Biomedical subjects

T Desombre

Publications and source records attributed to T Desombre.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2004

RCGP Quality Team Development programme: an illuminative evaluation.

BACKGROUND: There is increasing interest in quality initiatives that are locally owned and delivered, team based, multiprofessional, and formative. The Royal College of General Practitioners' Quality Team Development (QTD) programme is one such initiative aimed at developing primary healthcare teams and their services. AIMS: To evaluate QTD from the perspective of participants and assessors. SETTING: UK primary health care. DESIGN AND METHOD: Twelve of 14 practices and all four primary care organisations (PCOs) approached agreed to participate. Thirty four semi-structured interviews were conducted with key stakeholders. The interviews were taped, transcribed, and analysed using the constant comparative method. RESULTS: The QTD programme appears to be highly valued by participating organisations. Practice based respondents perceived it as acceptable and feasible, and reported positive changes in teamwork and patient services. They valued its formative, participative, and multiprofessional nature, especially the peer review element. PCOs saw QTD as a method of delivering on prevailing national policies on clinical quality and modernization agendas as well as promoting interorganizational collaboration. The main concerns raised were the workload, particularly for assessors, and maintaining the quality of the assessments and the programme. CONCLUSION: This qualitative study suggests positive benefits for participants in the QTD programme. However, such practices are a self-selecting innovative minority. Further research is needed on more typical practices to identify barriers to their participation in QTD or other formative, team based quality improvement programmes.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

PubMed1999

Teamwork in health care. Lessons from the literature and from good practice around the world.

It is becoming more difficult to provide health care that meets the needs of patients within tight budget constraints. This article suggests that one way forward is to channel the energies of people more constructively to work as teams. Some definitions are shown for teams and teamwork, and four benefits suggested of effective teamwork: learning and development, resource management, task performance and communications. In each of these four areas, examples are given from the international world of health care of how teamwork can be achieved. Finally, it is concluded that teamwork can be difficult, but that it is worth pursuing.

Group Processes↗

PubMed1999

An analysis of catering options within NHS acute hospitals.

Reforms of the NHS's healthcare structure have placed additional pressure on all aspects of hospital management. Evaluation of the effects of these reforms is difficult without more information on current conditions. Hospital catering in acute care trusts has little contemporary background research available. With this in mind, a survey of all the acute care NHS trusts within the eight regions in England was undertaken to investigate the hospital meal service process. A mailed questionnaire asked for the meal production system, food service method and food delivery personnel used by each trust, and a copy of a weekly menu. Results, from an 80.7 per cent response rate, indicate that most trusts use batch cooking to prepare their meals, and plated meal service to deliver the food to the wards. Almost 75 per cent of the trusts use nurses, at least in part, to serve food. English foodstuffs dominate the menus. Most of the trusts have moved towards meeting the goals set by the Patients' Charter and other NHS recommendations.

Cooking↗

PubMed1998

Improving service quality in NHS Trust hospitals: lessons from the hotel sector.

This article looks to review recent practice undertaken within the UK hotel sector to improve customer service, and suggests ideals that could be implemented within National Health (NHS) Trust hospitals. At a time of increasing competition, hotel firms are using service enhancement as a means to gain competitive advantage, and therefore developing a range of techniques to measure levels of service quality improvement. With continued change in the health service, where greater focus now lies with patient satisfaction, so there is a requirement for managers to adapt techniques presently being offered in other service industries to improve levels of customer service and ensure patients are targeted to define their levels of satisfaction.

Benchmarking↗

PubMed1998

The changing context of employment in the NHS: some legal implications of changes to employment contracts.

The NHS has undergone and continues to undergo rapid change. As a result of this, the duties and responsibilities of employees will also change. Managers within the NHS have a responsibility to ensure that appropriate contracts of employment are held by employees and that, where required, variations in these contracts are documented. This paper uses the example of the changing role of the Executive Nurse Director to highlight the importance of this need. It concludes by warning that failure to consider both the legal duties placed on employers when implementing contractual variations and the legal implications of adopting an unlawful method of variation, might lead to large legal bills and a demand on managerial time dealing with any legal claim against the employer.

Contract Services↗