NHS
staff could get lessons in customer care from private companies as part of a
new programme launched by the Government earlier this month.
NHS
Live is a 12-month national scheme sponsored by the Department of Health (DoH)
and supported by a group of private sector companies, including retailer Boots,
chemicals company AstraZeneca, technology manufacturer Fujitsu and
communications company Oracle.
Each
sponsor will bring specialist knowledge, expertise and ideas to the projects.
The DoH said these ideas will include opportunities for job swaps and
secondments, and the mutual exchange of best practice.
The
learning partnership sche-mes are seen by the Government as the key to
developing a more customer-friendly approach for NHS staff and treating
patients as ‘consumers of services’.
Sian
Jenkins, director of communications at the DoH, said NHS Live was part of a
long-term strategy focusing on staff engagement. “We are asking how we can put
the patient first – that is a big challenge for the NHS,” she said.
“We
want to give our people more consumer focus and this initiative is about
conveying that vision to staff.”
Andrew
Foster, HR director at the NHS, said he thought people job swapping was a good
idea.
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“We
[the NHS] have really got to be very open minded about projects like this,” he
said. “It’s been done before with pharmacy staff, where job rotations proved
very successful.
“If
it benefits our customer care experience, then it is certainly an area where
the public sector can learn from the private sector,” Foster added.
