Assessment of the need (and options) for a Blood Sciences service

Susan Clark - The Christie NHS Foundation Trust.

Negotiating skills - Building Trust

Inside – leadership behavioursBe proactive

Delegation

Personal and organisational values

1.The case for change - User surveys indicate a desire for 24/7 cover for Biochemistry (already provided for Haematology); not possible with current staff levels. Pressure for rationalisation of service to help meet CIP demandsActions - Walk through the current pathway to look for areas for improvement – single point requesting at a joint reception would remove duplication.Produce 24/7 cover options appraisal - cross trained staff at minimum to fully integrated service

7. Meet with estates regarding options for reorganising reception space. Draw up plans and produce options appraisal.

Engage with reception staff to look at options for how the reception process could work. Suggestions include pre-requesting, single point entry, streamlining work flow in defined areas.

Discuss with BMS staff options for 24/7 cover for blood sciences – staged introduction of out of hours cover for Troponin I test by Haematology as trial for cross training of BMS staff. Small stepwise changes are less scary.

Personal Resilience Thinking errors - reframing

Our approach to tasks and situations are partly determined by personal characteristics but also by previous events. During the course we looked at this inside/outside aspect of leadership and how we can learn new approaches to modify our instinctive responses and become adaptive leaders able to respond to emerging situations.

This poster reflects some of the behaviours and skill-sets we discussed and how I have put them into practice in the pursuit of my project looking at if and how a blood sciences service might produce service improvement in routine hours and give more options for cover outside of routine hours

10. Encourage ownership of the service by defining a values statement for blood sciences – encourage staff to think about how they want the service to be perceived by the users, how their values tie in with trust aims and what is important to staff themselves. Facilitate them in developing a set of team values. Develop effective teams by allowing them to work out solutions themselves rather than give them answers.

Seek first to understand

Begin with the end in mind

2. Look at possible areas for initial integration of Haematology and Biochemistry – sample reception relatively easy, lab processing would require estates reorganisation and retraining of BMS staff therefore longer term and more costly3. Obtain quote from estates for structural reorganisation. Seek ideas from staff about how the service could be changed to meet objectives – brainstorming session produced list of possible actions

Put first things first

5. Make time for me to pursue important but not urgent activities that will allow progress with this project e.g. planning, relationship building, seeking opportunities.

Take time to develop leadership skills identified from assessments

Synergise

6. Engage all staff members to look for creative solutions in all areas of the patient pathway

Think win/win

4. Trial of pre-booking requests while patients are being bled indicates a reduction in ‘dead’time in the pathway on some days – needs to be repeated with larger sample. Reduces duplication of requesting in Haematology and Biochemistry and enables lab staff to commence sample processing immediately on receipt.

7 Habits of Effective Leaders

Sharpen the SawWork/Life

balance

360° appraisal and Leadership impact assessments

8. Feedback from these assessments help to define my leadership development goals e.g. developing teams and capability in others, influencing strategically and promoting self reflection and development.

Check expectations and level of power to

act clearly when accepting or

delegating a task.

Outside – how they are used in my project

9. Key strengths from 360° include perseverance, equality, clear communication. Perseverance required to obtain estates options and pursue changes in staffing mix. Clear communication required at all times.