Case Study: NHS Performance Measurement Crisis - Essay Example

The resignation by the key management post holders before the enquiry for abnormal mortality rate domiciled within the Trust performance clearly indicates either imperial negligence or incompetency in leadership to drive the organization towards improvement. (Greasley, A., 2009) Responsibility of bringing the Trust to such a failure could be much assigned to the board members, who had realized their negligence in relation to the lenient and casual behavior and over reliance upon management. Had they been managing the situation by keeping a watchful eye over operational leakages and have had interaction with clients, the situation could have been avoided.

For health care organizations building up the reputation among patients is as tough as it is easy to spoil it. In simpler context it takes ages to acquire the goodwill. CQC being an independent performance regulator, in its 2010 report over the Trust reflects highly positive actions taken by the management especially through intervention of the board, which led to remarkable achievements in eliminating operational black spots. (Greasley, A., 2009) With adequate staff training, procedures well defined, departments aligned towards improvement through infrastructural changes and acquiring the necessary equipment to handle critical situations.

Such improved reflection depicts the elimination of operational inefficiency that would eventually lead to higher customer satisfaction through timely and appropriate actions. Failure in Business Processes Processes define how an organization services a patient. Process flow should be such that it should route through the required step circle so that the patient is treated appropriately. Much of the health care is dependent upon cause identification and right treatment of the cause, which at certain instances can possibly lead to saving one’s life.

Initial investigation found out that 400 mortalities could have been prevented if the treatment was advised appropriately and timely to those patients. (Slack, N., Chambers, S., and Johnston, R., 2009) Management’s corporate and social responsibility in result of its board meetings, which traditionally focused merely on finance related issues, had dramatically shifted towards more emphasis on and inclusion of customer interaction. Efficient business process transformation is usually subject to evolution.

The change occurs in the process of organization’s interaction with internal and external stakeholders. While internal processes are brainstormed by professionals keeping in view the changing preferences and demands of the clients, change management in highly interactive environment clearly identifies malpractices which require swift action. Remedies such as mystery shopping, patient stories and patient experience tracker are considered proactive in bringing into the necessary change. In other instances, benchmarking plays pivotal role in setting up employee direction and performance measurement with defined expectations lead to higher sense of responsibility with clear mindset.

By identifying mortality rate, waiting times, customer satisfaction level, etc. as performance indices for employees makes the proposition quite objective and measureable from all ends. What these issues have in common is the organization’