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Success stories

The report was influential in changing the way the board did business.

Joe Hegarty Chair

Start as you mean to go

In Westminster, the Intelligent Commissioning Board report has proved a useful tool.

Joe Hegarty, chair of Westminster PCT, says, "The role of the PCT board was gradually changing and the focus was moving from a general one, which included a lot of provider services, to commissioning.

"The commissioning report helped reinforce our view of how the board should develop and how its agenda should be organised, how our board meetings should be focused, what information should be available and how it should be presented. In all those areas, it has played a part in helping us develop."

Hegarty says that the report was not the sole driver of changes, but played its part and was influential in changing the way the board did business. He regards the report very much as a tool and "something we can dip into" for several reasons.

Solution

It is now a fixed part of inductions for new NEDs.

"We use it as part of the induction process for non-executive directors," Hegarty explains, "because it sets out the way we ought to operate and what the board is about.

"Prior to this, we had to rely on documents such as The NHS Plan or Commissioning a Patient-Led NHS - major government documents - to show people what was happening and what the board was about.

"But the Intelligent Commissioning Board report has helped us because, where as those other documents were about policy, the Intelligent Board is about process and performance management."

Outcome

The board now has a sense of shared understanding in terms of its role in delivering world-class commissioning.

"It drives how we work. It's to do with the importance of the items on our agenda and where we spend our time," said Hegarty.

Initially, the board focused on defining how they used their time and how meetings should be structured. But Hegarty says that they are now looking beyond that to the way in which they use information and their requirements.

Fellow Westminster PCT board member Dr Sheila D'Souza found the Intelligent Commissioning Board a helpful addition to the two-day induction course. D'Souza attended the induction despite being in her third year as a NED, but found it gave her a fresh perspective.

"The report has encouraged us to see how data is becoming more available and how to interrogate the richness of the information," she says. "It's up to commissioners then to check that information and look at the benchmarks it provides."

Presentation of information has also improved, she adds. "The workforce information is much clearer now. We used to get a massive report with reams of text and now it's been boiled down to graphics on two pages."

D'Souza is clear that more information is required. "We've started the process and that has made us hungry for more information," she says. "It has helped us identify more information that we need."

Tool

The Intelligent Commissioning Board report