Panel studies

Completed studies:

Variations in Outpatient Performance (report published: 25-Nov-99)

This report sets out a comprehensive strategy for improving waiting times for consultant appointments through a combination of improved management, long-term planning and new booking systems.  This approach was developed by the Department of Health and the National Patients’ Access team with advice from Panel member Baroness Noakes, a partner in KPMG. Following the publication of Tackling Variations in Outpatient Performance, the Department and Health and in particular, the National Patients Action Team (NPAT) have been implementing the report's recommendations. Key actions have included improving performance management, introducing new booking systems and delivering training. In July 2000 the Department of Health published a follow-up to the original report, aimed at providing all Trusts with practical advice based on the successful pilots.

The relevant Department of Health web-links are as follows:

A Step by Step Guide to Improving Outpatient Services

Information on NHS waiting times

Customers in the Driving Seat? (PDF Format, 336Kb) (report pubished: 27-Jan-00)
Implementation response (9-Nov-00)
Implementation press notice (9-Nov-00

Andrew Foster, Controller of the Audit Commission, reviews the quality of customer service in three of the large transport agencies.  His report sets out a number of practical recommendations that would be of interest to all public sector organisations that want to improve their front-line services to customers.

Incentives for Change (PDF Format 367 Kb) (report published: 31-Jan-00)
Annexes (PDF Format 261 Kb)

John Makinson, Group Finance Director of the media company Pearson PLC, led a team examining performance incentives for the 150,000 front-line staff who work in the Benefits Agency, HM Customs & Excise, the Employment Service and the Inland Revenue. Although the specific proposals in his report are tailored to those four agencies, the basic principles are potentially capable of much wider application. The report also contains a wealth of comparative data on how performance is rewarded and incentivised across both the public and private sectors.

Targeting improved performance (PDF Format 1.2 Mb) (report published: 3-Apr-00)

John Dowdy,a Principal with McKinsey, has reviewed the performance management systems of the newly formed Defence Logistics Organisation against a model developed by the Productivity Panel. The report describes the particular challenges facing the DLO and the considerable progress it has made to date. It also describes in detail the integrated performance management model developed by the Panel and since adopted by the Civil Service Management Board for use throughout the Civil Service.

Improving Police Performance (report published: April-17-2000)
- technical annexes

Clare Spottiswoode, formerly Associate Partner of PA Consulting, has identified a new way to measure the efficiency of the police. She has identified a way of using information which is already collected by the police service to make a more meaningful analysis of which forces are doing the most to prevent, solve and reduce crime within available funding. More importantly, the report outlines a means by which police forces can better understand their relative strengths and weaknesses. This will help raise the level of performance of all police forces to the level of the best, within the framework of the Best Value initiative. The report makes an important contribution to the Government's crime reduction strategy and its approach has wide potential application across all public services.

Refocusing performance management [PDF 162KB] (report published: 17-May-00)

Byron Grote, Executive Vice President of BP Amoco, has worked with staff in the Energy Group of the DTI to refresh its performance management system by drawing on the system used by BP Amoco and the model developed by the Productivity Panel. The report shows how such a system can be applied in a complex public sector organisation. A practical description of how managers can tackle difficult issues is included.

"Working with the team in the Energy group of the Department of Trade and Industry, the pilot introduced a more structured performance review process, replacing one-to-one meetings with regular reviews covering three levels of the organisation. The wider context was shared, successes and disappointments were discussed, risks to delivery were identified and direction for the future was set. The pilot confirmed the success of this approach, which is to be adopted in other parts of the Department and promoted more generally throughout the Civil Service." Civil Service Reform Programme Annual Report 2000. Further details of the wider implementation in DTI will be posted later this summer. In the meantime please contact leigh.jackson@dti.gov.uk for details.

 

Sold on Health (report published: 26-May-00)

This report marks a step change in the way the NHS manages its estate. Developed with guidance from Dame Sheila Masters, the report sets out a new national framework designed to root out more surplus estate, accelerate sales and cut red tape. Not only can the approach save and generate additional finance but through modernising the estate management process it can free up resources to increase the focus on patient care. It is hoped that the report will also provide useful ideas for other public services with large property portfolios.

Working in partnership (report published: 26-May-00)

Also prepared with guidance from Baroness Noakes, this report tackles the difficult issue of achieving joined-up working at a local level, particularly when it comes to developing joint IT systems. The report has a strong practical edge, highlighting the key issues that organisations will need to tackle as they begin to plan across organisational boundaries. It includes a simple self-assessment tool which other public services might find valuable in helping them to develop local service partnerships.

Out in the Open (report published: 9-June-00)

Baroness Noakes, a partner in KPMG, has guided the development of this report, which proposes improvements to the commissioning of services for older people. Schemes in four local authority sites have been piloted, demonstrating how significant efficiency gains can be achieved by developing care services which move away from reliance on expensive (and often inappropriate) residential and nursing care. The report also highlights how direct intervention, rather than written guidance, can be a more helpful and effective role for central government.

Putting your house in order [PDF 347KB] (report published: 29-June-00)
Summary [PDF 198KB]

Productivity Panel member Andrew Foster, Controller of the Audit Commission, has been looking in particular at ways of improving the quality of service provided to customers.  This, his second report for the Panel, looks at how to get best value for tenants from the £4 billion invested each year in improvements to social housing stock.  Based on research that included interviews with over 700 tenants, his report makes recommendations for engaging tenants in setting overall priorities,  ensuring that structural improvements are linked to social objectives and approaching housing improvement schemes as a partnership between tenants, landlords and contractors.

Maximising Value for Money (report published 20-July-00)

For some time, major capital investment projects in the NHS have involved the development of Strategic Outline Cases at an early stage of developing plans for investments in new facilities, involving the various major stakeholders. This report - developed with guidance from the Baroness Noakes - examines the potential role of the Strategic Outline Case as an important element of planning for information systems and change management initiatives which involve a large number of stakeholders, are novel, risky and complex, or where the objectives and scope may be ill-defined.

Effective reporting in education [PDF 179KB] (report published: 28-Jul-00)

John Mayo, Finance Director of Marconi plc, has been looking at how performance reporting arrangements in schools and further education colleges could be further developed to support the Government's radical agenda for raising standards in education and training. The report's recommendations for focusing performance reporting on the Government's key targets, for explicit reporting on planned improvement in those key areas and for cross-segmentation to identify patterns of good practice will be of interest to all organisations facing the challenge of delivering improving performance and value for money.

Public Services Productivity: Meeting the Challenge
A joint report by the Public Services Productivity Panel (report published: 2-Aug-00)

Meeting the Challenge brings together the main findings and lessons from the Productivity Panel’s programme of 12 studies, Whilst the study programme tackled such diverse areas as incentives, customer service, procurement and benchmarking – the Panel have identified high quality performance management as an essential feature of any high-performing organisation. Although most public services have performance management systems in place, they are often not working effectively and are not at the heart of the way organisations are managed and services delivered. This report identifies a simple, integrating framework that all managers can use to engineer a step-change in their organisation’s productivity and support continuous improvement. Recommendations for change in this and other key areas are also identified.