“Partnership” is one of those ideas sprinkled liberally across policy documents, management textbooks, tender responses and much more besides. Why? What is it about partnership working that’s seen to be aspirational and forward-looking? If we dig deeper behind the buzz word, there are two key reasons why we embrace partnerships at The PSC:

1. Complex work requires specialist expertise – we’re seeing more work specifications that are increasingly precise about the experience and skills being asked of supplier organisations, making it much harder for one organisation to have all the answers. Public service challenges are knotty and complex; tackling them requires a range of specific skills and expertise.
2. Different perspectives bring more creative solutions – we’re better problem-solvers when we encourage diverse thinking, not only within but also between organisations. Working in a complementary way with others keeps us humble and reminds us of the wide range of knowledge and experience we can learn from and bring to our clients.

We were drawn to partnering with Virginia Mason Institute (VMI) for both these reasons.

1. VMI is an internationally recognised expert in healthcare improvement, leadership development and executive coaching. Grounded in their own experience of transformational cultural change at Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle which they now share widely across the globe, the purpose of their work is to elevate patient experience and clinical quality. This purpose clearly aligns with our mission at The PSC to make public services brilliant. VMI specialises in putting a visionary and structured approach to quality improvement (QI) at the heart of an organisation. The Transformation team at The PSC specialises in delivering front-line results alongside clinicians at all levels of the NHS. We complement each other’s skillsets.
2. Our colleagues at VMI bring a range of healthcare experience from across the globe. Most significant for me has been their thoughtful adaptation of traditional QI approaches in developing materials that explore and address health inequities. These include an inequity waste wheel which helps to identify wastes of human potential based on (1) common behaviours displayed by people with power and privilege; (2) common inequities experienced by people without power and privilege. Together, we’ve used this tool with teams who have rapidly gained new insight and given us positive feedback.

Over the last 18 months, we’ve been working together with VMI on the NHS England-commissioned Mental Health Act Quality Improvement Programme, which aims to improve the equity of experience for people from ethnically diverse backgrounds, and people with a learning disability and autistic people, detained under the Mental Health Act. Teams who took part in the pilot phase reported a 33% improvement in their QI skills, and reported improvements to the way they are delivering care: "These conversations we've been having and the small things we've done already have made a big difference. Communication on the ward - with staff being more present with patients and asking questions - is hugely improved. I'm really proud of the team's work.”  As we embark on the main phase of the programme, we’re increasing from 15 to 37 ward teams taking part across the country – and excited to support them make waves of change.

Our next VMI-The PSC adventure – together with a group of other great partners – is the Staff Care & Development strand of the Culture of Care Programme, which is part of NHS England’s Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism Quality Transformation programme. Together, we’ll be supporting a further 180 inpatient teams nationwide to develop team cultures and systems so that people on the ward feel safe and cared for. We will focus on high-quality relational care, positive informal interactions on the ward, and psychologically safe environments. We’ve recently opened for expressions of interest – please spread the word!

And our most recent collaboration is a senior leadership development programme at Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust. RDaSH has ambitious plans to nurture the power in its local communities – we’re excited to be supporting them on this journey.

So there you have it – a partnership that we think encompasses both complementary specialisms and diverse perspectives. We look forward to our relationship with VMI continuing and flourishing over many years to come…

Author: Harris Lorie