The brief
Having worked successfully with NHS Nottingham City CCG (City Clinical Commissioning Group) in 2014 to develop a new commissioning strategy, MIH Solutions was invited back to undertake a full refresh. With proposed mergers on the horizon for many CCGs, NHS Nottingham City leaders were keen to ensure that a comprehensive strategy was in place to cover the city’s healthcare over the next three years and beyond.
The CCG had already held a number of discussions with local people, family doctors (GPs), other clinicians and partners about priorities and activities. With the need to define common objectives and deliver a new strategy at pace, the CCG brought in MIH Solutions to help.
What we did
Our first step was to define and agree the success criteria for this programme of work with CCG leaders. This was to develop a strategy document which provided clarity around the CCG’s specific offer for the city, reflected the diverse needs and preferences of local people and ensured alignment with various other health-related strategies and plans in place. It needed to be easily understood and supported by clinicians, local people, CCG colleagues, healthcare partners and other key stakeholders.
MIH Solutions facilitated focus groups and conversations with these key stakeholders. We used early discussions to draft outline goals, priorities and success criteria, which we used in an iterative way during sessions to help build, develop and co-create the key elements of the strategy.
This approach enabled us to support the various participants in reaching a consensus on the CCG’s strategic goals and priorities and how these would be presented. Once a shared vision for the CCG had been achieved, and in a style and language that everyone was happy with, we were able to work with relevant leads to articulate specific commissioning activities to achieve the strategy and describe the links between the strategy and other related healthcare strategies and plans at local, regional and national levels.
The result
The strategy was formally launched in summer 2017 and was shared widely with CCG and clinical colleagues, local and regional healthcare partners, and local people. The CCG moved to a shared management team across Greater Nottinghamshire in the following months, and this strategy formed the basis for the commissioning approach, so ensuring a continuing focus on the specific health needs of people living within the city.
“We asked MIH Solutions to help us because we needed an independent and objective perspective, with the ability to articulate a shared vision and the capacity to deliver a comprehensive, meaningful strategy within a tight timeframe. Through their expert facilitation and strategic insight, supported by an iterative approach, MIH Solutions was able to help us achieve clarity and consensus regarding our strategic goals and key areas of focus.”
Dawn Smith, the then Chief Officer