St Giles Hospice Quality Account 2017 St_Giles_Hospice_Quality_Account_2017 | Page 6

Priorities for improvement – taken from
our strategic priorities 2016-17
Strategic Priorities
Following significant work during 2016/17 we launched our new brand and hospice strategy in April 2017.
Brand is more than a logo or name, it is in essence the personality of the organisation and if our messages
are confused it makes it more difficult for patients and referrers to access our care. We have spent time
trying to simplify our messages and consider how to strengthen our brand.
We have set five key strategic priorities to achieve during 2016/17. These priorities apply across all of our
hospice activities.
•  During 2017/18 we will evaluate the effectiveness and impact of our strategy and brand launch.
We want to ensure that our message about understanding what hospice care can offer and how to
access it is expanded across our local community.
•  By the end of Quarter 2 we will have evaluated St Giles current and future information technology
requirements and have an effective costed forward strategy and developed any business cases that
may be needed to secure additional funding needs.
• B
 y the end of Quarter 3 we will have developed an approach to articulating, managing and
supporting the delivery of our strategic aim to “Be at the forefront of developing new ways of
managing common symptoms such as pain, breathlessness, poor nutrition and fatigue in order to
improve people’s ability to live a fulfilling life for as long as possible“. This will include a three year
plan which will include workforce development, sustainability and the embedding of holistic inter-
professional management.
•  By the end of Quarter 2 we will have produced a workforce plan, including volunteering, that
ensures we have a highly motivated, skilled and supported team to deliver the future strategy. This
is to ensure that we have the right size, structure and training of staff, paid and unpaid to meet the
increased numbers and complexity of care that is needed by people in our community.
•  During 2017/18 we will ensure that all care services will be evaluated to demonstrate impact
including (depending on the service) quality of care, evidence base, the health economy, finance
and brand awareness. This priority is important to help us promote, plan, develop and protect our
current and future services.
Page 04
1. We will begin work
to develop new ways
of managing common
symptoms for people
living with a life
threatening disease. How will we know what we have
achieved?
How was this identified as a
priority? 2. During 2017/18
all our care services
will be evaluated to
demonstrate impact.
One of our strategic aims is to
be at the forefront of developing
new ways of managing common
symptoms such as pain,
breathlessness, poor nutrition
and fatigue in order to improve
people’s ability to live a fulfilling life
for as long as possible. This was
identified through engagement
with our staff, volunteers and local
community when we undertook
our strategic review in 2016/17. We
recognise that we have expertise
in symptom management and that
we need to continue to develop
this but also to expand how we can
reach and support more people
who could be helped to live better
with illnesses that would benefit
from palliative care.
What are we aiming to achieve?
To develop a three year plan to
enable us to achieve our aim,
which will include how we need
to develop our existing and future
workforce to embed a truly holistic
inter-professional approach.
How will progress be monitored
and reported?
Our progress will be reported and
monitored by our Board at their
quarterly meetings.
The plan will have been created and
within it there will be projects, activities
and milestones to ensure that over
the next 3 years we are successful in
achieving our strategic aim.
What are we aiming to achieve?
We have not previously had a
systematic approach to explaining
and evidencing the impact our care
has on the quality of life and the
outcomes for patients, the evidence
base we use, how we positively
impact the wider healthcare services
both in terms of capacity and cost-
effectiveness. If we can achieve
this we will be better able to show
the public and commissioners the
benefits of the hospice care provided
by St Giles.
How will progress be monitored
and reported?
A target has been set to undertake
this work by the end of 2017 and
present this to our Board.
How will we know what we have
achieved?
Through undertaking this work we
will have information we can use
to better inform our discussions
with our team, commissioners
and our community and support
future service development and
improvements.
3. We will implement a
new software system
to manage our patient
safety, risk management
and incident reporting
system, Datix.
What are we aiming to achieve?
The system will introduce a
more efficient way of managing
our patient safety and incident
reporting; however most
importantly of all it will help us
understand where and how we
can improve our approach to
patient safety and therefore
quality of care. It will help us
further promote a culture of
learning by supporting how we
record, investigate and analyse
incidents and share any learning
we identify. It will also help us
more easily evidence to our
regulator and commissioners that
we provide safe care.
How will progress be monitored
and reported?
There will be an implementation
plan to include education and
training that will be monitored by
our Senior Management Team
and reported to our Clinical
Governance Committee.
How will we know what we have
achieved?
Once implemented Datix will be
used to form the basis of how we
report on patient safety matters to
our Board, our regulators and our
commissioners.
Page 05