Following an exclusive interview with HSJ, NHS England's elective chief Sir Jim Mackey warns of tighter regulations as a result of increased public scrutiny during post-Covid recovery plans.

• Healthcare providers warned to prepare for tighter performance regulations following their most harrowing period in history
• Leaders need to be worried about the public perception of the service
• Find out a clear, simplified way to manage regulations against performance and get ahead of the game

After the most demanding test the NHS has ever faced, NHS England’s elective chief Sir Jim Mackey warns of tighter performance regulations coming to healthcare providers. The Covid-19 pandemic strained the country’s healthcare system under the enormous pressure of rapidly rising cases, lack of PPE and a ventilator shortage.

Despite appearances, Covid-19 can’t bear the whole blame. The pandemic exposed the system’s pre-existing cracks, with wait times for consultations already being up to 18 months for some patients.

Mackey says, “if we are honest, we’d been drifting for a few years before covid on the key metrics. We’ve had a couple of years where, for understandable reasons, there hasn’t been quite as tight a focus on some of these things. But there will be.”

In an exclusive interview with the HSJ, Mackey warns leaders that they should worry about public perception of the service and rely more on technology to streamline processes, save time and improve patient care.

The scale of the challenge is yet unknown: so, what can help your organisation stand up against the looming regulations?

What we can do.

We are InPhase: delivering performance management solution technology since 1991. Our software has taken the performance and quality standards of numerous organisations to the next level.

We can do the same for you.

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What you can do.

To measure up against the coming regulations, there are steps you can take to help ensure your Trust won’t buckle under the pressure.

Assess your current standpoint.

Start with improving situation awareness, including audits, quality self-assessment results, incidents and complaints, and identify which performance outcomes are affected by which issues.

Collating this information can be an overwhelming task, particularly in larger organisations. To help counteract this issue, dedicated software with out-of-the-box integrated quality assurance capabilities for audits, CQC assessment, compliance, incidents, complaints and API connections into your performance and quality systems turns the mountain into a molehill.

This quickly lets you find out what areas could use the most improvement and work from there.

Set targets and track progress.

Once you have continuous assessment of your current situation, you can identify the next most important priority for change and set your improvement targets. Turn weaknesses into strengths where it matters most.

Keep a complete, up to date, oversight of quality, safety, and compliance across the board as your changes are implemented to see the progress.

With patient wait times being a primary national concern, this aspect will often need improvement, whilst also keeping quality of care on track. A balance of performance in both wait times and quality of care is needed to achieve patient satisfaction.

Whatever your system identifies as issues, identify the sourcing of the problem, create an action plan, make sure the plan is executed and monitor its performance.

Performance will be scrutinised: it’s crucial to know what to expect and improve, with under-performing departments highlighted in real-time.

Get ahead of risks before they become prominent.

Have assurance that you’ve calculated and prepared for the most significant risks to achieving your primary outcomes. It’s best to head off a crisis before it happens, and be ready for it if it does.

Bringing all your relevant risk, audit and incident information together automatically enables you to have control more easily, providing a comprehensive analysis of the most impactful risks, control and mitigations and ability to track what is happening in real-time.

The takeaway.

It’s crucial to get ahead of the performance management game, particularly regarding the incoming regulations and increasing focus on performance from the Care Quality Commission.

A move towards technology-based systems to streamline processes is necessary to save time, money and resources. Have everything in one place to meet the needs of the board managers and front-line staff as well as the demands from both the public and health regulators.

Luckily, the experts at InPhase have developed the ideal solution.

Schedule your time with us to learn how you can prepare your organisation for success.

Robert Hobbs

Chief Executive Officer

InPhase’s Chief Executive and Founder, Robert has been the visionary leading InPhase to be one of the UK's leading providers of management, governance and assurance solutions, and helping organisations align their actions and goals more easily and efficiently with InPhase's suite of integrated apps.