Cancer. Multidisciplinary staff workload tracker tool: user guide

Transcription

1 Cancer Multidisciplinary staff workload tracker tool: user guide October 2017

2 We support providers to give patients safe, high quality, compassionate care within local health systems that are financially sustainable.

3 Contents 1. Introduction The tabs... 3 Data tab... 3 Summary tab Tool outputs Reviewing the tools > Contents

4 1. Introduction We developed this tool to help multidisciplinary team (MDT) co-ordinators and cancer trackers record their activity. It is adapted from the general staff workload tracker 1 to be used in conjunction with the MDT co-ordinator workforce model. 2 Teams and their leaders can use it to identify the important areas of their activity and assess the time spent on each during the course of a week. It helps them understand their fixed duties (low variation in the time needed every week) and identifies the average time it takes to prep, outcome and track patients for each cancer site. It can also identify activities more appropriately performed by another person/role, and facilitate discussions about team development, expansion or modification. This tool is a useful starting point for conversations about the delivery of key roles or for organisations planning service change because it provides a better understanding of the role played by each member of staff, reducing dependence on anecdotal evidence. All our tools are available, free, from the Improvement Hub. 3. We recommend operational managers work with colleagues from the selected staff group to agree which key activities populate the tool (the first four are set) and which actions fall within each of the activity categories. Agreeing the standard set of activities for the tool will ensure tools are consistent across the team. The MDT workforce model requires two weeks of data capture. Once the activity list is complete, each member of staff should complete a copy of the tool each week. Staff need to know that the tool is designed to record what they do and how long it takes. It is not intended to be used as a time and motion study tool. Explaining this will encourage accurate recording of activity. This user guide is primarily for those new to the tool. The tool is Excel based and to operate correctly requires as a minimum Excel > Cancer: multidisciplinary team workforce model: user guide

5 2. The tabs Data tab Select your trust s name from the drop-down box. You can enter the name in free text if your organisation is not listed. Insert staff member s name in the box. 3 > Cancer: multidisciplinary team workforce model: user guide

6 Add the agreed list of activities (the first four have been predetermined for use with the MDT workforce model). These must be the same for every staff member in a cancer site; ie all staff who co-ordinate and track the urology service must have the same set. We recommend bringing the staff group together to show them the tool and explain its use. The group should agree both the activity list and the actions each activity will include and/or exclude to ensure consistent data entry. We advise including one activity labelled other to allow recording of unexpected events. Time spent agreeing the activity list supports the team in completing the tool and helps engage staff and achieve a successful outcome. At the end of the data entry period, we recommend staff meet again to review, as a team, anonymised outputs and to discuss any key issues identified and actions which may be needed. For instance, if there is a significant difference in the average time it takes different team members to prepare a patient for the MDT you may want to understand if one of the team has developed a better method. Add the cancer sites the staff member works with. For example, if the staff member just works in urology, just add urology, but if they also work in gynaecology, add urology and gynaecology on separate lines. When completing the model the team will be able to link their work to the specific cancer site, which will help in identifying how much time is needed to adequately service each cancer site. 4 > Cancer: multidisciplinary team workforce model: user guide

7 You can use the tool to assess the value of the activities listed. Staff should agree how to value activity. Value needs to be assessed in relation to the role of the staff completing the tool, rather than in relation to the patient. For example, the collecting of notes by an MDT co-ordinator for an MDT meeting is vital to ensure patient care progresses but it may be more appropriate use of time for another member of staff to do it: value is low in relation to the role but high in relation to the patient. We suggest the team leader determines what value they attribute to each activity but does not share this with staff. Staff completing the tool should also allocate what they believe is the appropriate value. The manager s comparison of values attributed to an activity may highlight different perceptions of what work should be prioritised if there are time pressures. The tool allows activities to be input over a seven-day working week. Enter the time allocated to each activity, following the onscreen advice about format, for example 09:30 not It may be possible to record each event separately. In most cases the different times spent on a particular activity should be grouped for example checked s between 08:30 and 09:00, > Cancer: multidisciplinary team workforce model: user guide

8 and and 15:30 and 16:00, recording this as 1.5 hours of time spent on associated activity. The tool is not intended to be used as a time and motion tool to monitor or review performance or time-keeping. In keeping with this, the grouping of activities is a useful method of recording actions by cohort. Enter the number of patients listed for each MDT in the cells once confirmed. Enter the number of patients adequately tracked each week in the relevant cells. This should be agreed at the weekly patient tracking list (PTL) meeting based on when the updates are not adequate for useful discussion, ie if the tracking team had more time they could have tracked patients more effectively. If your teams work with more than one tumour site they can record numbers for up to four sites in the boxes. The figures entered will be used in the MDT co-ordinator workforce model to calculate the average time it takes to prep, outcome and track these patients Summary tab There is no direct data input on this tab. It gathers all data entered into the tool. The top left summary chart totals the activities for the whole week. This chart sits next to a copy of the activities list, detailing the total time for the week and the percentage of weekly time spent on each activity. 6 > Cancer: multidisciplinary team workforce model: user guide

9 You can toggle the display by selecting tumour site if your team member works with more than one. This will allow you to see how they split their week between the various sites. The next section displays the percentage of the time period spent of activities rated as high, medium, low or no value. The third summary chart can be separated by activity and shows the total activity for each day of the week. Again the adjacent grid shows how much time is spent per day on the selected activity as a percentage of the whole week. 7 > Cancer: multidisciplinary team workforce model: user guide

10 You can toggle the display by selecting the tumour site if your team member works with more than one. This will allow you to see how they split their days between the various sites. The screenshot below shows an example of this. The rest of the sections show the above data for the selected day of the week, in the same two formats (see example screenshot below). 8 > Cancer: multidisciplinary team workforce model: user guide

11 3. Tool outputs Key outputs from the tool include: review of the activities performed by the staff average times per person to prepare and outcome each MDT average time it takes to track a patient for each cancer site identification of roles which may be suitable for other staff to perform. It is important to check the tool with the staff who complete it. More than one version of the tool may need to be trialled before all staff are satisfied it provides an accurate reflection of activity. It may be best to run a short trial (two days) to ensure the activities list accurately reflects the work performed and staff understand how to complete the tool, before using it over a full week. Once this tool has been completed twice for a two-week period by all team members you will be able to use the outputs to complete the MDT co-ordinator workforce model > Cancer: multidisciplinary team workforce model: user guide

12 4. Reviewing the tools We recommend: keeping a note of the actions included in the activity categories and the associated assumptions or exclusions, to inform future versions of the tool you can use a blank tab in the tool for this reviewing the tool every 6 months or more frequently if the service experiences a change in demand. 10 > Cancer: multidisciplinary team workforce model: user guide

13 Contact us: NHS Improvement Wellington House Waterloo Road London SE1 8UG improvement.nhs.uk Follow us on This publication can be made available in a number of other formats on request. NHS Improvement October 2017 Publication code: IG 20/17