Projects & Experience
Change Management
IT Development and Implementation
DSHC provided significant NHS subject matter knowledge and change expertise to the NHS Connecting for Health programme. The programme is the largest IT led transformation programme ever undertaken by the NHS. As a key member of the Business Change Primary Care Team, Debbie was involved in leading and shaping the delivery of strategy, system selection, system design and development and business change approaches for GP IT systems.
Supporting GPs
DSHC was involved in leading the development of business change approaches to support deployment of Connecting for Health primary care systems across six Strategic Health Authorities in the North West and West Midlands. This included the authoring of a toolkit to support Primary Care Trusts in their GP system strategy development, alignment of priorities, securing stakeholder buy-in and benefits realisation for modernisation of their primary care systems.
Project Management
Pharmacy
DSHC provided interim Project Management support for the NHS Education Scotland Pharmacy Significant Event Analysis project. This included stakeholder management and promotion of the initiative to pharmacists across Scotland, in addition to review and update of internal administrative processes.
Debbie successfully developed and managed project plans for the pharmaceutical service aspects of the NHS 24 service during the initial service implementation and roll out of the three main contact centres.
Delivering and Managing Safe Patient Care
Debbie was previously appointed by the Chief Executive Officer and Medical Director of an NHS Special Health Board, to lead the review and development of the organisation’s approach to adverse incident management. This was achieved using a 'bottom up' approach and Debbie led a national expert project team resulting in development of an organisational policy. Debbie also supported project teams in each contact centre to enable planning and implementation of a cross organisation approach.
Facilitation and Engagement
Engaging GPs and Other Clinicians
DSHC provided consultancy support, in the primary care arena (e.g. GP systems, Commissioning and Electronic Transmission of Prescriptions), to the Connecting for Health Local Service Provider for North West and West Midlands. This support enabled securing of a contract for supply of GP systems to the NHS and the ensuing development of a new GP system. This work included establishing mechanisms for Clinical Engagement and implementing these to involve clinicians (particularly GPs) in system development by identifying user needs using process identification/mapping techniques to support this.
Engaging Pharmacists
DSHC ran focus groups to enable NHS Education Scotland Pharmacy Directorate to understand the motivations/ barriers, amongst pharmacists across Scotland, to participating in the Significant Event Analysis initiative. The outputs of these groups provided valuable insight and have been effectively used to increase awareness and promotion of the initiative.
DSHC successfully designed, facilitated and delivered a seminar for four Health and Social Services Boards (Northern Ireland), which enabled development and implementation of governance structures for their Community Pharmacy Development Groups.
Engaging Key Stakeholders
Debbie previously worked for the National Pharmaceutical Association to promote the professional interests of community pharmacists by establishing contacts across the NHS (Scotland and Northern Ireland) to influence the involvement of pharmacy in NHS service developments. This included engaging key stakeholders such as the Health Departments, NHS health authorities/boards/trusts and other professions. A key achievement was the inclusion of pharmacy as a crucial partner in the NHS 24 service design and implementation.
Coaching
The client had lost enthusiasm and energy in their career and felt they wanted to regain motivation to progress. We worked together to create a vision of what they wanted their career to look like, to explore and understand the self limiting beliefs that were holding them back and to re-build confidence in their own skills and knowledge. The client was succesful in being appointed to a new role and is excited and challenged by their work again!
Training and Development
Professional Development for Pharmacists
DSHC provides annual support to the development of the programme for the Wyeth sponsored Annual Scottish Senior Pharmacists Symposium (2005 and 2006). This work involves engagement of the key pharmacy leaders across Scotland to create a programme which meets the profession’s needs and current priorities.
DSHC was contracted by the National Pharmaceutical Association (NPA) to undertake NHS policy analysis in the areas of Primary Care Commissioning and Contracting and the new General Medical Services Contract. Debbie also created associated professional development resource packs for Community Pharmacists and Primary Care Trusts on these topics.
Training Paramedics
DSHC used pharmaceutical expertise to develop and provide training to Ambulance Service Paramedics, to support them in the safe handling of pharmaceutical issues in an out of hours call handling environment.
Training Nurses
Debbie was successful in creating and delivering an induction training programme, on medicine and pharmacy related issues, for 700 front line staff (nurse advisors and health information advisors) during the initial implementation of NHS 24. This formed one week of the six week induction programme. The project included sourcing and recruiting training providers and tutors, in addition to producing training packages to meet business priorities.
Deborah Smith Health Consulting | 86 North Castle Street Banff Aberdeenshire AB45 1JJ | 01261 815000 | 