Managing Processes and Systems

NHS Trust.

I run a Speciality Discharge of patients team that works Monday to Friday 08:00 – 16:00 only and focuses on the timely / rapid discharge of patients from hospital to home / nursing home in collaboration with community sector teams etc.

For the purpose of this assignment I will only need to analyse my area of work in the hospital, not that of the community. However it would be important to note collaborative workings.

The team is made up of 3 trained staff.  There are other trained staffs who work across the hospital in other areas, they also work Monday to Friday however they have their own services to work for.

Due to increased demand on capacity for patients during high pressures, all NHS Trusts has been tasked by the government to increase the discharge services in hospitals to 7 days a week, Monday to Sunday  08:00 – 20:00 to optimise the amount of beds in the hospital available for patients to come in. This 7/7 service has to be established and running within 4 weeks.

This will be funded by the government, however needs to remain cost efficient.

Purpose of the assignment

The assignment is designed to allow you to demonstrate your ability to: • critically evaluate the applicability of module concepts to specific organisational contexts • describe, analyse and evaluate the design and performance of operating systems and processes using appropriate theories, models and frameworks from the module • demonstrate your critical understanding of the module through the selection and application of appropriate theories, models and frameworks to the chosen problem, challenge or opportunity • identify opportunities to improve delivery performance and design appropriate strategies for achieving that improvement • recommend appropriate management techniques to realise benefits from process change in a complex environment

Additionally, you are required to reflect on how the theories and concepts presented in the module have informed your thinking on management thinking and practice, especially understanding in the context of your journey through the programme to date.

Assignment brief

Identify a current problem, challenge or opportunity related to delivery of goods and/or services within your organisation, make recommendations likely to deliver business performance improvements, and develop the implementation plan. Note that the assignment should deal with a current issue and not an historical (i.e. past) one. The report should consist of a cover page (see ‘Word count’, below) and six elements: 1. Title 2. Introduction (approximately 10% of word count) 3. Part 1: Analysis of a current process-related problem, challenge or opportunity within your organisation leading to recommendations to address the problem, challenge or opportunity that will deliver performance improvements (approximately 50% of word count) 4. Part 2: Presentation of the implementation plan including risk management (approximately 30% of word count) 5. Reflection (approximately 10% of word count) 6. Reference list Appendices, if used, should be placed after the reference list. The required elements of the report are described in detail below

Introduction (approximately 10% of word count) In this section of your assignment you should: • Clearly state the problem, challenge or opportunity that is the focus of your assignment. • Briefly describe the context, including: • an overview of the organisation, department or function in which the issue is located • an overview of the relevant contextual factors relating to the issue that you intend to analyse • your relationship to the organisation/issue to be discussed

Part 1: Analysis of current issue (approximately 50% of word count) In Part 1 you should critically analyse your chosen problem, challenge or opportunity using selected theories, models and frameworks from the module course material, correctly referenced and supported by appropriate evidential data. You should explain the structure and scope of the system being analysed and provide evidence-based evaluation of current and required future performance as appropriate to establish the need for change and/or improvement. Your analysis should clearly identify the relevant factors causing and/or influencing the chosen problem, challenge or opportunity, and lead to actionable recommendations that will address the factors that you have identified and deliver performance improvement as a result. Your recommendations must be clearly grounded in your analysis. Data to support your analysis may be drawn from secondary sources (e.g. process performance data, customer surveys, etc) and/or simple fieldwork, such as interviews or focus groups with key stakeholders. Data may be quantitative and/or qualitative. You should give a brief description of your data sources and clearly link evidence to the arguments being made in your analysis.

Part 2: Implementation of recommendations (approximately 30% of word count) Develop and present an implementation plan for the recommendations proposed in Part 1. Your plan should take into account relevant contextual factors that will need to be managed as part of the implementation and address, as appropriate, scope of work, overall implementation strategy, implementation schedule and resourcing.

You should include an assessment of risks that could affect successful implementation and a plan for how those risks will be managed. You should make use of appropriate models and frameworks from the module course material, supported by suitable evidential data, in developing and presenting your implementation plan. A budget is not required or expected.

Models: For example. (Ensure 3 are suitable and incorporate)  Force field Analysis, Operations strategy matrix, IPO, SIPOC, PPTI framework.

Reflection (approximately 10% of word count) To demonstrate your broader understanding and learning from studying the MPS module, you are required to include a reflective component to your assignment. For example: What are the strengths and weaknesses of the process and system approach? How has study of the MPS module influenced your thinking about and your approach to management? How will you use your learning from MPS in the future?

Reference list (not included in word count) The reference list is a full list of all the sources you have cited in your text. It must be in the Harvard referencing style.