centralAlliance
centralAlliance is a joint venture established by the Whanganui and Mid Central District Health Boards to support
the shared planning and provision of health services. centralAlliance aims to create a regionally coordinated
system of health service planning and delivery, securing lasting improvements in the sustainability, quality and
accessibility of healthcare services.
In August 2010 Spotless won the centralAlliance contract to provide 21 non-clinical facility management services
and one clinical service, Dietetics. centralAlliance’s portfolio spans 80,000m2, 534 hospital beds, two main
hospitals and a number of health centres.
Spotless’ joint provision of clinical and non-clinical facility management services was a New Zealand first. The
contract model established a blueprint for other District Health Boards where the combined contract promised
greater efficiency and savings for redirection to clinical care.
Since contract commencement in August 2010, Spotless’ administrative and management savings across
the 22 services, together with the procurement gains from establishing a regional dietetics service and
the rationalisation of the workforce and technology, has resulted in $1.8 million in base cost reductions
and efficiencies.
Management focus
A regional manager and senior operational team were
appointed to lead and coordinate the management of
all non-clinical facility management services across
the region. Although Spotless employed more than
420 staff to deliver the 22 services, centralAlliance
had one central point of contact for any service issue.
Simplifying communication and administration gave
centralAlliance more time to focus on the core business
of clinical care.
Since contract commencement, Spotless has
saved centralAlliance $490,000 in regional
management and administrative economies.
Performance improvements
Day to day centralAlliance had high visibility across
Spotless services. Spotless’ performance metrics
were engineered to boost centralAlliance’s service
efficiencies, target qualitative improvements and
optimise assets.
The delivery of non-clinical services by their nature
is open to individual interpretation during each shift
on each day. To mitigate this risk and keep service
delivery consistent, the centralAlliance contract was
underpinned by performance checks against industry
standards, contract specifications and trend data.
Performance management was ongoing, systematic
and measured against the Health and Disability
Services Standard NZS 8134.0:2008. Spotless’
performance review framework was three-pronged
assessing strategic level performance, compliance
achievement and service quality.
Rather than having to deal with a range of
subcontractors, centralAlliance also retained tighter
control over service performance because it was
Spotless people managing and delivering Spotless
services.
Labour efficiencies
Spotless brought innovative technology, management
systems and processes to site operations, including
the measurement and benchmarking of service
improvement.
Spotless set up a regional call centre to manage all
customer and client service enquiries. Each month the
hotline processed an average of 1,000 work orders for
facility management and maintenance works alone.
A further 10,000 work orders were accessed directly
by District Health Board staff and processed online.
Response times to work requests significantly reduced.
The introduction of an orderly dispatch system
combined with the rationalising, pooling and
multiskilling of staff delivered centralAlliance $300,000 in labour efficiencies.
Spotless reduced the number of dedicated cleaners
and established a ready-reaction team of multi-skilled
staff. This team had a broader scope of responsibility in
terms of the areas to be kept clean and on after hours
shifts, provided orderly and security backup. Spotless
also implemented the “Cleaning Standards for Victorian
Health Facilities 2009”.
In addition to service improvements, these
cleaning initiatives delivered centralAlliance
$200,000 in operational efficiencies.
A further $140,000 was saved in security
expenditure by rationalising and reducing the
manned coverage to a more efficient level and
leveraging after hours synergy with orderly staff.
Best practice
Spotless recruited food service assistants and
introduced a Spotless’ food management system.
These initiatives enhanced recipe standardisation,
improved food consistency and enabled nutritional
analysis by individual patient.
The adoption of a ‘user-pays’ model where
centralAlliance only paid for the meals required
delivered further savings as ward staff became more
proficient in menu management and meal ordering.
Collectively these food initiatives delivered
centralAlliance $500,000 in food efficiencies.
Within four months of contract commencement,
Spotless implemented a comprehensive asset
management system to assist with strategic asset
management and capital planning. Enhancements
in facility management included asset verification,
condition assessment and the adoption of whole of life
cost principals.
The appointment of a building management
systems control technician automated processes
and reduced the previous need for 24/7 engineers
on premise. These changes saved $170,000.
|
"The Spotless management team is highly motivated and innovative in meeting not only our day to day services but also
planning into the future.
Throughout our relationship with Spotless we have been very impressed with the
reliability, efficiency and value of their services.”
- Jeff Small, General Manager, Commercial Support
Services, centralAlliance
The key benefits to centralAlliance from joint
provisions of non-clinical services have been:
- Simplification - both in terms of administration
and management
- Best practice - in service delivery
- Doing more with less - and gains in
operational efficiency
- Cost reductions – within the first 12 months, a
10.3% reduction in base costs.
|
