
• Reduced the workload for the data quality team by distributing the volume of queries throughout the month, resulting in a smaller number of queries to be checked each day instead of high volumes requiring turnaround within a few days at the end of each month.
• Changed some routine data quality reviews from monthly to annual cycles where no significant changes were made to underlying data consistently from month to month.

The outcomes

There were several positive outcomes as a result of this initiative. Firstly, there was a notable shift in the interaction between the trust and commissioners, with both parties adopting a more collaborative approach. Secondly, senior staff members were able to dedicate less time to scrutinising challenge data as the assurance gained from the reporting process increased. Additionally, there were fewer adjustments to activity data between flex and freeze periods. The demand for resources was spread more evenly across the month, which facilitated smoother, more manageable and sustainable processes overall.