Organisational Changes at Mid Staffordshire Hospital Paper Example

Introduction

The Mid Staffordshire Hospital has faced different organisational since its establishment. in 1948. The Mid Staffordshire Hospital is part of National Health Service, and NHS is a health care system that delivers both primary and secondary care to the English Citizens (Francis, 2013 p.5). The hospital was founded in 1983, and it has about 345 beds. Different quality problems were detected in the hospital in 2007 (Salge and Schafer, 2015 p.1). The number of actual deaths that occurred in the hospital exceeded the expected deaths especially for diseases like heart, nervous system, infectious, lung, and blood vessel. Research conducted indicated that the hospital did not put much focus in providing quality care to the patients.

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Different organisational changes were introduced in the hospital in 2013 to resolve the issues that were affecting Mid Staffordshire Hospital. The changes include developing complaint reporting system and unusual incident, establishing audit system, building an openness culture, and shifting focus from financial and national targets to the wellbeing of patients (Salge and Schafer, 2015 p.2). The most significant change is directing their attention to patient's welfare. Although making changes are good, they tend to take long, result in few benefits, and take longer than the way it was anticipated originally (Thome, 2009 p.35). These changes were introduced to ensure that the hospital mainly focuses on providing quality care to the patients who made most patients complain about the past.

Repeated management failures and putting much focus to meeting national standards and boosting financial attention are among the leading causes of Mid Staffordshire Hospital. In achieving the foundation's trust status, the hospital's management realized they have PS10 million savings and PS1 million surpluses (Salge and Schafer, 2015 p.2). The money was gotten after cutting training expenditures and 150 clinical posts that led to understaffing in the essential areas of care and further problems in the hospital leadership. The issue of understaffing led to different clinical failings. Additionally, since the hospital was obsessed with the issue of meeting national targets like reducing wait time in accident and emergency department (A &E), the managers discarded the clinical protocols by moving patients from the department before they are thoroughly assessed with quality doctors.

Kotter's 8 Step Methodology as a framework for analyzing and evaluating how Mid Staffordshire Hospital attempted to manage its programme

Establishing a Sense of Urgency

The Mid Staffordshire Hospital has lost most of its customers to other healthcare facilities because it is incompetent in providing quality services. The hospital considers professional training as a way of executing change introduced in the healthcare facility. There was a need for the hospital to change its focus from finances and to meet national targets to focus on the well-being of patients. The issue was achieved by having an open culture. The strategy of shifting focus was urgently needed to ensure that the healthcare providers put the patients first in their operations. Technology played a significant role in making sure that the implementation of the strategies is successful (Kotter, 2010 p.1). Furthermore, the fact that nursing outcomes rely heavily on the nature of the relationship between the patient and nurses implied cutting-edge training that responds to the sensitive nature of the health sector. The hospital underscored the necessity to introduce complaint reporting system to ascertain that the patients' needs are met. The strategy would help the hospital to cope with the current and unprecedented emerging demands in the healthcare system (Appelbaum et al., 2012). The employees under Mid Staffordshire Hospital were made aware of the urgency and need of change, and it involved a dialogue between the management of Mid Staffordshire Hospital and the employees.

Creation of a guiding coalition

The second step that the Mid Staffordshire Hospital used to implement change was establishing a project team. The project team occupied itself with the change that the hospital missioned to fulfill. Furthermore, the group (government, healthcare department, patients, employees, and management of Mid Staffordshire Hospital) managed the efforts of ensuring that the employees consider the change as one which will benefit them (Kotter, 2012 p.38). The employees were also encouraged to cooperate by taking a constructive approach to ensure that the implementation process is successful. For the effective creation of a guiding coalition, employees in different job groups were involved in enhancing an open communication among the members of Mid Staffordshire Hospital.

Create a vision

The Mid Staffordshire Hospital understands that the healthcare system is on a transition and is influenced by not only the operations of the competitors but also stakeholders. For instance, the patients are increasingly more inclined towards individualized care thus require well-trained nurses to offer appropriate intervention. Therefore, the vision of the Mid Staffordshire Hospital was to facilitate effective care coordination through actively educating the nurses so that they gain the adequate capacity to take transformative roles in the nurse-consumer relationship. The Mid Staffordshire Hospital set out an e-Learning product that helps the nurses to undergo a constant education for professional development. E-learning product also aimed at making advances in the healthcare profession by ensuring much focus is put on the patients' safety and wellbeing. The development of the e-Learning product was to ensure that healthcare providers attain the required expertise to meet the current and future needs of the sector through professional growth and being responsive to the ever-changing workplace environment (Kotter & Cohen, 2012).

Communicating the Vision

After getting the vision right, the hospital communicated its vision to employees and patients. Excellent communication is essential for change to be successful as it dispels communication and motivates individuals to participate (Markowitz & Berghel, 2013p. 32). The issue of changing focus is a substantial change, and it was bounded by misconceptions and errors. E-learning was introduced to ensure that the health care providers are aware of the importance of putting patients first in their operations. Mid Staffordshire Hospital and leadership team talked to the people in understanding individual concerns and ways in which they feel the change will influence them. Furthermore, hospital management spoke about the vision often for the ideas to sink. Therefore, communication helped the hospital to gain buy-in. Mid Staffordshire Hospital also addressed worries and concerns of the people involved. If change is not communicated effectively, then it might not produce results.

Empowering other people to act on the vision

After completing the above steps, the team persuaded individuals especially management team to participate. Although there was resistance from some members especially management, the team managed to communicate to them (Lewis, 2007 p.279). Some of the stakeholders argued that focusing on finance is vital for the hospital to operate well while other claimed that national targets should be met instead of putting much focus on patients. The obstacles that affected the change are the corrupt management officials who are mainly focused on getting finance. Therefore, they will not be involved in the process. Resources and training were also provided to help the hospital continue with the implementation of the suggested strategy. IT built confidence and brought people's focus on benefits that can be obtained by the change which increased the number of patients and developing the company's image.

Creating short-term wins

Creating short t is the seventh step. After setting things in motion, Mid Staffordshire Hospital was required to catch more speed (Kotter, 1999 p.87). The healthcare facility wanted both the staff and patients to see the benefits that can be brought by this change with motivation and enthusiasm. The team was so cautious because being in a hurry might spoil curry. The long-term goals were divided into short-term goals. When the employees saw the short-term wins taking place, they felt motivated with the overall plan. The short-term goals are essential for the focus and motivation of staff to be sustained. After registering it got easier to follow the whole project. The short team wins include introducing e-learning and creating awareness on the importance of putting the patients first.

Build on the change

Short terms win did not qualify the full success. Therefore, at this step, the team examined given results to know the way short-term goals added to long-term goals. The long-term goal of the change is introducing complain reporting system and having an open culture. The outcomes have to be investigated for the plan to be successful.

Institutionalising new approaches

The project team connected the behaviours of the different stakeholders involved. Additionally, for the strategy to be successful, the team decided that they will get the patients' views on the new services they get for about two weeks before making a decision. The management would also be reshuffled to enhance the company's success.

Leadership approaches

The pacesetting leadership approach

Great man theory is used in explaining a pacesetting leader. The effort made towards explorations for natural attributes of authority is extended over the past centuries since most cultures require heroes to help in defining their success and justifying failures. Some people are naturally born leaders (HadjithomaGarstka, 2011 p. 313). Therefore, great leaders are born with the required internal features including confidence, social skills, charisma, and intelligence. The theory assumes that capacity of leadership is inherent and that prominent leader are naturally born but not made (Marquis & Huston, 2009 p.37). The management identified great leaders and made them lead the change in Mid Staffordshire Hospital. The CEO is naturally born leader, and he has all the leadership skills that can be used in ensuring that focus is put on the patients' well-being instead of focusing on meeting national targets. The CEO modelled self-direction and excellence in enhancing the implementation of change (Sashkin, 2004 31). The leader led as an example to ensure that the entire team project initiated the change process in a compelling way and on time. The leadership style worked best when the CEO motivated the team and skilled the leader to get quick results.

Authoritative leadership approach

An authoritative leader is one who mobilizes a team towards a mutual vision and focuses on the end goals as it authorizes means up to every individual (Dinham, 2007 p.14). The leadership style worked best when the team required a new vision due to the changed circumstances. The CEO who was an authoritative leader inspired the team members and had a vibrant enthusiasm for the hospital's mission. The leader worked with a team of experts who knew the change needed in the healthcare. Theory X proposes that the role of leaders is to control and coerce the followers since individuals have an inherent aversion to working and abstaining whenever possible (Landy & Conte, 2009 p.625). The leader compelled, intimidated, and authorized the rest of the team members to ensure that the project is completed in four months. He also threatened to terminate the employment of the employees who did not put much focus on achieving set goals. Furthermore,...