Business Matters...BSO Business Matters December 2015 Page 6 2. Efficient and Cost Effective Disposal of Cases Much of the criticism aimed at our justice system is the delay in matters

Created by Customer Relations & Service Improvement

D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 5

Inside this Issue

Investors in People

Accreditation

Page 1

Annual BSO Board

Planning Workshop

Page 2

Diabetes in Pregnancy

Learning Event

Page 3

Christmas Jumper Day

Page 4

Civil Justice Review

Pages 5-6

Project MAGIC

Pages 7-8

Healthy Tips for Christmas

Page 9

CareCall

Page 10

Business Matters The monthly staff bulletin of the Business Services Organisation

Many of you have been involved in the recent Re-accreditation

process which was conducted by Stephanie McCutcheon.

I am delighted to confirm that the BSO has met the requirements of

the IiP Standard and has, therefore, been re-accredited as an IiP

organisation. Could I, on behalf of myself and the Chief Executive,

thank everyone for their assistance and support during this

process? It is clear that the contributions of our staff provided

Stephanie with a good understanding of the practices and culture in

the BSO. She has provided feedback which reflects the

commitment of all our people to this organisation.

I would also wish to record my particular appreciation to Paula

Smyth, Kevin Clarke and their colleagues for their drive and

commitment to the standards and the accreditation process.

This is a great reflection on this organisation

and provides a platform to further develop our

HR process. Thanks to all of you, and I hope

you have a great Christmas.

Hugh McPoland

Investors in People Accreditation


BSO Business Matters December 2015 Page 2

The annual BSO Board Planning Workshop took place this year in Clifton House Heritage Centre,

Belfast, prior to the November meeting of the Board and was facilitated by BSO’s Customer Care and

Performance team.

Attendees were welcomed by Alexander Coleman and David Bingham who set the scene for the

Workshop. The key note speaker was Richard Pengelly, Permanent Secretary of the Department of

Health, Social Services and Public Safety, who provided an informative and thought-provoking

overview of the current HSC position, followed by a wide-ranging question and answer session.

BSO Board Members engaged in group work and the BSO Director of Customer Care and

Performance, Karen Bailey, presented a review of progress on the BSO Corporate Strategy 2015-

2018. The group also discussed a number of Key Themes, Actions and Priorities for BSO in 2016-17,

building on the work of the Senior Management planning day in October.

Richard Pengelly presenting HSC

Performance and Financial

Position to Board Members

Annual BSO Board Planning Workshop

BSO Board Members taking part in

the a Group task



Diabetes in Pregnancy - Learning Event

The HSC Clinical Education Centre held a learning event on Diabetes in Pregnancy on

the 25th November 2015 in Fern House, Antrim.

This multidisciplinary learning event brought together leading healthcare professionals

from across Northern Ireland to share and disseminate their knowledge and expertise

in the care of pregnant women with diabetes. The event provided participants with an

opportunity to share best practice and explore ideas and opportunities in developing a

more effective woman centred approach to diabetes in pregnancy.

This event was highly evaluated by the participants who included midwives,

obstetricians, Allied Health Care Professionals and service users. Due to the success

of this event, the Clinical Education Centre plans to hold a similar event in the near

future.

Donna Buick (Midwife with a specialist interest in diabetes, NHSCT), Gillian Anderson (Breastfeeding Coordinator, NHSCT), Joy

McDonald, (Specialist Dietician), Dr Adele Kennedy (Consultant Diabetologist, NHSCT) Dr Brid Farrell, (Consultant in Public

Medicine, PHA), Dr Clodagh McElhenny (Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, SEHSCT), Dr Esther Reid, (Midwife Education

Consultant, CEC), Claire Lewis (Type 1 mother), Jackie O’Neill, (Midwife Education Consultant, CEC), Fiona Bradley, (Senior

Education Manager, CEC).



BSO Accounts Payable raised £190 on their Christmas Jumper Day. The money was

then spent on toys and gifts for the Cool FM Cash for Kids Appeal. We aimed to get

gifts for children aged 10-15, as this age group tends to be forgotten about!.

Christmas Jumper Day



Civil Justice Review

A Civil Justice Review is currently underway under the leadership of Lord Justice Gillen. It is focusing initially on the Queen’s Bench Division (i.e. where cases relating to personal injury, including medical negligence are heard) and the Family Law Division of the High Court.

The following are some of the key themes that have emerged as the review is proceeding:

1. Paperless Courts;

2. Efficient and cost effective disposal of cases;

3. Personal litigants.

The Directorate of Legal Services in BSO (DLS) has been heavily involved in the Civil Justice Review. Kathryn Minnis, at Lord Justice Gillen’s request, has submitted a discussion document on the question of paperless courts and has contributed significantly to the discussions relating to the Family Division. DLS is also represented on a Sub-Committee of the Review dealing with medical negligence claims in the Queen’s Bench Division.

1. Paperless Courts

This is a vexed subject for the legal profession. Our Courts, in particular the High Court, are awash with voluminous documentation, in many cases involving several thousand pages copied perhaps eight times for all parties to a hearing. The preparation of such documents is both time-consuming and costly - in many instances only a very small percentage of the documents are actually considered at the Trial and, therefore, this process must be viewed as an inefficient method of Trial management. Kathryn prepared a well thought-out paper for discussion which was welcomed by Lord Justice Gillen and has provided the stimulus for much thought and deliberation.

However there is significant resistance among some of the judiciary and some members of the legal profession to the implementation of a paperless court; some object on the grounds of difficulty in carrying out cross-examination without hard copy documents. Others believe the technology is not currently available in the Court Service and much work needs to be carried out to ensure reliability of the system and security of what, in most instances, are sensitive personal documents. Another concern is the cost of implementation for smaller practices, although this is offset by efficiency savings that would flow from new technology. One approach that is gathering support is having a small core bundle of documents, with the remainder available electronically; i.e. a paper light approach. The debate continues.

However, there appears to be general agreement that reviews and interlocutory applications could proceed without paper, either by exchange of e-mails or, indeed, by telephone; and only in exceptional circumstances e.g. where there is on-going dispute at review stage or in the interlocutory application would there be a need for a hearing before the Master or High Court Judge.



2. Efficient and Cost Effective Disposal of Cases

Much of the criticism aimed at our justice system is the delay in matters proceeding to Court or, even if they do proceed to hearing, the delay in the conclusion of the case. The civil justice review is looking at ways of reducing delay, e.g. in the Family Division where very difficult and sensitive issues involving children are considered and the outcome of such a case can have a significant bearing on the future of those children.

In the Queen’s Bench Division, the principle ought to be to achieve early resolution of disputes. Going to Court should be seen as a last resort and parties should be encouraged to engage in constructive negotiation at an early stage to achieve resolution.

Mediation is considered a very useful tool and the Courts now invariably ask parties, particularly in medical negligence cases, whether mediation has been considered before the matter would be listed for Trial. This is recognised in the civil justice review, where it is proposed that parties should be encouraged to achieve resolution at an early stage, whether by mediation or negotiation many months before Trial. One possibility being considered is to penalise a party in costs, if that party is reluctant to participate in negotiation or mediation.

3. Personal Litigants

A personal litigant is someone who represents himself in a case and, therefore, does not avail of legal representation. Personal litigants are more frequently seen in Courts in recent times, primarily as a consequence of reduction in Legal Aid. Whilst some personal litigants have legitimate cases to run, many others are attempting to run cases that have little or no prospect of success, yet take up considerable Court time and, therefore, add significantly to the costs of the other party (in this context the clients of DLS, primarily the Health and Social Care Trusts), who must be represented to contest the matter. Some personal litigant cases can go on for many weeks. DLS was involved in one case which took up 48 days of hearing, ultimately with a finding against the personal litigant. How these types of cases are managed is being debated as part of the civil justice review.

The Civil Justice Review is comprehensive, and will consider other divisions of the High Court in 2016. It is hoped that a final report will be ready sometime in the New Year and that the justice system will be modernised, taking account of advances in technology and improving efficiency, without diluting the core values of justice.

Alphy Maginness

Chief Legal Adviser

Civil Justice Review (Contd)



BSO successfully led a consortium of 15 organisations across Europe to submit an application to the

European Union’s Horizon 2020 and secured an EU grant of €3.65m to help address the recovery of

patients following a stroke.

Horizon 2020 is the EU’s largest research and innovation programme. Part of the programme is

focused upon tackling societal challenges and has afforded NI the opportunity to bid for funding to

implement a method of enabling innovation through Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP). All of the EC

funds will be spent directly upon research and development within industry; 55% of the technologies

developed will be directly tested in Northern Ireland and 45% in Italy.

Stroke presents Northern Ireland with a significant health burden. It is the fourth single largest cause of

death in the UK and the second in the world. In NI there are 2700 new strokes annually and 35,000

stroke survivors living in the community. The average cost of care (acute and rehabilitation) per stroke

patient in the UK is currently £23,315. For NI that equates to £62.9m annually on new stroke patients

alone. Approximately 30% of stroke survivors will experience a recurrent stroke or TIA (also known as a

mini-stroke).

Limited staff resources, coupled with the geographical distances and rural population of NI, places

significant challenges on delivering the required standard of rehabilitation and patient information to

enable survivors to live more independent lives and reduce long term formal and informal care.

Technology offers an opportunity to address this need, at the same time as overcoming the challenge

created by limited staff resources and rural populations.

Project MAGIC– Mobile Assistance for Groups and Individuals

in the Community



The care for patients who have sustained a stroke is sub-optimal within the MAGIC Consortium

member regions. Within Northern Ireland, a service review undertaken by RQIA highlighted significant

underperformance with regard to service outcomes at 6-months post stroke. This is caused by an

inability to deliver care, as would ideally be prescribed, due to a deficit in professional clinical staff and

resources. When this background is linked to the increasing number of older people with co-morbid

chronic disease suffering stroke, the outlook is set to deteriorate from both socio-economic and human

well-being perspectives without a radical rethink of the system. The use of self-management

approaches to help patients and carers better manage the life-changing impacts of stroke presents an

opportunity to improve patient care in a cost effective manner. However, there is no technological

solution available to deploy to adequately address the problem.

The MAGIC Post Stroke Project Team has united a consortium of experts from across Europe

dedicated to enable a significant change in the delivery of health & social care services to empower

patients post stroke. The consortium has recognised a significant gap in care associated with the

recovery of such patients and the need to find a new cost-effective way of meeting the escalating

needs of thousands of Europeans each year.

PCP Approach

The MAGIC project will run for 52-months and will involve the implementation of a 3 Phase PCP

competition. BSO will be leading this process within Europe and have an opportunity to gain

international recognition for excellence.

• In Phase 1 up to 7 suppliers will each be awarded up to €60k for solution development;

• In Phase 2 up to 4 suppliers from Phase 1 will be awarded up to €105k for prototype development;

• In Phase 3 up to 3 suppliers from Phase 2 will be awarded up to €930k to implement and trial their solutions in Northern

Ireland and Italy.

Improvements in quality of life of our post-stroke patients involved in the project will be measured

through assessing performance in activities of daily living at baseline, 12-weeks & 24-weeks using the

Barthel scale, which is an internationally recognised tool. It is anticipated that this will enable a

successful impact to be demonstrated.

Regular updates about this very exciting project will be provided through BSO Business Matters.



For many, Christmas is the season of stress. The annual family get-together at Christmas can be a mixture of pleasure and panic. There are just so many things to do, and a limited time to do them in. Working people can feel especially harassed, trying to fit Christmas activities into their limited time. When it feels like Christmas spirit is beginning to run-out, try relieving the burden using the following tips: Expectations Powerful Christmas advertisements and marketing campaigns can get into your veins and create an uneasy feeling of “less than”. Your Christmas can be “more than” if you keep it simple and light.

Ask for help Christmas anxiety will be easier to overcome when you don’t feel like you’re in it alone, or have to do everything. Assign some tasks to other family members. Write a 'to do' list and then put people's names, including your children's names, next to that job. Learning to delegate teaches everyone responsibility and it takes away your sense of feeling overwhelmed. If you are organizing a Christmas party at your place, let your guest help out. Emotions Emotions run high in every household and office around the world during this festive time. Consider an internal emotional barometer. It is not what is happening around you that changes, it is how you react to it. Be more aware of your feelings. Your body will tell you, for example headache, tingles in your tummy, racing heartbeat, anger or frustration. Try to stay calm and composed during this stressful time. Alcohol consumption It is so easy to get into the “spirit” of Christmas. We should all know our limitations and what alcohol does to us. Some people get happy; others grumpy and sadly some get angry and violent. Drinking alcohol reduces our inhibitions – we may behave in ways that we might later regret. Keep an eye on each other and on yourself. Food, glorious food If there is one time of the year when we tend to let good habits fall by the wayside, it’s the festive season. Letting yourself have some of the nice food that come around at Christmas important because otherwise you might feel deprived of the feeling of an all-round Christmas. Help keep your festive season indigestion-free, try to keep the meals to a manageable size. Remember – it’s better to eat smaller portions regularly than stuffing yourself once. Don’t make it perfect, make it fun! Ease off the perfectionism. The family will fight, the gifts will disappoint, and the turkey will be dry. It’s inevitable that some troubles will arise. Spending some quality time with people is what’s going to make a good Christmas, and that’s what people will remember.

Healthy Tips for Christmas



CareCall

The next meeting of the BSO Board will take place

at 2.00PM on 28 January 2016, in the Boardroom

Franklin Street.

If you would like any further information or details of the agenda, please

contact Amanda Mills in the Chief Executive’s Office.

Tel: (028) 9536 3863

Email: [email protected]

Forthcoming Board Meeting

Documents

Business Matters...BSO Business Matters December 2015 Page 6 2. Efficient and Cost Effective Disposal of Cases Much of the criticism aimed at our justice system is the delay in matters