The MES Blog has moved

We've recently switched our blog across to a new address, so if you want to keep up to date with MES news and our blog posts then head over to our new site at membershipengagementservicesblog.wordpress.com  where you can access the same great content, in an even better format.

The true value of patient engagement

After 3 months abroad, my first week returned to my desk has been mostly spent reacquainting myself with what’s been going on in Healthcare. Being confident that no-one (except perhaps Andrew McClellan @HSJeditor) would be able to accurately digest  and regurgitate the entire sector in a week I settled for getting to grips with a selection of current themes.

After some exploratory googling, ‘patient engagement and its inherent value’ had piqued my interest. Nesta had recently suggested that the NHS in England could expect to save £4.4bn per annum in their recently published ‘Business Case for People Powered Health’.

For the past 6 years MES has been helping public and staff members of Foundation Trusts to influence their health providers. And now perhaps the other side of the coin is beginning to weigh-in with equal value, as we look to our clinicians to engage with patients to positively affect their behaviour.  

I learned from Forbes.com that pharmaceutical advertising in the states has been decreased for the 4^th consecutive year. However spend from Weight Watchers has been steadily increasing. Back on this side of the Atlantic it is common knowledge Doctors have regularly topped the list of most trusted professions since the yearly poll began in 1983.

Last year NHS Bedfordshire managed to lower the number of no-shows for appointments by 30% using 3 behaviour change techniques. At present it is easy to measure the financial cost of ‘Did not attends’, and therefore easy to justify spend on that mode of engagement. The good news is that it looks as though more value will be placed on this sort of activity.

Looks who's back...

 

If you work with us here at MES or follow us on Twitter or here on the blog, you may have noticed that Paul our Head of  Business Development has been a little quiet recently.  Well for the last three months he's been on sabbatical travelling the world.  During his travels he went skiing in France, and then travelled extensively through Central America visting places like Guatamala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama.  

 

 

Well he's now back, getting used to the British weather again (his plane landed at Heathrow in a snow storm!) and getting stuck in.  He'll be back writing on the blog as well, so expect to hear from him soon.

 

Postcard from an Election Observer

For the last seven days i've not been in the MES office, i've been in Macedonia observing their local elections as part of a OSCE Election Observation Mission.  The OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) is an international organisation made up of 57 member states who meet together to look at a number of issues relating to security cooperation in the region.  They also cover human rights and democracy and one of their most prominent activities is the observation of elections in their member states.

So it was through this process that I found myself on a flight to Skopje last week to join up with a group of observers from around the world (I believe at least twenty coutries were represented).  The other observers came from all walks of life, we had people who were part of international efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, others who were working on the humanitarian situation in Sudan, and we also had people who worked in local councils or central government departments here in the UK.  We even had a few people who'd stood for election themselves in the past.

How do I get the Foundation Trust Governors I want?

As somebody who has been immersed in the NHS Foundation Trust sector for the past 3 years, people often ask me in ‘FT’ circles (I suspect only half-joking), how to get the governors they want. More specifically, “how do I avoid having this particular awkward do-gooder with a first class degree in obstructive behaviour from the National Institute for Aggressive Soapboxing (NIAS), from making my life as Governor co-ordinator extremely difficult?” 

Hitting the target, but missing the point

Today the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt speaks at a health conference in Surrey on standards in the NHS, the dangers highlighted by the Francis report and of the risks of mediocrity or aiming simply not to “come last”.

In his speech he uses one phrase (originally coined by NHS Chief Executive David Nicholson) which particularly resonates with me, and regardless of political persuasion, I think is a pretty good sound bite.  He suggests “Hospitals are hitting targets but missing the point”.

Clinical performance and safety are naturally amongst the highest priorities within the NHS, and I think that is where the Minister’s sentiment may be directed.  However it can also be applied as a warning to the world of membership and engagement in the NHS.  MES was set up to help organisations develop and deliver meaningful engagement and that is a core part of our day-to-day ethos.  But does it feed through into the increasingly busy and stretched membership offices of NHS Foundation Trusts?  Is the focus on hitting targets and as such misses the point?  And what will new CCGs focus on given they too have a clear remit to engage with local health communities and the public.

Lent and the MES Pancakes

 

Yesterday was that lovely British tradition of pancake day and like most of the country the MES team enjoyed making pancakes last night. While there were a few disasters and plenty ended up in the bin, the end results were worth it.  Like 63% of the country (yes there is even polling data about pancakes!) most of the MES team favoured the traditional lemon and sugar combination, with Andreas and I being the only one to opt for savoury options, he went for bacon and cheese while I opted for a French galette stuffed with ham, egg and cheese.

 

Pancake day of course marks the traditional start of Lent with people opting to give something up for the forty days until Easter.  While here at MES we might have enjoyed the pancakes, we're apparently not as good at giving things up.  When I surveyed the team only Rob in our Membership Services Team  was giving something up - he's giving up Beer and Lager.  Other responses ranged from "I am actually reverse-lenting. I am re-starting things I gave up" to "giving up chocolate last year just made me cranky so I’m making the decision that is best for everyone by giving up nothing."