YOUR HEALTH PARTNERSHIP
ANNUAL
REPORT
NOVEMBER 2013
YHP Annual Report 2013
_________________________________________________________________________________
CONTENTS
PAGE
FOREWORD BY DR SIMON MITCHELL
ABOUT THE YOUR HEALTH PARTNERSHIP
3
WHO WE ARE
3
THE YHP WORKFORCE
3
OUR WORKFORCE PROFILE
4
PATIENT ENGAGEMENT
6
WHAT HAVE WE DONE SO FAR
7
PROGRESS TO DATE
8
OUR PLANS FOR THE NEXT TWO YEARS
9
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YHP Annual Report 2013
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Foreword
I’m delighted to introduce this first Annual Report for the Your Health Partnership that summarises our
progress to date and sets out our Strategic Business Plan for the next two years.
In 2011, when we established YHP, the Partners reaffirmed the core values and aspirations that
emphasise the ethos and approach to all that we do. These remain the core principles of YHP’s
development and are summarised by placing the highest priority on;

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High quality clinical care and supporting the development of that locally
Treating patients with respect and sensitivity
Maintaining core business as being that of general medical services
Delivering services efficiently and with integrity
Being an employer of excellence
Our vision for YHP is directed at developing a sustainable general practice organisation that delivers
the highest quality of care, in the most efficient manner with excellent health outcomes and
experience for our patients. This vision builds on the values and historical approach taken by the
Partnerships at both Regis Medical Centre and Carters Green Medical Centre in developing
successful and well respected local primary care organisations. The value of us joining together is
clearly evident as we move forward.
There are significant changes ahead in how general practice services are commissioned and we
believe that large scale general practice will be in a stronger position to take advantage of the
opportunities this creates than the smaller practice model. In fact, over the last few months, many
practices around the country are now exploring the YHP model and so we are in many senses ahead
of the game.
As you will see from this report, we have achieved an enormous amount in developing YHP over the
last two years and without compromising patient care. The partners are very appreciative of the hard
work and commitment of all our staff in contributing to this. You will also see that we have an
ambitious Business Plan moving forward but believe this to be the right direction to withstand the
many challenges ahead for general practice and the NHS more widely but also to contribute positively
to improving local service provision.
Delivering on our plan will be a challenge. We are moving forward within an environment of
uncertainty about the future of general practice and increasing patient demand for our services.
However, the ongoing development of the organisation with a focus on working as smart as we can,
combined with a commitment from us all to doing a good job, leaves me in no doubt we will be
successful.
Our measure of success is delivering our core principles
outlined above but most important of all that we provide the
highest quality of care for our patients and care for our staff
and their development as key to this. My role as Executive
Partner is to ensure we have the resources we need, in the
right place and at the right time to make sure we can deliver
this. I will report back in 2014!
Dr Simon Mitchell
Executive Partner
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YHP Annual Report 2013
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ABOUT THE YOUR HEALTH PARTNERSHIP
The Your Health Partnership (YHP) is a growing primary care organisation built on local general
practice by local GPs and their staff. It is one example of how general practice is changing around the
country to meet the future needs and demands of its patients. The model we are developing is called
a ‘Super Partnership’ where we increase the size of organisation my merging local practices together.
Developing this larger general practice organisation delivers a number of benefits for our staff and
patients that smaller practices find difficult to achieve;

Make the most of the resources we have to ensure we continue to provide, and improve, high
quality care

Increases our ability to deliver a wider range of services locally so patients don’t need to travel to
hospital

We can attract specialists to come and work with us in our practices as we have a larger patient
population

A larger workforce gives us more flexibility to ensure all services are always covered at times of
holidays and sickness

We can keep the ‘feel and personal approach’ of the smaller practice whilst creating greater
efficiencies by centralising some of our management and administration functions which allows us
to invest money service and facility development

A larger clinical workforce enables a sharing of best practice across the organisation and greater
level of peer support

The organisation is more sustainable against changes to national contracts and income
We now provide services to over 24,000 patients registered at Regis Medical Centre, Blackheath
and Carters Green Medical Centre in West Bromwich.
WHO WE ARE
YHP Partners
YHP, like most general practices, are private businesses owned and managed by GPs. YHP has 10
partners who manage the ‘business’ and lead the development of YHP.
Regis Medical Centre
Dr Cornish
Dr Hamilton
Dr Lennie
Dr Mitchell
Dr Padley
Dr Tabassum
Carters Green Medical Centre
Dr Crampton
Dr Weller
Dr Gwilt
Dr Dhadday
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THE YHP WORKFORCE
We are proud of the workforce we have with many of our staff having
worked at RMC or CGMC for many years and know our patients well. An
appropriately skilled and resourced workforce is critical to the success of
YHP. First and foremost we need staff that are committed to providing high
quality care for our patients.
Did you know?
YHP’s prescribing
spend was
£2,564,000 for
2012/13
However, we also need staff that understand, and are committed to, our
strategic plan to improve local service provision. This requires flexibility,
openness to new ways of working and a continuous effort to make
improvements in all that we do. It also requires leaders within the
organisation to make sure the workforce has the appropriate training and equipment to do their jobs
properly and ensure a high level of communication. We have done much to improve effort in this area
and there is still more to do.
The Central Management Team
YHP has a developing Central Management Team (CMT) that ensures all the management and
administration of the business is efficient and supports the delivery of high quality clinical care for our
patients.
The CMT replaces the ‘traditional’ practice management role and works across YHP practice sites.
This prevents duplication of work in each practice and ensures we have a wide range of skills working
across the organisation. We have taken on a number of new people to diversify the sills in the
management team to reflect a growing and innovative organisation.
With recent retirements we have been able to do this within existing resources.
CENTRAL MANAGEMENT TEAM:
Back row l-r Tom Finan, Operations Manager at RMC; Emma Hart, Operations Manager at
CGMC; Jackie Clarke, Nursing Services Lead, Jeremy Thomason, Finance Manager
Front row l-r Emma Jeavons, Governance Support Lead; Sarah Harris, Head of
Operations; Lesley O’nions, Business Support Lead
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OUR WORKFORCE PROFILE
In addition to CMT, our workforce is now organised into four distinct but equally important clinical and
non-clinical groups;
Salaried GPs, Physician Associates, Nursing
We have developed an excellent skill mix within our clinical workforce and were one of the first
practices in the country to introduce Physician Associates to the team. Many more practices and
hospitals now do this. This skill mix allows us to deliver flexible services to meet the needs of those
patients who require an urgent appointment and those with ongoing conditions that need different
models of care.
Patient Services
Our team in patient services manage the large administrative workload involved in managing patient
care behind the scenes. On behalf of our patients they ensure patient records are kept up to date,
results are processed and reported in a timely manner, answer telephone queries and manage all the
correspondence in and out of the practices.
Another significant part of their workload is monitoring all clinical activity so that we can provide the
required reports to the Clinical Commissioning Group and NHS England. This work is increasing and
by centralising some of these functions we are able to be more efficient.
Outlet Services
Whilst we have begun to centralise some of our management and administration services, there are
some activities that need to remain close to the patient and these are our Outlet services.
We have recently appointed two new Operations Managers to each practice to
oversee the day to day management of each practice and manage the facilities
alongside the partners based at that site. This role replaces the traditional practice
manager role. Tom Finan (RMC) and Emma Hart (CGMC) have experience
outside the NHS and are bringing this to help us improve and develop our services.
The quality of our reception service significantly influences how patients feel about
the care they receive in the practice and we strive to ensure each patient that
walks through our doors feels positive about the experience. Many of our
receptionists have been here for a long time and have built up good relationships
with patients, getting to know them and their families which all contribute to the
quality of care.
Did you know?
Our clinical
workforce provides
approximately
140,000
appointments per
year
FIGURE 1: WORKFORCE PROFILE AT OCTOBER 2013 (WHOLE TIME EQUIVALENT)
Did you know?
Our secretaries type 700
patient letters every
month
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YHP Annual Report 2013
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OUR SERVICES
In addition to the general medical and nursing services that most practices provide, YHP provides
other services to provide more convenient care for its patients and to contribute to business growth.
These include;
Outpatient Services
We have a contract with our Clinical Commissioning Group to deliver a range
of secondary services across YHP outlets. Local consultants work with us to
deliver these services which allows us to improve communication between
primary and secondary care and share patient information more effectively. We
are keen to continue to develop these as we know our patients prefer to
receive care at their practice rather than attend a hospital appointment. We
provide clinics for:
Gynaecology
Gastrology
Ophthalmology
Cardiology
Rheumatology
ENT
Did you know?
YHP nurses
give around
1000 injections
every month
Dermatology
Dementia Care
Supporting Local Hospital Care
RMC GPs provide medical care, Monday to Friday, to patients on Henderson and Eliza Tinsley wards
at Rowley Hospital. Some of these are our own patients and some are patients of local practices.
Providing this service enables patients to leave hospital sooner and return closer to home.
Sexual Health Drop In Clinic
We still provide a sexual health drop-in clinic even though we are not funded to do so. This is because
we believe it provides good care for our patients and ultimately leads to lower costs elsewhere in the
system. How long we will be able to continue to do this will depend on changes to the GP contract
from the 1st April 2014.
PATIENT ENGAGEMENT
We strongly believe in the value of patient engagement and involvement in our service delivery and
development and appreciate the feedback we do get from patients. Since YHP was formed, we have
ensured a Partner has time to focus on this area by making it a formal management role. We have a
Patient Participation group active at each practice and these are very valuable for getting feedback
and suggestions for improvement. We recognise that these groups are not always convenient for
those who work or have young families and so we will develop ways to engage better with these
patients.
We now have an online presence on Twitter (@yhpcoms) and Facebook and working hard to make
this relevant and interesting for patients. We have also had a ‘real time’ feedback system in the
reception which has worked well but needs developing further and rolled out to CGMC. We are also
working towards the national policy for patients having online access to their medical records from
2015.
WHAT HAVE WE DONE SO FAR?
Since the inception of YHP we have had a planned programme of development set out in our
Strategic Business Plan. This has recently been updated to take us forward to 2016.
We have achieved a lot in the last couple of years, bearing in mind that partner time is limited and our
first priority is to our clinical services. Table 1 below summarises the achievements all our staff have
contributed to.
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YHP Annual Report 2013
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Table 1: Progress to Date
Strategic Objective
Progress
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Strategy agreed
Patient Groups active on both sites and joint meetings in plan
Real time feedback implemented at RMC
Elephant machine at RMC
Information leaflets updated
Text messaging in place
Reception refurbishment at RMC underway
Improving Clinical Quality

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Strategy agreed
Clinical Operational Group established
Key performance indicators developed and monitored
Prescribing safety measures improved
Quality Outcomes Framework delivery maintained
Care planning developed
Pharmacist pilot completed
Business Continuity Plan in place
Business Growth

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Business planning process embedded
Merger with CGMC increasing list size to 24k
Specialist services expanded as per plan
GP event held with local practice to discuss mergers
Organisational
Development

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Review undertaken and strategy developed
GP Leadership roles embedded
Organisational Review completed
Clinical and Corporate Governance structure in place
Recruitment of new staff with non-NHS skill base
Central Management Team development
New management and administration structure developed
Centralisation agenda commenced
Information Management
and Technology

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Strategy agreed
Extranet established
Information systems across both sites aligned
SystmOne training undertaken
Workforce Development +
Human Resources

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Strategy agreed
Short term and long term structures agreed
Clinical workforce modelling undertaken
Physician Associate recruited to CGMC
Management role development
Standardisation of contracts, terms and conditions underway
Training needs analysis underway
Communications and

YHP brand established
Improving the Patient
Experience
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Marketing
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Strategy agreed
Working Group established
Facebook and Twitter activated
Marketing leaflet agreed
Held Sandwell practices event on future of Sandwell General
Practice
Sponsorship of tri-athlete Jodie Stimpson
Education and Training

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Strategy agreed
Increased our number of GP trainers
Introduction of medical students at CGMC
Accredited for Yrs 1-5 medical student training
Premises and Facilities

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Reception refurbishment at RMC planned
Business Case process for CGMC new build commenced
CGMC refurbishments for training completed
OUR PLANS FOR THE NEXT TWO YEARS
Underpinning principles
An integral element of the Super Partnership model is to create a
business model that is less reliant on the core national GP contract
through diversification of income streams and using the economies of
scale to ensure a lean and efficient business. This section sets out the
plans to increase the scope of service provision and increase the size of
the registered list. However, this will be delivered within the framework of
some agreed principles and values;
Did you know?
YHP doctors visit
approximately 3,500
patients at home
every year

Any new service fits the philosophy of high quality general practice

The needs of registered patients and the quality of their clinical care shall not be compromised in
any way

An appropriate balance of partner time between clinical care and YHP management and
leadership.

YHP staff, and staff delivering services on contract, will have the appropriate skills and be
appropriately trained for their roles

Mergers will be planned for a time when there is the appropriate workforce capacity to ensure a
smooth transition without a negative effect on staff or services
New Service Development
We will continue to explore opportunities to grow the range of services we provide, working in
partnership with the local commissioning group. Not only will this be of benefit to our patients but will
enable us as a business to have greater financial security at a time when NHS funding to general
practice is reducing.
In particular, we would like to expand the services we provide supporting urgent and unplanned care
and this may be developing our role at Rowley Hospital or redesigning the care we give at our
practices.
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We will also continue to grow our specialist services, working with local consultants to deliver more
care in the practice to save out patients having to make the journey to hospital.
Growing YHP Practices
YHP is committed to its strategic direction of growing the organisation through mergers with local,
like-minded practices and we are continuing discussions with local GPs to this effect. As we grow in
size, we can then improve the service offer to patients that a larger registered list makes it feasible to
do and increase the efficiency of how we manage the organisation to ensure we make best use of the
resources available to us.
Improving and Developing What We Currently Do: Our Business Plan Moving Forward
Over the past few months, the partners and management team have spent time reviewing what we do
and how we do it. This means keeping up to date with expected changes of national and local health
policy that determines much of what we do but also striving to meet the needs of our patients and our
workforce.
All staff will be involved in the some of the changes we are intending in
making and we hope that you will contribute to shaping how they are made
when there is opportunity to do so. Our move towards centralising much of
the management and administration services will probably be one of the
larger changes we make but we believe this is absolutely necessary to help
us move forward in developing the Super Partnership model and enables
us to make the most efficient use of all our resources rather than being split
over different sites. This will become more important as we grow further.
Did you know?
A key factor in
organisations that
fail is carrying on
doing what you
always did when
everything is
changing around
you
We know that for some change is difficult but we also know that unless we
respond to the changes happening in the health service we will not be able
to continue providing the same level of care as we do now. When making
decisions about how we are developing the organisation, we take into
account the impact on current service provision, our staff and how best
change can be implemented. We also have to take into account our financial forecast for the year to
ensure we develop a sustainable organisation. One of your priorities moving forward is to improve
communication to all staff so you are aware of what changes are being made and why.
Our Business Plan for the next two years sets out in detail a planned programme of work to improve
and develop YHP. Table 2 below summarises this.
In developing the Business Plan we aim to continue to deliver high quality services and develop YHP
into an organisation to be proud of, one that recruits and retains a high calibre workforce. Of course, it
isn’t the Business Plan that enables us to maintain a high quality service but every day all our staff
playing their part in achieving excellence in everything we do.
Each GP Partner has a lead role for a specific area and, together with the Central Management
Team, will implement the actions arising from the Business Plan over the next couple of years as time
and resources allow. The Executive Management Board is responsible for monitoring progress.
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YHP Annual Report 2013
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Table 2: Business Plan 2014-16
NEW BUSINESS GROWTH


We are proposing to produce a number of business cases that support wider service
development such as urgent care, weekend working and new clinics
We will progress plans to engage with other practices regarding mergers. We anticipate
completing at least one merger in 2014
PATIENT ENGAGEMENT AND EXPERIENCE

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We will continue to implement our 3 year strategy of improving how we provide information to
patients and how we receive feedback
We will implement plans to improve access including working towards a maximum 3-ring
answering target
We will work to ensure appropriate continuity of care for our palliative patients and those with
chronic or ongoing conditions
We will develop technology in the practices to improve care such as access to patient records
and installing Wifi at each practice.
We will increase the capacity at CG reception service by one full time person to better manage
patient demand at the front desk.
We aim to improve the information provided to patients to improve patients ability to self care
We will build up the member base of our PPGs and encourage a greater diversity of those who
participate
We have set out plans for improving how we collect patient feedback for all our services and
review the way we manage complaints to make sure it is standardised to best practice across
YHP and sensitive to patients needs.
We are developing a training programme for reception staff to ensure they are equipped with the
appropriate skills to provide a quality service.
We are exploring ways in which we can improve facilities at CGMC and RMC. This will include a
reception refurbishment at RMC and we are making plans for new premises for CGMC.
We will look to appoint a dedicated manager to oversee all patient engagement activity as we
grow.
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YHP Annual Report 2013
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IMPROVING CLINICAL QUALITY

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

We will continue to use our performance improvement dashboard to monitor the quality of the
care we give
We are going to review and develop the care and management of our patients who are
discharged from hospital
We will develop our joint care planning process for patients with more than one disease
We will implement our prescribing improvement plan and develop further joint work with local
pharmacists
We have set out plans to appoint GP lead roles for urgent care and care of those with a chronic
disease. We will review how we can improve the management of patients to make best use of
patient and clinician time and resource and improve care outcomes.
DEVELOPING YHP OPERATIONS





We will continue our centralisation of management and administration functions to ensure the
greatest efficiency
We will continue to review workload and capacity at each practice to ensure even distribution in
line with patient need
We will implement a management team development programme to ensure staff have the
appropriate skills and expertise moving forward
We will establish a universal dictation system to standardise care and improve efficiency
We will separate the reception and telephone service at RMC to improve care at the front desk
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT AND HUMAN RESOURCES

Partners



Clinical staff





Establish a leadership and management training programme in line with
roles and responsibilities
Develop new lead roles as organisation grows to include support to
salaried GPs and PAs
Develop career structures for YHP salaried GPs, PAs and ANPs to ensure
opportunities for clinical and managerial development
Review and development of the ‘same day’ team to ensure timely, cost
effective and safe access to the clinical team at all outlets.
Work towards ensuring workforce distribution is equitable across each
outlet
Promote flexible working patterns to ensure timely response to service
development needs
Undertake workforce modelling to reflect the needs of service
development plans
Undertake workforce modelling to ensure capacity within the clinical team
to respond to unexpected requirements
Creation of in-house training department to ensure best use of internal
skills and expertise (Links to Education and Training Strategy)
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Management





Administration



Continue development of Central Management Team
Leadership and management training for middle managers to ensure core
skill base but also aligned to specific roles
Develop cost base for each clinical speciality to assist in business case
planning/tendering
Design and implement staff reward and recognition scheme.
Undertake a needs analysis across all Operations to produce a skills and
people development training plan for 2014/15. To include areas such as
SystmOne; Excel; Customer Services; Teambuilding and Leadership by
end Q3
Aim to have all new YHP contracts in place by April 2014
Workforce modelling and planning based on service development plans
Development of reception staff in line with a reception service review
INFORMATION MANAGEMENT AND TECHNOLOGY
Telephony
Wifi
Establish new system at CGMC to;
 resolve issue with phones for Medical Students
 facilitate cross site communication including centralisation of phones;
 provide DECT technology Also new modules that facilitate improved links
into SystmOne which allow patients to book; cancel or amend
appointments out of hours; order repeat prescriptions; etc.
 Agreement of final option to EMB December 13


Establish Wifi at both outlets
Produce an organisational policy for use
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
Education/
Training








Organisation





Design and cost an annual clinical education programme
Agree core skill set for YHP management and admin staff
Develop a programme of training for reception staff
Centralise mandatory training where appropriate
Establish relationships with local nursing schools and pharmacy schools
with view to extending training portfolio
Develop programme for educational evenings for local GPs
To scope the potential to be funded to mentor nurses undertaking
prescribing courses
Agree core skill set for management and administrators to support
effective recruitment
Create a centralised training database
Set an annual budget for all training
Set finance template for all income and expenses in relation to all activity
Establish criteria for budget allocation across YHP
Identify local training rooms available to support YHP group activity
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COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING



Internal
communications




External
communications
Marketing
Develop Communications and Marketing Plan
Review membership of the Communications group
Ensure all staff trained in the use of the Extranet to raise usage and
therefore functionality
Establish staff meetings at CGMC
Feedback staff survey 2013 and action plan
Establish programme of social events

Continue to develop Twitter and Facebook communications and monitor
traffic
Review website content and standardise RMC and CGMC websites



2014 follow up GP event with local practices
Maintain sponsorship of Jodie Stimpson
Internal fundraising initiatives
PREMISES AND ESTATE
Premises


Explore the business case application to NHSE for a CGMC new building
Explore office options for centralised administration functions
Facilities

Progress the refurbishment of RMC reception to improve the patient
environment
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