Harrogate hospital awards consultants £1.2m to embed culture of ‘continuous improvement’

Harrogate District Hospital is spending nearly £1.2m on hiring management consultants to develop a culture of continuous improvement, the Stray Ferret can reveal. 

Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust (HDFT) signed a contract with KPMG and Catalysis in March, which will run for 18 months to September 2024. 

KPMG is one of the world’s largest multinational professional services companies, and Catalysis is a Wisconsin-based not-for-profit organisation dedicated to helping healthcare bodies become more efficient. 

The continuous improvement programme, called HDFT Impact, will ultimately involve all 5,000-plus employees, who will be encouraged to share their knowledge with each other and come up with ways to improve the way the trust delivers its services. 

In a statement sent to the Stray Ferret, a spokesperson said: 

“It is our aim to embed improvement at the centre of our culture and operating model so we can provide the best quality, safest health and care services for our patients, children and the community; and make HDFT the best place to work for our colleagues.” 

They added: 

“There is no doubt that a steady stream of improvements, both big and small, can have transformational results.” 

In recent years, KPMG and Catalysis have together worked with 16 NHS trusts, including Western Sussex, which became the first non-specialist trust to be rated outstanding in all areas by the Care Quality Commission. 

In other cases, one trust saved £800,000 in theatre efficiencies, one increased surgeries per list by 25%, and another reduced falls among patients by 60%. 

The spokesperson said: 

“Continuous improvement is not a new concept at HDFT. It has been integral in helping us to develop our services and bring improvements for patients and colleagues for a long time – we have been using a lean quality improvement approach for over 10 years.

“We know this approach works and we’ve seen the improvements it can bring for patients and colleagues.” 

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The HDFT Impact programme is being funded from the trust’s budget to procure and implement a new electronic patient record system.

The spokesperson said: 

“Our EPR project is not just about providing an electronic system, but is an improvement programme enabled by technology to give our staff the opportunity to improve across the whole organisation.” 

In May, it was reported that management consultants were being paid up to £3,000 a day for work within NHS England. At the time, Onay Kasab, national lead officer of trade union Unite, said the health service was being “plundered by private sector profiteers”. He added:

“The money would be much better spent providing a proper pay rise for NHS staff to end the recruitment and retention crisis that is crippling health services.”

HDFT’s deal with KPMG and Catalysis is costing the trust about £2,200 per day for the duration of the 18-month contract.

Asked if there had been any opposition or resistance from hospital staff to the hiring of external consultants, the spokesperson said: 

“As an organisation, the majority of our colleagues are receptive to continuous improvement.

“Cultural change can be challenging, and a small number of people may be sceptical, but we believe that developing our continuous improvement programme is vital in our pursuit of excellence so that we can raise quality, reduce costs, explore better ways of delivering our services, and provide the best possible healthcare for those who need it.

“We hope that as the programme progresses and staff engage in it, all of our staff will recognise the huge benefits.” 

County council awards £5m reorganisation contract to national firms

A £5 million North Yorkshire County Council contract handed to four national consultancy firms has been criticised as a “waste of money”.

The contract was awarded to KPMG, Price Waterhouse Coopers, PA Consulting Ltd and Capita Business Service Ltd to give support for the formation of the new unitary authority.

However, councillors have questioned why the contract has been awarded and whether money could be better spent elsewhere.

The council advertised the requirements of the contract as to provide “reorganisation support for North Yorkshire Council”.

The Stray Ferret asked the county council what the consultancy firms will be doing as part of the contract and how much each would be receiving from the £5 million.

Conservative Cllr Gareth Dadd, executive member for finance at the council, said the consultancy firms will be on hand to provide expertise and advice to ensure the new council is “safe and legal”.

Cllr Dadd added that the spend was “necessary” to ensure that taxpayers get value for money from the proposal.

He said:

“The county’s proposals for a single new council with the scale and strength to provide effective public services that are fit for the future and reflect North Yorkshire’s unique rural geography was developed using in-house expertise.

“We did not use consultants for this purpose, but drew on decades of providing nationally acclaimed services to every household in the county to a very high standard.

“However, the complexities and challenges associated with such a major programme of local government reorganisation have meant that we have experts available to help ensure that the new council is safe and legal for when it is launched next year.

“Given the importance of this opportunity, the potential savings to be made and the ultimate prize of the strongest devolution agreement for North Yorkshire and York, some consultancy spend may well be necessary to ensure our proposals do represent best value.

“Each of the four consultancy firms have been selected through an official framework established by the government and are now available if needed to help with the local government reorganisation in North Yorkshire.

“There is no commitment that they will actually be commissioned by the county council for specific projects, but their expertise is available if needed.”

Cllr Dadd added that the new council was estimated to save £260 million over the next five years by streamlining services to one authority.

‘Waste of money’

However, Cllr Stuart Parsons, of the independent group on the county council, said he felt hiring consultants was a “waste of money”.

He said:

“I’m afraid that I think commissioning “consultants” is a waste of time and money. I would rather see that £5 million go to children’s and adult social care – spent there it would actually make a real difference.

“I find that consultants are simply failed officers.”

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Meanwhile, David Goode, chair of the Harrogate and Knaresborough Liberal Democrats, questioned why the contract was needed.

He said:

“It seems like a phenomenal amount of money to spend on external consultants.

“I can understand why they might need some expertise, but it begs the question of what expertise we have in the council.”

The news comes as the county council is pressing ahead with setting up the new authority

An implementation executive made up of senior councillors has been created to make decisions on what the council will look like.

The new North Yorkshire Council will come into force in April 2023 and will replace the county council and seven districts, including Harrogate Borough Council.

Harrogate council awards £275,000 contract to KPMG

A £275,000 contract to come up with a business case for the refurbishment of Harrogate Convention Centre has been handed to consultants KPMG.

Harrogate Borough Council awarded the contract to the London consultants ahead of making a final decision on whether to spend £47 million redeveloping the convention centre.

As part of the deal, KPMG will also assess the economic impact of covid on the events industry.

Trevor Watson, the council’s director of economy, environment and housing, approved the contract following a competitive tender process in which the council only received a single bid for the work.

A council spokesperson said previously the award of the contract would mark “a significant step forward in our major investment”. They added:

“Harrogate Convention Centre makes such a significant contribution to the district’s economy by bringing visitors and investment.

“And this investment will deliver a major component of the Harrogate town centre masterplan and will be key to the district’s covid-19 economic recovery plan.”

It comes as a major shake-up of local government in North Yorkshire looms, which will see the Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council scrapped and replaced with a new super council.

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Control of the convention centre will be handed over to the new super council, which the government aims to have in place by 2023.

However, Harrogate Borough Council officials have said they remain “committed” to completing projects and that the convention centre redevelopment and plans to scrap the two-tier council system were “two entirely separate things”.

£288,000 contract for Brimham’s Active

Meanwhile, a separate contract to overhaul the booking management system in Harrogate district leisure centres has been awarded to an Oxfordshire company.

The £288,000 contract has been handed to Gladstone MRM Ltd, which has offices in Wallingford.

The council has commissioned Gladstone to upgrade its current booking system, which it said is 20 years out of date.

According to the government’s procurement portal, the contract will run until July 2025.

Brimham’s Active, which was set up by the council in August, now runs leisure facilities such as Harrogate Hydro, Starbeck Baths, Knaresborough Pool and Ripon Leisure Centre.

Single council for North Yorkshire ‘could cost £38 million to set up’

North Yorkshire County Council has outlined its case for a single council for the county in a move which officials say could cost up to £38 million to set up.

Consultants Pricewaterhouse Cooper reported to NYCC on the plans, revealing that setting up a single authority will cost a minimum of £18m and as much as £38m.

However, the authority also predicts savings of up to £252 million over five years, equivalent to £50.4m per year.

Outlining the county’s bid, Cllr Carl Les, leader of NYCC, said the proposal would cut waste and empower communities. As part of the plan, the model proposes 25 community networks with further devolved powers for parish councils.

It would see the single council sit alongside the City of York Council, which backed the model last week and would remain unaffected.

North Yorkshire County Council leader, Carl Les.

North Yorkshire County Council leader, Carl Les.

Cllr Les said:

“We propose a revolution in empowering residents and businesses with the voice and resources they need to secure what matters to them. Our bid sets out how 25 community networks would enable this change. We are also working in partnership with town and parish councils to further devolve power and resources to some community services and assets, to better suit local people.

“To ensure the public can access local advice and services in person and online, our proposal includes providing offices in every district alongside more than 30 access points. It also preserves the very many local delivery hubs we already have in place.”

The plan is one of two put forward for North Yorkshire as the government prepares to scrap both county and district councils, and replace them with one or more single-tier authorities in the area.

Alternative plans

Against NYCC’s plans for one unitary authority, the seven district councils – including Harrogate Borough Council – have put forward plans for an east-west model with two authorities, effectively splitting the county in two down the middle. York City Council would be dissolved and the city would become part of the eastern side of the split.

According to documents delivered by consultants KPMG, the east-west proposal could cost up to £39.4m. The minimum cost would be £29.1m, though the model could deliver savings of between £32.5m and £55.8m each year – equivalent to between £162.5m and £279m over a five year period.

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The district councils’ plans also say they would offer parish councils “the potential to take on additional responsibilities based on a two-way conversation”.

Although the number of elected councillors has yet to be agreed for the model, proposals say it is likely to be a reduction from the 348 posts currently filled across city, county and district authorities in North Yorkshire.

Under the county-wide model, NYCC said current boundaries suggest there would be 144 councillors, but a review of wards would be needed after the new authority came into effect. It proposes six area committees, each with around 15 councillors, in line with the constituencies of North Yorkshire’s MPs.

Election delay

Ahead of the submission, NYCC bosses are also expected to request that county council elections in May 2021 are delayed until the following year.

This would allow any councillors to be elected to the new authority, should it be approved.

The proposal comes after Robert Jenrick, Secretary of State for Local Government, invited councils to submit plans for a shake up of local councils ahead of a potential devolution bid.

Councils have until November 9 to submit an outline proposal to government, with a December 9 submission deadline for full plans.

Both North Yorkshire County Council’s executive and Harrogate Borough Council’s cabinet will meet next week to discuss their proposals and vote on whether to put them before their full councils. If they agree to do so, all councillors will have the opportunity to vote on the respective plans at separate full council meetings next Wednesday, November 4.