OUR VISION

A group of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in Greater Manchester turned to GMCSU’s Utilisation Management (UM) team for assistance when it became clear that a local acute trust was failing to see 95 per cent of patients arriving at its emergency department (ED) within four hours, as national targets demand.

Commissioners wanted to understand why the trust was underperforming and what they could do to hit ED targets, maintain quality standards and improve patient care.

Using a combination of data intelligence skills and clinical expertise, the UM team was able to analyse and interpret a range of datasets to provide commissioners with detailed information about delays, care quality and the impact on ED performance. Resource utilisation reviews were also conducted in the hospital and community facilities.

The team coordinated daily conference calls on behalf of commissioners, inviting relevant health and social care professionals to share information and agree ways of supporting each other to improve performance and pathway quality.

The UM team also facilitated weekly tactical meetings so stakeholders could discuss a joint approach to monitoring key issues and develop appropriate strategies for managing activity and sharing responsibilities for performance improvement.

The recommendations provided by the UM team enabled commissioners to take a more proactive approach, enabling stakeholders to work together in a positive way to reduce ED waiting times.

The CCGs involved said: “Involving GMCSU has greatly enhanced tactical meetings; the Utilisation Management team offered impartial expertise and advice; challenged and worked with us to focus our attention in the right place.”

Equally, the acute provider noted: “Daily UM reports and predictive data were invaluable in planning services and monitoring pressures.  Input to tactical meetings and the management of urgent care reviews has been helpful to the whole urgent care economy and contributed to the strong performance over Quarter 4. A real strength of UM is the clinical credibility and impartiality, they function very well as the honest broker.”