Challenge: A government organisation responsible for delivering an extensive range of health services nationally faced increasing demands on services, causing increased wait times and decreased customer satisfaction. Stockwell Bretton was engaged to undertake a detailed review and evaluation of existing practices and identify opportunities for enhancement that would promote positive experience and enhance clinical outcomes.

Solution: To benchmark practices and identify opportunities to increase satisfaction and reduce negative clinical outcomes Stockwell Bretton undertook site visits across key health facilities nationally; engaging with clinical, administrative and executive stakeholders in each location. We used these visits to review agreed processes; analysing practices against policy requirements and service level agreements, and the practices of other locations. An evaluation report detailing the findings was developed for each site visited; within these reports details of practice strengths and limitations, identified risks and recommendations for enhancement. Recommendations for national enhancement initiatives that were identified as having tangible benefits if implemented were also documented.

Result: All site specific and national recommendations were accepted by the clinical governance and executive leadership groups. Stockwell Bretton worked with regional stakeholders to develop a strategy to implement the recommendations; a National Reference Group established to maintain oversight and governance over implementation. Through successful implementation of the initiatives tangible benefits were realised, including achievement of service level agreements, improved clinical outcomes, increased customer satisfaction and improved organisational culture.