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The contracting “must do” that you probably aren’t doing

  • October 17th, 2017

  • by Rob Findlay

The NHS has no choice about doing it. It is core to any successful contract negotiation. But there are no targets for it, budgets are not based on it, CCGs don't collect data on it, and in practice it is often ignored...

The problem with annual planning

  • August 14th, 2017

  • by Rob Findlay

In theory, the NHS has highly sophisticated processes for finance and activity planning. In practice they are rather less polished. So here are two changes that would transform planning for the better.

Interpreting Capacity analysis: the control Charts

  • June 21st, 2017

  • by Rob Findlay

Is your bed flow designed to deliver regular crises? Is theatre performance stable? Control charts analyse your bed, theatre and clinic capacity for different days of the week, so that you can tell what was expected performance and what was unusual.

The latest planning guidance gets perilously close to being useful

  • September 30th, 2016

  • by Rob Findlay

Despite first impressions, this year's planning guidance is a welcome step away from the traditional financially-led approach, towards more realistic and operationally-useful planning.

How to achieve your RTT trajectories

  • August 9th, 2016

  • by Rob Findlay

NHS Improvement's financial "reset" includes challenging RTT trajectories with money attached. Firefighting isn't enough - you need to plan this properly. Fortunately, Gooroo Planner takes it in its stride. Here's how to do it.

The cost of theatres

  • May 13th, 2016

  • by Rob Findlay

How late is a "late start" in your operating theatres? If I told you they probably cost something like £20 a minute, how late is a "late start" now?

The perfect partners: whole-hospital planning without breaches

  • April 21st, 2016

  • by Rob Findlay

Lower costs, more activity, and less fire-fighting. That's the power of planning electives and non-electives together, to achieve access standards for both, right across the hospital.

Modelling to achieve targets throughout the future period

  • April 21st, 2016

  • by Rob Findlay

"You have until October to clear the backlog. After that, no more breaches of the target will be tolerated." Now Gooroo Planner can achieve targets throughout a future period, not just at the end of it. It's a free upgrade, and this is how you use it.

Interpreting Capacity analysis: the Overview

  • April 8th, 2016

  • by Rob Findlay

The Overview is a powerful visualisation, so that you can quickly and expertly spot the opportunities to make better use of your theatres and clinics. This post helps you interpret it.

Interpreting Capacity analysis: the Detail

  • April 8th, 2016

  • by Rob Findlay

The Detail view lays out what happened in theatre or clinic, every minute of the day. This is how to interpret it.