Press Releases & News

Amnis, the quality, innovation and productivity organisation, has revealed the secrets of successful problem solving to deliver service improvement and innovation in healthcare. Amnis’ specialists explained the secrets to a group of professionals from the healthcare sector at the third masterclass in an initial series of five being run jointly by Amnis and the Institute of Healthcare Management (IHM).

Again – as in the other courses in this series – each delegate rated the course content, the presenter’s knowledge and skills and the degree to which the event met their needs as ‘excellent’ or ‘very good’.

According to one of the delegates – Barry Gent, the Practice Manager at Stock Hill Surgery: “It was an excellent course. I cannot remember one I have enjoyed more, or got so much from.”

The remaining masterclasses in the Amnis/IHM series are:

• 20^th January 2010 – Sustaining Lean (Birmingham)
• 26^th February 2010 – Thinking Strategically (Birmingham)

The IHM’s Phil Slinger said: “Each of the courses we do with Amnis is generating extremely high satisfaction ratings from the delegates. This has encouraged us to discuss arranging a further, similar programme with Amnis for 2010.”

Amnis’ Mark Eaton commented: “The masterclass on Problem Solving Tools for Service Improvement & Innovation was a joy to run because the delegates approached the whole event in a positive and enquiring frame of mind. I felt that we got the masterclass’ message across – and that should soon translate itself into service improvements within the delegates’ organisations.

“In our discussions with the IHM regarding next year’s series of masterclasses, we expect to continue to focus on both practical and strategic topics which are of great importance to the healthcare sector,” he said.

End

About the Institute of Healthcare Management (IHM)

The IHM is the professional organisation for managers throughout healthcare, including the NHS; Independent Providers; Healthcare Consultants and the Armed Forces.

The IHM’s focus is on improving patient/user care wherever and whenever healthcare is needed. The route to achieving this is through the promotion of excellence in healthcare management.

The IHM achieves this by:

• Publishing standards of management practice
• Promoting the IHM Code (covering behavioural and ethical aspects of management practice)
• Establishing a Continuous Professional Development (CPD) framework
• Promoting CPD and moving towards implementing a CPD validation mechanism
• Holding CPD events in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
• Establishing a coaches database to support members when they choose an executive coach

The IHM has access to the highest offices of the NHS. Many of the senior players in the NHS are members of the IHM. More importantly, by promoting CPD, the IHM influences the management practice of thousands of managers.

About Amnis Limited

Working with both public and private sector organisations, Amnis is a consultancy which specialises in innovation, transformation and organisational improvement, helping clients plan and deploy strategies for successful transformation. Its goal is to help clients not only deliver sustainable change but also to develop their capability to tackle their next challenges.

Providing both consultancy and training services, Amnis’ team includes specialists in Lean/Six Sigma, organisational development, strategic planning, change management and systems thinking.

Further information from:

Ruth Bodman, Amnis, 00 44 (0) 870 446 1002; ruthbodman@amnis.uk.com

Bob Little, Bob Little Press & PR, 00 44 (0)1727 860405; bob.little@boblittlepr.com

Lean is far more than just a set of tools for improving efficiency. It can also drive significant improvements in patient safety, according to Amnis, the quality, innovation and productivity organisation.

“We have used Lean to drive improvements in medication risk, reduce the risk of falls and infection and also to reduce other risks arising from ‘human error’ type issues, such as wrong site surgery,” explained Amnis’ Mark Eaton.

Susan Williams, former Chief Executive of the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA), commented: “My work with the Amnis team has shown how easily Lean and other service improvement initiatives can be adapted to tackle some of the major process and cultural issues that drive poor patient safety performance.

“Using Lean to review systems and processes can deliver improvements not just in efficiency but also by engaging clinicians in reducing patient safety risks and, importantly, in avoiding introducing new risks into the redesigned ways of working.

“Organisations may be missing a trick in not explicitly aligning patient safety goals into their change programmes,” she added.

According to Amnis’ Eaton: “Lean has traditionally been used to drive improvements in productivity, experience and access in healthcare but as our work with organisations shows, with the right focus and access to specialist skills it is possible to tackle patient safety issues.

“The key to success is to ensure that you adopt an approach to Lean that is flexible for your organisation and to develop the internal capability of your staff as quickly as possible, so that they can take the reins for your improvement programme,” Eaton advised.

End

About ‘Lean’

Coined by Jim Womack’s research team at MIT in the 1990s, ‘Lean’ means doing more with less. The core idea behind ‘Lean’ is to maximise customer value while minimising waste. A Lean organisation understands customer value and focuses its key processes to continually meet those needs.

About Amnis Limited

Working with both public and private sector organisations, Amnis is a consultancy which specialises in innovation, transformation and organisational improvement, helping clients plan and deploy strategies for successful transformation. Its goal is to help clients not only deliver sustainable change but also to develop their capability to tackle their next challenges. Providing both consultancy and training services, Amnis’ team includes specialists in Lean/Six Sigma, organisational development, strategic planning, change management and systems thinking.

Further information from:

Ruth Bodman, Amnis, 00 44 (0) 870 446 1002; ruthbodman@amnis.uk.com

Bob Little, Bob Little Press & PR, 00 44 (0)1727 860405; bob.little@boblittlepr.com

Achieving real transformation in healthcare organisations requires more than a single skill set and, as many healthcare organisations have found, improvement programmes based on Lean are simply not enough according to Amnis, the quality, innovation and productivity organisation.

“Trying to achieve long-term change through a fragmented series of improvement programmes, or by focusing on one approach by itself – such as simply applying Lean or Six Sigma – is unlikely to lead to the level of change that healthcare organisations require in this challenging environment,” said Amnis’ Mark Eaton.

“The only real way to achieve and maintain sustainable improvements is via an integrated approach to improvement,” he added. “This approach needs to combine a focus on people development and cultural change with productivity and process improvement.

“Obviously, this needs to be combined with a management attitude that is both resilient and has the courage to tackle difficult issues,” he explained.

Carla Bickley, of Wolverhampton City PCT, commented: “We don’t believe we would have been able to move as far, or as fast, as we have done without the integrated support we’ve received from Amnis.

“The Amnis approach has helped us to create not only a successful service improvement strategy but also a thriving project management culture. This has drawn on a wide range of skills and has helped us to produce improvements in the way we deliver services,” she added.

Amnis’ team of multi-skilled consultants has worked with Wolverhampton PCT over 18 months, helping to put a range of strategies and tactics in place which has already seen significant process and performance improvements.

End

About ‘Lean’

Coined by Jim Womack’s research team at MIT in the 1990s, ‘Lean’ means doing more with less. The core idea behind ‘Lean’ is to maximise customer value while minimising waste. A Lean organisation understands customer value and focuses its key processes to continually meet those needs.

About Amnis Limited

Working with both public and private sector organisations, Amnis is a consultancy which specialises in innovation, transformation and organisational improvement, helping clients plan and deploy strategies for successful transformation. Its goal is to help clients not only deliver sustainable change but also to develop their capability to tackle their next challenges.

Providing both consultancy and training services, Amnis’ team includes specialists in Lean/Six Sigma, organisational development, strategic planning, change management and systems thinking.

Further information from:

Ruth Bodman, Amnis, 00 44 (0) 870 446 1002; ruthbodman@amnis.uk.com

Bob Little, Bob Little Press & PR, 00 44 (0)1727 860405; bob.little@boblittlepr.com

The first masterclass in a series of five being run jointly by the specialist healthcare quality, innovation and productivity improvement enabler, Amnis, and the Institute of Healthcare Management (IHM) has been hailed a resounding success, with all the delegates rating the programme as ‘excellent’ or ‘very good’.

The programme focused on the problems of introducing Lean and Service Improvement methodologies into healthcare organisations and was called ‘Service Improvement & Lean for Managers and Executives’. Participants came from a variety of primary and secondary care organisations as well as from private organisations.

Jeremy Morris, one of the delegates, said: “The session was clear, well run, participative and engaging. I found the clarity and practicality of the approach excellent.

“There are many things that I will take away from today, including the key experiences from other participants.”

Mark Eaton, of Amnis, said: “It was great that everyone derived so much from the session. It is further proof of the benefits of sharing knowledge and experiences both between similar organisations and across health economies.”

The IHM’s Phil Slinger said: “This was a great start to our programme with Amnis and I am delighted by the excellent feedback and testimonials. We’re already discussing running a similar programme in Scotland and are already planning our programme with Amnis for 2010.”

Dates for future events are:

17th November – Creating a Culture of Continuous Improvement (London)

1st December – Problem Solving Tools for Improvement & Innovation (London)

20th January – Sustaining Lean (Birmingham)

26th February – Thinking Strategically (Birmingham)

End

About the Institute of Healthcare Management (IHM)

The IHM is the professional organisation for managers throughout healthcare, including the NHS; Independent Providers; Healthcare Consultants and the Armed Forces.

The IHM’s focus is on improving patient/user care wherever and whenever healthcare is needed. The route to achieving this is through the promotion of excellence in healthcare management.

The IHM achieves this by:

* Publishing standards of management practice
* Promoting the IHM Code (covering behavioural and ethical aspects of management practice)
* Establishing a Continuous Professional Development (CPD) framework
* Promoting CPD and moving towards implementing a CPD validation mechanism
* Holding CPD events in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
* Establishing a coaches database to support members when they choose an executive coach

The IHM has access to the highest offices of the NHS. Many of the senior players in the NHS are members of the IHM. More importantly, by promoting CPD, the IHM influences the management practice of thousands of managers.

About Amnis Limited

Working with both public and private sector organisations, Amnis is a consultancy which specialises in innovation, transformation and organisational improvement, helping clients plan and deploy strategies for successful transformation. Its goal is to help clients not only deliver sustainable change but also to develop their capability to tackle their next challenges.

Providing both consultancy and training services, Amnis’ team includes specialists in Lean/Six Sigma, organisational development, strategic planning, change management and systems thinking.

Further information from:

Ruth Bodman, Amnis, 00 44 (0) 870 446 1002; ruthbodman@amnis.uk.com 
Phil Slinger, IHM, 00 44 (0)20 7620 1030; P.Slinger@ihm.org.uk
Bob Little, Bob Little Press & PR, 00 44 (0)1727 860405; bob.little@boblittlepr.com

The collaboration between Amnis, the specialist healthcare quality, innovation and productivity improvement enabler, and Terema, the human factors organisation, was a resounding success at the Association for Perioperative Practice (AfPP) congress, in Harrogate, in October. Indeed, Diane Gilmour, President of the AfPP, commented: “The Amnis and Terema stand has been a highlight of the event for many participants.”

Amnis and Terema brought together expertise designed to ensure a smooth and effective flow of patients into theatre and effective behaviours from the theatre teams themselves. To emphasise this, they arranged to bring a flight simulator – staffed by serving airline pilots – to the AfPP Congress and allow delegates to try their skills at flying and landing a modern passenger jet.

According to Amnis’ managing director, Mark Eaton: “The focus at the Amnis and Terema stand was on both having fun as well as demonstrating the importance of improving the flow of patients and the way that teams work in high pressure environments.

“Success in aviation is achieved by maintaining safety and quality while providing efficient and effective use of resources in a complex and dynamic environment,” he continued.

“In healthcare, even more than aviation, staff are central to success. Optimisation of systems and processes – provided by Amnis – must be undertaken in co-ordination with the development of people and culture, which is provided by Terema.”

Eaton added: “Over the three days of the congress, there were 86 ‘official’ slots available on the flight simulator. We managed to squeeze 88 people through and we had a waiting list that ran into dozens, so that we could have filled each slot three times.”

Libby Campbell OBE, Director of Nursing at NHS Lothian said: “The simulator was excellent. I can see the link between it and the need for human factors and Lean methodology training in healthcare.”

Terema’s Phil Higton commented: “It was great to be able to see the enthusiasm of the theatre staff in the simulator as they got the chance to fly and land a Boeing 737 – with many of them achieving impressive scores.”

An article, by Mark Eaton and Phil Higton, on developing effective operating theatres can be downloaded from: http://www.downloads.amnis.uk.com/ETArticle.pdf

For further details about developing effective operating theatres, visit: http://www.downloads.amnis.uk.com/ETBrochure.pdf.

End

About Amnis Limited

Working with both public and private sector organisations, Amnis is a consultancy which specialises in innovation, transformation and organisational improvement, helping clients plan and deploy strategies for successful transformation. Its goal is to help clients not only deliver sustainable change but also to develop their capability to tackle their next challenges.

Providing both consultancy and training services, Amnis’ team includes specialists in Lean/Six Sigma, organisational development, strategic planning, change management and systems thinking.

Further information from:

Ruth Bodman, Amnis, 00 44 (0) 870 446 1002; ruthbodman@amnis.uk.com

Bob Little, Bob Little Press & PR, 00 44 (0)1727 860405; bob.little@boblittlepr.com