Council Project Management – GCC

by | May 8, 2023 | Case Studies, Project management, Wellbeing consultancy

Wellbeing4business Ltd began work with GCC began with an OH and Wellbeing Audit presented in January 2009. Therefore, this brief case study demonstrates the effects of this partnership with GCC.

Summary of consultancy work carried out:

  • Occupational health and wellbeing audit on time
  • Development of future OH Strategy and introduction of wellbeing model
  • Development of a staged model for reshaping the department’s resources and structure
  • Development of clinical governance framework and ongoing monitoring during contract
  • Development of several OH policies, processes and relevant documentation
  • Development of manager’s service guides for GCC and Schools
  • Development of intranet portal area to launch new initiatives and provide education to management and employees on OHU
  • Development of OH Management Referral Helpline for managers to fast-track absence referrals and triage to appropriate interventions
  • Development of new management referral process, forms and reports
  • Introduction of Dragon voice recognition software to reduce administration/secretarial time
  • Development of new pre-employment process and forms for GCC and Schools
  • Procurement and implementation of Employee Assistance programme for managers and employees and integration with OHU
  • Development and implementation of FAST track service for mental health and musculoskeletal issues
  • Re-engineering of appointments and telephone system, including clinical scheduling
  • Introduction of case conferences for complex absence cases with Human Resources
  • Identification of long-term absence cases with Human Resources
  • Development of OH and wellbeing communication programme
  • Procurement and implementation of software for lifestyle screening and more screening at work
  • Procurement of additional health promotion support when applicable
  • Re-engineering of COHORT OH data collection, including data cleaning, training, report development
  • Development of metrics scorecard
  • Links with other GCC departments initiated –communication, HR, training and development.
  • Full integration and management shift to amalgamate with SHE
  • Liaison with counsellors and reduction of waiting list from over 20 people to 1 at the end of the contract. The number of sessions was also reduced to 4. Much work was done with counsellors to fit this model and become more integrated into management reporting.

Due to this, we also supported the OH unit:

  • Mentoring and supporting the acting manager during difficult times
  • Recruiting a Senior OHN
  • Departmental meetings
  • Strategic consultancy to HR on budget, structure and downsizing of resources
  • Professional and clinical input to staff members

The Results

The project saved £86,953, or 23% of the original budget. Further savings may become available as the EAP service acted to reduce the demand for counselling and reduce Dr Days. Due to this, the council also began to charge for services better to external clients by developing a pricing model. Internal departments were also charged for +4 sessions of counselling, thus generating income. However, some less profitable and high-risk external clients were dropped to improve the value to the internal customer. Overall, project saved money and introduced a vast transformation in over 12 weeks.

GCC Client Comment

Rodney Semple, Business Efficiency Manager, Business Management Directorate, Gloucestershire County Council, May 2010

  • Initial Occupational Health Audit – This work was extremely helpful as it offered us an independent, expert view of our occupational health. However, this insight would not have been available to us in-house. Therefore, the report thoroughly reviewed our service and gave us a clear set of recommendations for the way ahead.
  • Follow-up work implementing recommendations and transformation of OH Department and launching wellbeing strategy- We were happy to engage Wellbeing4business to help us implement a range of new/improved OH processes. Again, your independence and expert knowledge enabled us to make quick progress in areas where we did not have the in-house expertise to have meaningful discussions with staff. Therefore, the implementation work achieved a great deal from our perspective. Your work on administrative processes allowed us to highlight some current weaknesses and potential spare capacity leading to reduced staffing. The new processes and clinical governance arrangements helped us address efficiency issues. They greatly increased our assurance that we were operating within good practice guidelines. Your understanding of OH systems and processes was a great help in improving the quality of management information and data recording. Due to your expertise in OH helped us appoint a lead occupational health nurse (a post we had struggled to fill previously). It helped with the appointment of an EAP provider. Finally, I would also like to recognise your work to improve our website content – this will significantly reduce unnecessary contact with the OHU. Overall, the engagement was completed on time and budget, and we were satisfied that the agreed objectives were met. This was delivered under challenging conditions, with significant staff shortages in key areas hampering the work.

Overall Impressions

We found Wellbeing4business very easy to work with. You offered us a combination of medical expertise and OH business understanding, allowing us to improve our service significantly. We would be happy to work with you again.