Case Story

Manchester Foundation Trust

Data Quality & Validation

Programme delivery by max20 Project Solutions

This is the account of a Data Cleansing / RTT Data Validation Project, a major data processing programme undertaken by Manchester Foundation Trust, supported by max20 Project Solutions

This information covers the entire project from initial planning stage and budget allocation, through team selection and deployment, ongoing management, to reporting and successful completion. Every project is different, but the basics of successful delivery remain the same. Managing people as well as the project is a cornerstone of max20’s methodology, even in the midst of a global pandemic when not a single team member came offsite, and here’s how they did it…

Original team based at Baguley Residence on the main Wythenshawe Hospital site

One of the key locations used for this project

One of the later cohorts based at Trafford House

The Challenge

On-going Data Validation is being carried out across the Greater Manchester region to support the Manchester Foundation’s Trust-wide Electronic Patient Record (EPR) solution,Hive,and an innovative online patient portal, MyMFT, with the aim of transforming how MFT provide better, consistent healthcare wherever their patients are treated.

Powered by tried and tested Epic software, Hive provides wide-spread change and improvement that will see benefits for patients and create organisational efficiencies for staff for many years to come. However, to make the transition to the new platform, almost 750,000 existing patient records needed to be cleansed and made fit for purpose. Lorna Kinsey, Project Lead max20: “The NHS in Manchester was trying to manage patients across numerous sites. It made sense for the Trusts to merge and part of this would be to merge data.

“MFT needed a team of people to work as part of the Trust’s Data Quality Team to review the current patient administration systems that the merged Trusts had in place and to clean the data in preparation for migration to the Epic EPR system.

“There was a large number of records referred to as open registrations. These are created when someone is referred to a consultant, then back to their GP, but the referral is not closed out on the system.”

The Solution

The Epic team was embedded with the MFT team and with all stakeholders for a period prior to the data migration. It was agreed that to achieve a successful migration, a thorough investigation and cleansing of all data would be required.

Once the funding had been agreed internally by theMFT management teamClare Hartley, Head of Data Quality, Informatics Patient Services at MFT, approached max20, amongst other suppliers, with the project details and requested a formal quote for the work to be undertaken. Lorna consulted with her fellow max20 management team and went back with what they thought would be needed to deliver the project successfully. When their proposal was accepted, max20 proceeded tocontractstage.

Lorna: “We managed our agreed budget closely throughout the project. As with any large data project, it was inevitable that some clerks would be more efficient than others but everything would even out. To manage a project efficiently and effectively we build in thoserisks,extra fees and contingencies so there is no interruption to project delivery. That’s one of the great strengths of max20.

“NHS Trusts are always looking for efficiencies and improvements. By working on a project like this you are facilitating those improvements. You’re not just doing a job. There’s a greater motive for the programme.”

max20 Project Solutions

Large scale data projects
Data quality, cleansing and validation projects
Training
Mobilise, train and manage on-site and remote delivery teams of any size
Manage your EPR transformation requirements
Digital transformation strategy
Benefits realisation for the NHS
Business architecture for the NHS
Digital engineering delivery and systems procurement
Programme management
Windows 10 / Microsoft 365 deployment and support
All fully resourced with the right people, delivered on time, on budget and managed from planning through to completion

Established in 2001, max20 is a leading provider of healthcare project solutions. Created by experienced and passionate industry experts and driven by their strong commitment to improving the UK’s healthcare systems, max20 thrive by putting people at the heart of change and transformation.

Since the beginning, the company has achieved unrivalled, high quality outcomes for clients by taking the time to understand how changes involved in a transformation project affect all stakeholders. By entering into a meaningful, productive partnership with their clients, max20 has become the go-to project delivery people for NHS Trusts in the north of England and are now helping many more Trusts in regions right across the UK.

In their 22 years of operating, max20 have recorded a 100% project delivery success rate and currently hold the top position for the supply of IT and Digital services to the NHS in England.

When MFT looked for a strong programme delivery partner for a data project of this size, max20 was the right choice.

Team building, the selection process, and identifying the right people for the right jobs

The delivery team was based in the max20 offices in Altrincham, briefed to find the right candidates for each position.

Lorna: “The depth of experience at max20 means we can quickly make a rough estimate of the size of the team we’ll need, and the kind of people we’ll be looking for. In this case, because it was a big project, we carried out a very detailed briefing meeting. We found some of the team on our databases but the majority were people who we attracted using job boards such as Reed or Jobsite and CV Library, or networking with our existing Associates. The jobs were also advertised on the max20 web site.

“We didn’t have the advantage of having everyone on our books already but max20 mobilises quickly and effectively so the client has no concerns.

“max20 promotes diversity in everything that we do. We’ve always drawn people from all backgrounds, ethnicities, sexualities and belief systems to form teams. A sizeable proportion of the people we brought in for the MFT project had only recently come to the UK from Hong Kong. In essence, we are a true reflection of the diversity of the north of England and the NHS in general which is how we should be.

“We can quickly mobilise a team proficient in all relevant skills, whether it be engineering, data quality and so on. At max20 we’ve got an excellent delivery team that have been in the business a long time, I’d say an average of 10 years each in the business. We don’t just fill seats, we provide the best people for the required work who will deliver success.

“One of the challenges during the interview process was to convey the fact that these were not temporary positions. We needed their commitment for an agreed length of time. The project centred on data quality so continuity was important. We focused on people who could both stay in position and had very logical, organised minds; people like Computer Graduates, Accountants, Biomedical Scientists, subjects that attracted people with the right mindset. We also focused on people who were trying to get back into work or recently moved to the UK, something that is important to our sense of corporate social responsibility at max20.

“This is about the mobilisation and flexibility and intelligence and experience that goes into delivering a large project. You’ve got to have the right people to build the right team, and you’ve got to have the right team to deliver a successful project.”

Manchester Foundation Trust

The Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust was formed in October 2017 as a result of the merger between Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust. It has since merged with more Trusts. MFT is one of the largest NHS Trusts in the UK, providing a wide range of healthcare services including acute, specialist and community services to the people of Greater Manchester and beyond.

The formation of MFT aimed to deliver safer and more efficient healthcare services by combining resources, expertise, clinical services and data. The goal continues to be to provide high-quality patient care and to strengthen research, innovation and education within the healthcare system.

The Trust operates across numerous sites in the region including Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester Royal Infirmary, Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital and Trafford General Hospital. MFT is also closely linked to the University of Manchester and its research centres.

Tasked with creating financial efficiencies and patient data consistency across the NHS in the north west of England, Central and South Manchester joined together to become the Manchester Foundation Trust (MFT). Later, North Manchester General Hospital merged with the new Trust too. The new Trust planned to implement a new Electronic Patient Record (EPR) system in line with the critical NHS and central Government mission to unify patient information across all NHS organisations.
It made sense, in terms of both data continuity and logistical simplicity for patients, to unify the Trusts under one governance.

It was decided that US provider, Epic, would replace all incumbent EPR systems currently used across the various NHS sites, ensuring efficient and simplified patient records and data flow across the Trusts, wherever and whenever an individual received treatment.

max20 Project Solutions

In their 22 years of operating, max20 have recorded a 100% project delivery success rate and currently hold the top position for the supply of IT and Digital services to the NHS in England.

GOVERNMENT EPR PROGRAMME

An EPR programme is an initiative aimed at implementing electronic health record systems within healthcare settings to improve patient care, data management, and clinical decision-making.

To make the system more efficient and effective, NHS Trusts have joined this Government initiative by first cleansing, then merging their electronic patient records. Data cleansing is the process of detecting, correcting, or removing errors, inconsistencies, and inaccuracies in datasets. In the context of the MFT programme, data cleansing was crucial to ensuring the quality and reliability of patient records, medical histories, and other essential information.

The data cleansing programme for MFT involved:

- Identifying and removing duplicate records: Duplicate entries can cause confusion and inaccuracies in patient care. The project aimed to identify and merge or remove these duplicate errors.

- Correcting data errors: Human errors can lead to inconsistencies in data. The MFT project focused on identifying and correcting these errors to improve overall data quality.

- Standardising data formats: Healthcare Trusts across the north west of England were using various systems and databases which required standardisation, compatibility checking, and cleansing before adding to the new Epic platform.

- Validating data: max20 teams were deployed later in the programme to validate the data, making sure that it was accurate and formatted to the specific needs of Epic platform’s operating system. This was also a second opportunity to catch any errors overlooked by the first phase of the cleansing programme.

- Ensuring data privacy and compliance and, in some cases, enriching the data by adding further information to the records.

Successfully delivered by max20, the data cleansing project would improve patient care across the region for years to come, with more accurate reporting and analysis, and increased operational efficiency for MFT staff.

RELATIONSHIPS

The importance of a good relationship

Lorna: “We've been working with Manchester for a long time, before they became Manchester Foundation Trust. Clare Hartley, who led this project, is someone who we’ve also worked with for some time, providing information analytics and business intelligence skills. When her role changed to Head of Data Quality, she looked at bringing us in to support her team with that too. They were familiar with the quality of people and project management that we deliver and I think we have earned their view of us as a trusted partner.

“At one stage, when Clare was going on leave later in the delivery of the project, one of her senior managers was left in charge. He was concerned that a new cohort was due during her absence. Because of our strong relationship and high level of professional trust, Clare was able to reassure him that everything had been taken care of in advance. It’s good to know that they have confidence in what we deliver.”

CONTRACTS

What underpins a successful project is great people and a good contract.

Lorna: “It is important that each project is fully scoped to detail the responsibilities of all parties. For example, when delivering a desktop refresh we need to ensure the Trust has received the hardware and provides access to a suitable room as a base for the max20 team to build kit and plan deployment. With this project we needed to ensure the Trust had space to accommodate the max20 team at the various locations and was able to provide the relevant IT setup for them to start training immediately.

“A good contract should also manage risk on both sides and illustrate the commitment from both sides. And because max20 is on the GCloud Framework, we can always refer clients back to the terms of engagement and that are on that Government web site.”

RISKS

Big projects have the potential to have big pitfalls. max20 makes sure that they bring their experience to bear to avoid any such hazards.

Lorna: “I think the key thing, more than anything else, is having the correct contract in place and stating in it the buyer's responsibilities. So often, projects creep and slip with big organisations so we need to make sure that we've got a contract that states very clearly where responsibilities lie. To get to that contract you just ask all the right questions as the project is scoped. It avoids any misunderstanding and any unnecessary expenditure. You need to make sure the quote and the scope have been done correctly. That way everyone is covered.

Working with large numbers of people across numerous sites fulfilling a variety of roles demands the very best operational skills, especially when the unpredictable occurs.

Lorna: “Communication is key. Clear communication and the ability to listen to what the customer needs. Good management skills are important, but you must be able to both take responsibility in some circumstances and work as a management team in others. I also think it’s critical to do site visits. Remaining calm and organised when dealing with issues is important too. Ultimately, you're dealing with people, not just projects, and people can be unpredictable. We are in the people business.

Another situation to mitigate for is loss of multiple team members at the same time. You must have contingency for all eventualities, even if it’s just sickness. We delivered a lot of the MFT project throughout the pandemic so there was always potential for large scale absences. Of course, the bigger the team, the smaller the effect of occasional losses but we continued to register new people just in case. By checking in with people regularly and doing regular reviews we are managing risk ahead of time. Towards the end of a project, people will always start looking for work. All we ask is that they are straight with us. We have contracts in place but we also understand people’s needs and accommodate where we can. Maintaining good relationships and building trust is a good way of preventing a lot of project problems - and I think that's what we do better than anybody else.”

All transformation projects involve difficult decisions. max20’s position at the core of project management eases the pressures.

The Hong Kong cohort

At about the same time as the project started there was political turmoil in Hong Kong. The British Government allowed a number of people to come to the UK and fast-tracked their passports so they could find work immediately. About 15-20% of the MFT team were people that had come to Manchester from Hong Kong as part of this initiative.

Lorna: “Naturally, some of them didn't speak English, so that was a challenge to begin with. However, they were really good with data, which is a kind of international language. They knew what they were doing and they were fast learners. Some of them had held very senior positions back in Hong Kong such as Bank Manager, Accountants or Data Scientists. Although they didn't know each other when they started, we put them in groups in the different teams and we quickly discovered that they could communicate with each other and help each other with the project.

“In fact, we’ve just put some of the Hong Kong group on a new project. It has been good to hear that they've made friendships and are settling in. I’m always thinking, ‘Now these people have got experience, where else can they go?’ Some have even taken up permanent roles with the NHS. A couple of the men have wives who were nurses so they took NHS jobs too. One of the team has even gone on to be an EPR Analyst with an Acute Trust in the North West.

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Case Story

Manchester Foundation Trust

Data Quality & Validation

This is the account of a Data Cleansing / RTT Data Validation Project, a major data processing programme undertaken by Manchester Foundation Trust, supported by max20 Project Solutions

The Challenge

The Solution

max20 Project Solutions

Team building, the selection process, and identifying the right people for the right jobs

Manchester Foundation Trust

max20 Project Solutions

GOVERNMENT EPR PROGRAMME

RELATIONSHIPS

CONTRACTS

RISKS

The Hong Kong cohort