Duty of Care

 Care Quality Omission -the cartoon in today’s Times – NHS scandal watchdogs ‘should face prosecution’ shouts the front page headline - NHS patients need to be given more power states the leader column.

Adroit-e has been arguing for some years that patients’ insights should be given increased prominence in policy making – but why restrict things to NHS patients?

Many people go to the dentist privately – some practices operate a 2 tier NHS/Private system. Adroit-e has approached dental groups with a plan to operate a rigorous feed back system.

The culture in London NHS hospitals has been described to Adroit-e by leading NHS managers as one where bullying consultants run departments as personal fiefdoms. We responded by developing a plan to train student doctors in conducting feedback research with patients – a small step in improving the role of patients in identifying  an antipathetic culture.

We have consulted with doctors’ surgeries to produce a less anodyne and uneven feedback structure for their patients, than the ones currently in place.

Similarly, we have constructed rigorous feedback systems for those concerned with the care of the elderly, a related structure to the one in today’s headlines but no stranger to recent charges  of systemic malfunction.

None of these feedback programmes is currently in operation – in the hands of managers of these services they have either withered on the grapevine or failed to see the light of day.

It’s part of the same set of circumstances – the truth is something to be avoided at all costs in case it interferes with the smooth running of the business.

Come on guys – you can do better than this!

Procurement Portals and the F word…Feedback!

How many procurement portals are there which claim to take the chore our of tendering – e- procurement, the ‘must have’ accessory of three years ago has hardly improved  things for those of us involved in tendering. 

One thing is clear – largely because of the economic downturn, there’s many more of us tendering  - that puts the strain on the procurers and its showing in one particular way … the quality of Feedback – it’s rubbish!

The theory is if one tender succeeds the others, perhaps 99 unfortunates, receive constructive feedback to help them improve. 

Yeah Right!

The reality is of course very different!

Failed tenderers don’t get to meet with the procurers. At best formulaic feedback is delivered which is usually not worth a dime. Sometimes they honestly confess they haven’t got the time to give feed back …So tough bananas!

As suppliers we accept entirely that the tender process is riddled with rules designed to ensure equality of opportunity – but there should be a stronger focus on those who don’t succeed this time – we can’t possibly win all the tenders we go into so we need to know why our bid was unsuccessful –in a detailed and informative way. And we need to be able to present our views to the procurement specialists.

By the way - there is one killer question to ask if you ever do get an interview –‘ have you met the winning team prior to the tender?’  Research suggests the answer is almost always Yes!