Finance and Budget questions Flashcards
You want to introduce a new service/develop a service. What are the procedures that you need to go through?
Identify the area of need: what is the demand, why is it needed (for patient management, income source)
Speak informally to colleagues and other teams
Gather evidence: identify best practice, visit other units
Describe the service you will provide, how it will reach the customer (advertise)
Set out what you will need to develop the service: equipment, IT systems,
Workforce requirements: who you will need to run the service
Support service: what other teams need to be involved
Legislation and regulations that need to be abided by
Clinical governance issues, policies and guidelines to follow
Data: what data is required, how it is collected
Financial analysis: where will funding come from, NHS Tariffs
User feedback
How would you save money in a department
Establish current financial situation
Save money by reducing costs or increasing income (or both)
To save money: consolidation of services (e.g. immunohistochemistry), optimize distribution of workforce for more efficiency, identify areas of wastage (e.g. are machines being used at full capacity), shop around for best prices and buy in bulk.
Staff cuts: don’t replace retired staff, replace higher banded staff with lower banded staff, consolidation of sites - however this must not impact on quality of service
To increase income: bid for more work from nearly hospitals, increase amount of private work, hire out facilities that are not being used at full capacity, put a certain amount of personal income into a departmental pool
What is the Carter report
A review of pathology services in the UK which made recommendation in the following 8 areas:
Quality
Communication
Transparency
Consolidation
Workforce reform
Tariffs/benchmarking
Commissioning guidance
Innovation
It recommended that the principle method for performance improvement lies in consolidation of acute trust pathology services into Managed Pathology Networks
All hospitals within the network will have testing available on site for when results are required within four hours, and a central laboratory where the bulk of testing from hospitals and GP practises that require results in over four but under 24 hours can be carried out in a high output laboratory
What are purposes and the characteristics of a good consolidated service?
Purpose of consolidation:
Improve efficiency
Improve quality and patient safety
Identify mechanisms for implementing change
Characteristics of a good consolidated service:
End-to-end management of the service (transport, IT, efficient and effective use of resources including staff)
Concentration of non-urgent and specialist work into one or more core laboratories
Sufficient throughput to ensure high-quality results
On-site facilities for urgent tests
What are the advantages and disadvantages of privatisation in the NHS
Advantages:
Competition to drive improvements in healthcare
Deliver new thinking into the NHS
Capital for new facilities and equipment
Gives patients choice
Join up NHS services to provide better and more efficient patient pathways
Disadvantages:
Can profit-chasing really be compatible with patient-centred care where patients is placed above all else?
Fragmentation of NHS
Input of clinical staff in management decisions
Concentrate on wealthy areas leaving poorer areas with less choice and investment
If a venture is not profitable and the investor decides to pull out where does that leave the service
How can you encourage other hospitals to send us work?
Good quality of work Good reputation of department Provide services not provided elsewhere Attractive prices Short TAT Good marketing Highly skilled service staff
