NHS Direct welcomed Sir David Nicholson, NHS Chief Executive, to our Beckenham contact centre in April 2010.
He was accompanied by Christine Connelly, the Chief Information Officer for Health and Dr Paul Watson, Chief Executive of North East Essex PCT (in his role as NHS Commissioner for NHS Direct). They met with front-line staff and listened into patient calls to get a thorough understanding of the service we provide.
Joanne Shaw, our Chair, and Nick Chapman, our Chief Executive shared with them our plans for generating £20 million of efficiency savings in 2010/11, and explained the value and return on investment which NHS Direct is creating for the wider health economy. Nick Chapman explained how this will be increased through our ‘web first’ strategy which will encourage more patients to complete their health assessments online. Sir David and his colleagues also learnt about the role which NHS Direct is playing in the three-digit number pilots.
Senior QIPP Adviser, Sir John Oldham, who is National Clinical Lead for Quality and Productivity at the Department of Health also visited NHS Direct last month. He is leading work to shape and run national clinical work programmes, concentrating first on long term conditions, urgent care and integration of care between health and social care.
Sir John visited our Dudley contact centre, where he saw a number of the commissioned services which NHS Direct delivers, including Birmingham OwnHealth, a care management programme supporting patients with long term conditions in Birmingham East and North PCT.
For more information on Birmingham OwnHealth click here.
