January 2012 - Sandwell & West Birmingham Hospitals

staff and skills. Diagnostic activities were then agreed for each key area, most
of which have now been completed. There is still further work to do in some
areas.
4. Diagnosing the specific issues
The Trust has engaged in a variety of specific diagnostic activities over recent
months.
These have included:
The identification of the key drivers facing the organisation by the
Board
A review of Board effectiveness and development activity by an
external consultancy
A review of the organisation’s ability to deliver on its cost improvement
programme (CIP) via its current structure and processes conducted by
an external consultancy
Review of the Trust’s overall readiness as an organisation to achieve
Foundation status, including a review of the Integrated Business Plan
conducted by an external consultancy
Identifying and articulating an ‘organisational map’ which plots the key
strategies and programmes against the strategic objectives-‘Organising
for Excellence
The Trust is also conducting a review of its organisational agility, and plans to
examine the way in which organisation learns and shares knowledge.
These diagnostic activities, the work undertaken to date in preparing for Trust
Foundation status and some external reports, have identified the following key
gaps in organisational capability:
Evidence that the project management of key CIP/change
management programmes is inadequate resulting in unexpected
budget variances
Lack of integration between CIP/QuEP programmes
Evidence that Divisions do not use the concepts of Service Line
Management to drive decision making
Evidence that the current performance management arrangements
encourage a focus on the Division, rather than specialities
Evidence that the Board is not sufficiently visible to staff
Failure to meet the CQC essential care standards consistently across
the organisation
A lack of a consistent approach to leadership development across the
Trust
A lack of a coherent framework which maps strategies/programme
The diagnostic process should not be seen as a discrete exercise and new
evidence on capability will continue to emerge (for example, the outcome of
CQC inspections). The organisation should, on at least an annual basis
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