Many organisations continue to use conventional construction methods to satisfy their expansion requirements. However, certain procedures involved in the traditional build process not only impact on the environment, but can cause major disruption to business activities, employees and visitors.
Contributing factors can be the disposal of site waste, adverse weather conditions and problems associated with deliveries. A key driver in gaining a competitive edge and meeting the need for rapid expansion is the ability to quickly deliver and erect structures which can be used for a variety of purposes.
Provided they are well planned and carefully managed, temporary and semi-permanent structures can help alleviate these problems and deliver a cost-effective and sustainable solution to a multitude of expansion needs. A company at the forefront of the development of innovative structures is Accio Group, which is headquartered at RAF Alconbury near Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire.
Accio Group is one of Europe’s leading suppliers of temporary and semi-permanent structures and is renowned for its ability to deliver on time and on budget. A true innovator in its field, Accio Group has supplied some of Europe’s largest and most impressive structures and consistently thinks outside the box to meet a range of clients’ needs.
Since its inception in 2001, Accio Group has diversified into a number of sectors, including the armed forces, disaster recovery, education and retail. The company has worked on a number of high-profile projects for both public and private sector organisations, using its extensive experience to develop pioneering structures that deliver exceptional results, drive down costs and reduce environmental impact.
Accio Group’s mantra is that ‘nothing is too difficult’ and this can-do attitude has resulted in Accio Group successfully delivering temporary and semi-permanent structures where its competitors have failed.
Stephen Casey, Managing Director of Accio Group, said: -Temporary and semi-permanent structures offer a perfect solution to the need for cost-effective and low-maintenance buildings and ancillary services. Accio Group has worked on many projects across a number of different sectors and we use our unrivalled experience to deliver world-leading structures to a wide range of industries.
Each project has presented a unique set of challenges, but my team always overcomes these and consistently proves to be the best in the industry.
We develop pioneering new construction techniques that are continually evolving not only to meet our clients’ needs but to ensure we exceed their expectations for efficiency, quality and value enhancement.
We believe our results speak for themselves.
The UK’s leading supplier of storage and temporary structures to the MoD
Recently, the company has supplied the Ministry of Defence with temporary storage facilities for the withdrawal of weapons from Iraq and Afghanistan. At their Huntingdon headquarters, Accio Group is able to provide all the associated storage services including maintenance, climate controlled and humidified storage environments and testing facilities. This extensive facility has excellent transport links to the M11, M1 and M6 routes and the European ports of Harwich, Hull and Dover.
The expert team at Accio Group has almost 50 years’ MoD experience. This includes Stephen Casey, an ex-Army Major who enjoyed a successful 19 year career in the armed forces and a retired Lt. Colonel with 30 years’ experience in logistics management.
Accio Group has an impressive track record working in partnership with MoD suppliers and in June 2009 the company was appointed as the official temporary structure supplier to Supacat Ltd, a manufacturer of high mobility, all terrain vehicles. Supacat Ltd was recently awarded a £74 million contract by the MoD to supply combat vehicles and Accio Group has provided the company with numerous structures, including a temporary showroom for armoured vehicles at the Defence Vehicles Dynamics Show.
At the forefront of innovation and design
Temporary and semi-permanent structures benefit from significantly reduced build costs and disruption times, when compared to conventional builds and extensions. In addition, these structures offer durability, low maintenance and flexibility of use.
Through its focus on corporate social responsibility, Accio Group ensures it has a positive impact on the environment and communities it operates in. The company is committed to reducing its carbon footprint so limits unnecessary transport, sources local subcontractors wherever possible and continually develops more efficient construction techniques.
Accio Group recently designed a ground-breaking structure which is capable of being installed on most surfaces, eliminating the need for costly and time consuming groundwork. The main structure is constructed off-site and assembled once a unique leg support system has been installed. This leg support system is a European first in semi-permanent structure construction and is the main contributor to its efficiency. By removing the need for additional foundations, Accio Group can reduce build time from weeks to days, which in turn produces a significant cost saving, often running into tens of thousands of pounds.
The Olympic Dream
The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games offers an excellent opportunity for temporary and semi-permanent structures providers to develop their business and showcase the quality of their offering on a world stage. It has been estimated that up to 260,000 square metres of temporary structure space is required during the event, which will provide major opportunities for companies of all sizes in the sector.
The International Olympic Committee, keen to avoid a repeat of the Olympic ghost towns which have haunted some previous games in other countries, decided one method of tackling this problem is to scale back the provision of stadia and other buildings once the games have finished. This concept, while hugely environmentally sound, also helps to alleviate the legacy problems faced by host cities.
The use of temporary and semi-permanent structures went right to the heart of London’s bid. The main Olympic and Paralympic Games 80,000 seat venue in East London’s Olympic Park will be converted to a 25,000 seat athletics stadium, providing world-class facilities for years to come.
Solutions for education and local authorities
Providing suitable classrooms, gymnasiums, workshops and other fundamental facilities can be a problem for education establishments. In the past, the portable cabins used for these purposes were cold, unpleasant and suffered from rapid deterioration.
Accio Group has proven that modern modular temporary and semi-permanent structures can be designed to provide bright, comfortable and contemporary spaces that encourage pupils to learn.
A particularly successful project was delivered by Accio Group to the Milbourne Lodge Junior School in Esher, Surrey. The classroom was used by five and six year old pupils for 11 months and during that time there was not a single fault with the structure or ancillary services. The head teacher was so impressed with the quality of the structure she wanted to buy and use it permanently.
A further advantage of these structures is the ability to completely erect them on-site. Any access issues previously faced by an establishment no longer present a problem; this significantly reduces the disruption to both pupils and teachers.
The versatility of these structures and the scale to which they can be designed gives local authorities the flexibility to use them for a number of purposes. This includes the provision of temporary leisure facilities, office space and emergency facilities following a man-made or natural disaster. In these instances, Accio Group can install and maintain temporary accommodation, first-aid centres and weather protection to help house and treat people who have been affected by earthquakes, floods, hurricanes and acts of terrorism.
Europe’s largest temporary structure of its kind
Accio Group is renowned for the impressive structures it has installed on behalf of Sainsbury’s and Tesco. These include online shopping support structures, seasonal structures, store extensions, stores replacements, weather canopies and cafe’s.
This year, the company provided Sainsbury’s with Europe’s largest temporary structure of its kind. The 15,000 square foot retail space was used while the main store in High Wycombe underwent a rebuild as part of Sainsbury’s nationwide redevelopment programme. This project was unique as it required Accio Group to erect the structure two metres above an existing car park, involving the construction of a deck platform. The temporary store was extremely well received and in a customer satisfaction survey it was subsequently ranked in the top five out of 800 stores nationwide.
Proving its mantra that ‘nothing is too difficult’, Accio Group is currently working on a project to supply Tesco with almost 100 structures to help the retailer meet increased demand over the Christmas trading period. This involves Accio Group travelling the length and breadth of the country, installing structures from Thurso to Truro. Additionally, Accio Group will also travel to the Orkney Islands, where the company will coordinate suppliers and construct its innovative structures. This is the third year running Accio Group has supplied all the seasonal structures required by Tesco. The ability to efficiently deliver projects is one of its strengths and was a key factor in securing this year’s contract.
Solving parking issues
Transportation planning and parking congestion is an issue faced by many local authorities. Car use and effective management of parking provision is increasingly important.
Next generation modular car parking systems provide an economical and rapid solution to parking issues. Accio Group has delivered a number of these structures and is experienced in designing and installing bespoke parking solutions for both single and multi-storey situations.
The clear span and clear bay systems have the flexibility to be configured for either temporary or permanent use. This flexibility of layout allows for future expansion or rearrangement. A next generation modular car park can be configured to fit any shape of building and each installation features an integral gutter system and watertight deck surface which ensures the structure performs in all weather conditions.
Accio Group is committed to providing objective advice and its dynamic team will be happy to discuss your requirements. For further information please visit www.acciogroup.com or call 0800 389 6884.
Please see structures information pack you can download below this article
For NHS staff, accessibility, collaborative working and the reassurance that sensitive information is secure and remains confidential are top priorities when it comes to communications. That’s why increasing numbers of organisations are switching off their local email services in favour of NHSmail, the national email and directory service for the NHS in England and Scotland
GOAL
At the start of the project the vision was to build a single shared service platform which could be scaled to support the whole user base in the NHS. This would encourage organisations to switch off locally supported communication services in favour of NHSmail,
Building on the success of the first generation platform, the new service would have the potential to benefit nearly one million healthcare professionals across the NHS who were either still using locally supported, unsecured platforms or had no access to communication tools.
REASON FOR CHANGE
Under a contract that has run since 2004, Cable&Wireless has worked closely with NHS Connecting for Health to provide a fully managed enterprise email service to the NHS.
The first generation NHSmail platform successfully supported 350,000 users however requirements for the development of the service had changed with an increasing need for collaboration and mobility features.. It was time to consider moving to a more familiar and feature rich platform and it became clear that Microsoft had made great strides in the provision of a large scale public sector email service.
In 2007 the decision was taken to migrate users to a new platform based on Microsoft Exchange 2007 to meet the evolving requirements of the service and allow for potential future developments such as incoming SMS and collaboration tools.
TAKE CONTROL
With new NHSmail, staff benefit from access to a service that is accredited to Government Restricted level, allowing them to safely share sensitive information with NHS colleagues as well as local authorities and government. NHSmail is the only NHS email service with this level of security, which is why it’s approved by the Department of Health and endorsed by the British Medical Association, Royal College of Nursing and Chartered Society of Physiotherapy.
Crucially, organisations stay in control of their accounts – locally appointed administrators have access to a bespoke management portal developed by Cable&Wireless.
Tools are provided allowing them to perform administrative tasks such as resetting passwords and managing mailbox quotas. Organisations within the NHS benefit from access to a nationally shared platform whilst retaining local Administrative control. This allows existing email services to be decommissioned, IT resources freed up and costs reduced. In these challenging economic times, NHS staff are under pressure to deliver more for less with NHSmail, monthly email management costs could fall by up to 80%.
And NHSmail is centrally provided, availability is guaranteed with full disaster recovery and an ISO2000 accreditation gives organisations confidence in the service provided for their staff. In addition all email traffic is monitored 24×7 and accounts are protected by cutting edge anti-spam and anti-virus protection.
Representing the gold standard in functionality, NHSmail offers a range of features that enable staff to send a mix of email, fax and SMS text messages. It incorporates a full electronic calendar and folders that can be shared with colleagues across organisation boundaries.
DRIVE VALUE
For NHS staff, accessibility, collaborative working and the reassurance that sensitive information is secure and remains confidential are top priorities when it comes to communications
The NHS traditionally communicates by letters and phone calls, so patient care, referrals and follow-ups take time. With NHSmail, processes are e-enabled, speeding up communications and improving patient care. NHSmail allows organisations to provide their staff with the tools to carry out their jobs more effectively.
Staff also benefit from access to the powerful and data rich national directory containing the professional contact details of over a million staff across the NHS. Using NHSmail as a collaborative tool means that clinicians can seek the expertise of others regardless of where they are in the country. And this is helping to create -virtual communities where knowledge, expertise and different working practices are shared among those in similar areas of medicine and administration.
For NHS staff that work across multiple organisations or in the community, NHSmail allows them access to stay connected wherever they are. With full push email on over 200 mobile devices including the Blackberry, a Community Nurse equipped with a mobile device can avoid trips to base, maximising productivity and allowing more time for patients.
The fastest growing element is use of the SMS feature showing how changes to working practices in the NHS are being implemented at local levels. On average 35,000 SMS messages are sent via NHSmail every day to reduce appointment no shows, as well as for other communication such as flu jab reminders and relaying weather warnings to patients who suffer from diseases such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Innovations such as these save time and money and benefit both staff and patients.
C&W SERVICE DELIVERY
Migrations began in January 2009 and over 11 weekends more than 350,000 accounts were moved to the new platform, reaching a peak when a massive 47,000 accounts were migrated in just 48 hours. With an unprecedented success rate, Cable&Wireless achieved the biggest and fastest enterprise email migration of its kind ever. And with the capability of serving one million users, the service is the largest Exchange 2007 implementation of its type in the world
Use of the service is accelerating at a great pace with an average of 12,000 new users joining the service per month. By 2011 it’s estimated that NHSmail will be used by half a million NHS staff and on a typical day over 100,000 users log in and send and receive an average of 1.6 million messages.
The new platform delivers
Security to Government Restricted level and Anti Virus & Spam services
Business Continuity via dual site resiliency
Mobile email SMS & Fax capability
Public Sector Search – National Directory searchable at a local organisational level
Folder Sharing – open, subscribe to and share folders with any other user on the platform
Delegation of permissions to other users within enhanced Outlook Web Access (OWA)
Enhanced OWA – Richest Web Mail experience gives option to reduce costs and replace older Outlook versions
Administration Portal – organisations retain control of administration
Extensibility – new web services can be added to the end user or administration portal.
Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) has launched the musically-flavoured ‘Stand by Your Pan’ as a response to figures which highlight a particular risk to those who get peckish after a few drinks.
The light-hearted approach of this Tammy Wynette inspired viral video is intended to engage those at risk so they take on board the serious safety messages that could save their lives.
Statistics show that one in every three fire deaths is drink related, and the majority of accidental domestic fires begin in the kitchen.
The short video tells the story of a man’s return home after a night out with friends, and how his hunger pangs lead him to dice with death, before being saved by ‘fire angels’. It can be viewed on YouTube by clicking on
KFRS’s Head of Community Safety Stuart Skilton: -Unfortunately, ‘fire angels’ don’t actually exist – if you’re asleep and a fire breaks out, you’re in serious trouble. Just a couple of breaths of fire smoke can be enough to knock you completely unconscious.
Leaving cooking unattended is often a recipe for disaster, and if you’ve been drinking you’re even more vulnerable. Despite the old proverb ‘a watched pot never boils’, keeping a close eye on your cooking really will save your life. Whether you’ve had a few drinks or not, our advice to cooks is quite simply – ‘Stand by Your Pan’.
Watch Manager Andy Bigginton, KFRS’s Education Team Leader, plays the lead role the film and said: -As a firefighter and education officer I am used to seeing first hand the devastation caused by cooking fires and talking to the people about the risks. It was fun to be involved in the filming, as it is a light hearted approach to a very serious subject. I hope that as well as making people smile it will make them think twice next time they think about cooking after drinking alcohol.
A common misconception about house fires…
‘If there’s a fire in my home, the smoke will wake me up’
but in fact:
It can take just two or three breaths for you to fall unconscious from smoke inhalation.
The smell of smoke doesn’t wake up you up. The poisonous gases produced by a fire numb the senses and put you into a deeper sleep
A child can die from smoke inhalation in under a minute
A household fire doubles in size every thirty seconds
Combine these elements with the effects of alcohol and the chances of escaping from the smoke and flames diminish significantly, explained Stuart. -Drink affects people mentally and physically, increasing their likelihood of having a fire and slowing their reaction times when one breaks out. Survival is dependent on early detection – which means working smoke alarms.
Kent Fire and Rescue Service supplies and fits alarms free of charge, and can also offer special detectors for those with hearing or sight impairment. To book a free Home Safety Visit call 0800 923 7000.
The recording, transcription and storage of police interviews has always been a time-consuming and expensive process, says Simon Jones, Sales and Marketing Director for Indico Systems UK. New technology, however, is helping to boost efficiency and cut costs in this important area
Many people outside of the police force will be surprised to hear that a large number of police forces in the UK are still using audio cassette tapes to record and play back even their most sensitive interviews. Apart from the obvious problems with audio quality- especially when these tapes are played and re-played over a long period of time – there is also the risk of damage, corruption and physical loss. Not only that, but using audio cassettes for this purpose is expensive, as well, with some UK police forces spending more than £250,000 per year just on the tapes alone.
These problems are made even worse when it comes to more serious cases, since additional tapes are often used to record multiple interviews in different locations, before being played and re-played many times. Copies also need to be made for all parties concerned, often in different parts of the country, which means that important security issues are raised, as well as the deterioration of audio quality with each new copy.
For all of these reasons, many police forces have now switched to CDs or other removable media, but this option brings its own challenges. For a start, any data stored in this way – whether on a cassette tape or a CD – needs to be carefully sealed, labelled, sent to a typist to be transcribed, and then stored securely.
As a result, this approach often causes significant delays, since the whole tedious process – from interview to typed transcript – typically takes three weeks or more. Not only that, but there are once again serious security risks involved with sending such important information via an internal, albeit secure postal system.
Although it is difficult to obtain any national statistics for the number of investigative interviews recorded each year, 30,000 is normally given as an estimate for an average sized force. To comply with PACE (Police and Criminal Evidence Act) regulations, most of these interviews require three taped copies, but many of them (especially those involving more high profile crimes) tend to be longer than average, and can therefore extend to more than one cassette.
Even applying the simplest of maths will give us a figure in the region of 200,000 tapes used per year per police force, all of which will require storing and sorting. One police force that we’ve spoken with has said they have a storage room with over 750,000 tapes filed away; one can only imagine the amount of man hours that has taken to sort and document over time.
A server based process however, such as the Indico Streaming Solution, eliminates all of these problems, and can therefore save the police a significant amount of time and money, whilst also ensuring that evidence is presented securely, accurately and safely. In addition to making high-quality digital audio and video recordings that can be stored on digital discs, digital server technology can be used to store digital copies of every police interview on a secure network, which means that there is no risk of CDs or DVDs being lost, damaged or delayed in transit.
This kind of technology, known as “straight-to-server” digital recording, is already being looked at closely by the NPIA (National Police Improvement Agency) and has been installed by Indico Systems at Teesside University on their police training course. Because the interview is recorded straight onto the server, the delays and associated costs caused by the time it takes for removable media to be delivered to transcribers (who then summarise each interview) are eliminated completely.
In 2008, Lancashire Constabulary used this kind of technology to replace traditional taped interviews with digital recording methods as part of a Government-approved pilot study. Instead of using traditional tapes, audio-only interviews were stored on a secure server that legal teams and police were able to access.
The Lancashire study concluded that up to three hours were saved per interview by using a server solution to record and store the interviews. If you multiply this figure by up to 40 interviews per day across a force, and then extrapolate those figures across the whole of the UK, you can quickly see how the police and the government could save millions of pounds and countless man hours with this approach. Not only that, but less police time wasted also means more time spent on front line crime fighting, which is good news for the police – and for the general public, as well.
For all of these reasons, plus the fact that analogue tape systems are proving increasingly unreliable, a move to digital recording, – and ultimately a server-based solution, – is without a doubt the way forward for improved efficiency, better security and lower costs.
Every day, local and national government and public sector departments manage millions of documents related to the individuals they deal with and the services they provide. Nick Rowley, managing director of workflow management company Oceanus discusses how to keep track of this countless correspondence, and how document management within the public sector must evolve to embrace new communication challenges.
These days the general public communicates in many different forms from web, email and letter to fax, SMS or by telephone, and expects to be able use these multiple and varied communication systems with whichever organisation they are dealing – whether a catalogue retailer, a hospital ward or a local authority parking shop. As service delivery becomes more complex, and citizens demand multiple methods of contact, managing and integrating communication systems alongside information management and collaboration requires planning, foresight and an understanding of the issues at stake.
All these channels of correspondence and associated information need to be combined into a single case based interface, allowing the capture, processing, resolution and management of all these interactions. In fact, public sector organisations, government departments and local authorities now face the same challenges as retailers operating in a multichannel environment. How do you manage communications from disparate channels? How do you achieve a single view of the individual’s case? How do you ensure information is centralised, so that officers on the front line have access to the case history of the person they are dealing with, while citizens can access the information they need quickly and easily? Most importantly how do you improve staff efficiency?
These are the questions that need to be asked when implementing document management systems, as the way information is managed affects the whole spectrum of activity – from the service people receive, to the day-to-day work of staff, to the way departments and teams collaborate. Government departments need to look at ways of becoming more efficient, of doing more for less money, and as the mantra goes, exceeding customers’ expectations.
The development of information and citizen communication systems, such as the Directgov website, have shown that streamlining and centralising information can be a slow and onerous task – But one that is worth it in the end. The idea for the site was first mooted in 2002, it actually launched two years later and has built up to receive over one hundred million visits so far this year, proving its popularity and effectiveness.
However, from schools registrations to benefits applications, public sector bodies still suffer under the weight of paper and labour-intensive processes. Beyond just meeting the e-government agenda, the ability to scan, categorise and store documents electronically for easy retrieval and collaborative use is the only viable alternative to these outdated modes of working.
Many document management systems will enable all types of messages (notes from voice, letter, email, text, scanned documents and, if applicable, pictures, video etc.) to be stored and linked to a customer reference for quick access. A simple workflow system will sort and flag priorities or track response progress so that responses are prepared and issued in the timeframe agreed with the ‘customer’. If a response is delayed, or cross-departmental cases are lacking co-ordination, then the system can at least give warning that a response is due, so that cross-departmental teams can communicate on the issue, agree on a required outcome and advise the customer that there is a delay or requirement for further action. A response can be released in the format agreed (letter, fax, email, SMS or telephone call) direct from the worker’s workstation to the customer’s preferred method of communication. Furthermore, this helps trace communications and ensure communications are received.
Data protection regulations, compliance and government directives make it imperative that there are systems and processes in place to manage the way transactions are processed. Take the healthcare sector for instance. It has to manage mountains of patient care data both back office and patient facing. Medical staff such as nurses, physicians or lab technicians, need applications to document, review and analyse patient information relating to a patient treatment. They have to be able to retrieve a series of different pieces of patient information from different sources. Such pieces of patient information are commonly called “parameters” and may include information about indications of patient condition, laboratory test results, assessments, and the administration of treatments. All this information has to reside in a secure and yet accessible environment. In this environment, the loss or mishandling of parameters can have serious consequences, so an integrated workflow and records management system is crucial.
There are also additional benefits to implementing electronic workflow and collaboration systems. Not least regulatory compliance and green concerns. Scanning documents to produce electronic records helps not only to save on paper storage costs and implications but also meet requirements for data storage and retrieval.
Digital self service is well under way, and before long, customers will be expecting to fully interact with all local and national services online and across various media. When looking at their information strategies, public sector organisations should take into account business process management, workflow, internal and external collaboration and single customer view implications. No one says it is going to be easy, but in the long term government departments and citizens will reap the benefits of increased efficiency.
The forecast drop in economic growth to three and a half per cent during 2009 was a big blow to businesses. However, it seems there is light at the end of the tunnel; deals are being done, the economy is forecast to grow one and a quarter per cent in 2010 and spending on public services is expected to grow by an average of 0.7 per cent for 2011-12. The green shoots are starting to show.
So while tendering for government and public sector business can cost companies thousands upon thousands of pounds, clearly getting a tender submission right is top priority.
For the organisation setting the tender, receiving a relevant and informative response is paramount but dependent on having the time to issue a well constructed brief. Having to answer multiple questions, asked at different times by different bidders is time consuming enough but then sifting through and comparing the tender responses accurately and evaluating them fairly can be complex and involved.
-As soon as a tender document comes in it needs to be actioned straight away, says Terence McGuire, Bid Team Manager, from commercial property company Colliers CRE. -It’s not uncommon to have a short amount of time until the submission deadline, and the longer time is taken to decide whether bidding for the job would be worthwhile, the less you have to create a compelling submission that will stand out.
Organisations issuing and responding to tenders acknowledge that providing relevant information from the outset is key to getting a good response, yet a common complaint for both parties is the quality of information provided. When sections have been cut and pasted from previous briefs and submissions, it may save time in the short term, but in the long term it will cause more work as clarity will be required on unclear points.
Assessing a tender opportunity is particularly time consuming in multi-discipline pitches. Circulating the request to individuals in other departments, who then undertake manual scoring, is a lengthy process that requires accuracy and consistency. It’s difficult to ensure individuals are accessing the brief according to the same criteria when they are only looking at specific parts of the document at varying times and from differing perspectives.
It’s also easy to miss things when there are other demands to fulfill and you are expected to pick through a document running to hundreds of pages. Terry continues: -Being part of any new business exercise, which would be a coup for the company if won, can become onerous and demanding instead of being part of something which you can be proud to be involved with when time is of the essence.
However, while tendering for Government and Public-sector organisations can be a long and laborious exercise, there is no doubt that securing work in this field is very valuable to suppliers. Once won, most become long term, steady customers that can be relied on to pay on time and inline with agreed payment terms. Sadly this level of security isn’t always a common feature among clients outside the sector.
So how can you dissect a tender document in a quick, efficient and consistent way that leaves you in no doubt as to whether bidding for the work is a good idea?
Mind mapping can ease both the processes of drafting the tender submission and evaluating the proposals received. It is a practice that has been used for decades by people in sectors ranging from education to business to help clarify and organise information.
Using mind-mapping software takes this principle to the next level. You can break down complex information into component parts which can then be categorised and compared against organisational priorities, skill sets, experience, forecast costs and any other factors you feel should be taken into account when assessing viability. For example information could be sorted into categories such as low-effort high-return and high-effort high-risk.
Critical to the success of the tender is being able to pull prepared data, market research, analysis and evaluations together in a timely manner and any type of document such as text document, picture, spreadsheet, hyperlink, slide etc. can also be attached to a mind map. Holding all this information in one place makes it easy and convenient to reference information and attach further data such as annexes, biographies, case studies, sample work, web pages or financial overviews.
When starting the tendering process a lot of content is created and is hard to prioritise when you simply save it in different text documents. Using business maps enables the team to display content in a very structured way and to complete tasks faster.
In terms of receiving tender submissions, content compiled the traditional way cannot easily provide the context needed to formulate conclusions or explain why and how suggestions were made. Visualising the thought trail in a map makes it easier to pick up on the nuances of the tendering process. It simplifies very complex deals, enabling your customer to conduct the due diligence more easily, quickly and accurately.
However, if specifying tender responses in a mind-map seems a step too far, documents accepted in Word can be easily converted into a map and vice versa. Information can then be prioritised according to budget, skills set and other relevant categories, allowing issuers of the tender notice to quickly and easily identify the most appropriate company for the job or shortlist.
It is becoming increasingly clear that time is a valuable currency and to leverage this precious resource, efficient working practices need to be established. This includes being able to keep track of projects, finding information faster and empowering teams to collaborate better. Mind mapping software provides an easy to use blank canvas on which to place all the elements and relevant disparate information of the tender in one place, enabling you to visualise the project as a whole and build out from that point.
Taking a clear and concise approach will minimise the risk of coming in second in the tendering process. While it’s not a guarantee, mind-mapping software could give you the edge and it’s an approach that bid managers should consider using.
The use of open source is a topic that is continuously debated in both the private and public sectors. With some companies and organisations welcoming the liberal use of technology, whilst others fearing that in removing proprietary software companies and organisations will be doing away with vital legacy expertise and control.
Earlier this year open source evangelists and early adopters witnessed a key milestone when the UK government took a positive stance on encouraging the use of open source in government IT systems. In recognising some of open source software’s true benefits, the UK government updated its policy and introduced an action plan to drive the adoption of open source tools inside government.
Abiding to the new 2009 policy, the government will now actively and fairly consider open source solutions alongside proprietary ones in making procurement decisions. Procurement decisions will then be made on the basis of the best value for money solution to meet the business requirement.
Despite this tremendous step forward it is therefore extremely concerning to hear that that the 2012 Olympics will not be using open source software. This is a major opportunity for the government to reduce costs associated with the project and to show its full support for open source products.
In a recent interview, Michelle Hyron, Atos Origin’s chief integrator for the London 2012 Olympic Games stated: -We will probably use open source for some of the operational tools like e-learning, but as an operating system? No. I think if you target open source carefully as to when and where you use it, it is possible. Will it be considered? Yes. It’s not a definite no-no. But we will also make sure that we do not take any risk. On a project like this, risk is not something you want.
As an open source evangelist, I hope that the decision against using open source for the Olympics will not become a costly and regrettable error. Not only is the government’s actions to rule out open source tools contradictory to its new policy, it also fails to recognise that open source products are equal risk or in many cases a lower risk than proprietary software. Open source software has to pass a number of complex tests. In fact, open source products are put through greater testing before GA release than proprietary based products. At Talend for example, over 1,000 of our community members are involved with testing milestone releases (milestone releases are roughly equivalent to beta releases). And a recent study by independent analysts has proven that open source database MySQL has ten times less defects than Oracle!
One of the major benefits of using open source software is that in having such a passionate community of followers, the software is constantly being developed and improved. In contrast, proprietary software’s code cannot be developed by its users to meet evolving business needs and can therefore become dated within a matter of months.
Another fact that challenges the idea that open source is high risk is that when subscribing to a commercial version of an open source product the user is provided with full customer support. This helps to emphasise how secure and protective open source products actually are.
Despite fears around open source, there is a steep rise in government and agencies taking on open source software. For example, the Revenue Commissioners in Ireland has introduced an open source data integration tool to meet various data integration needs such as improved data management. Since adopting the open source based software, the Revenue Commissioners has already identified benefits, including increased speed of developing optimised structures for query, reporting and analytics.
Open source evidently has its benefits over proprietary software and this does not come at the cost of having greater risk. Although some believe that open source is high risk, the issues raised above stress that open source is a professional and supported offering. With open source being able to integrate with legacy systems, risk is automatically reduced as organisations no longer need to spend massive amounts of IT budget on replacing major IT systems that may only be required in the short-term. In this case, the Olympics, as a project, is a perfect example of where open source software can show its true purpose. Often, IT budgets for such projects are very limited and open source software provides that vital flexibility needed for continuously adapting project requirements.
After recognising all of open source’s advantages, the UK government must ensure that it fully supports open source and steers clear from being locked in by proprietary software or face an on-going list of timely and costly IT blunders.
The award recognises and rewards the most outstanding young solicitors in the local government legal profession. Apart from the glass award and the acclaim of being the 2009 Young Solicitor of the Year, Nathalie will receive a Red Letter day of her choice for her and her partner.
Nathalie has won the award for her innovative work and raising the profile of local government solicitors. She is currently dealing with letting out contracts to organisations that care for people with acute needs on behalf of the County Council where she has worked to reduce costs for the authority by working with partners in the East Midlands.
She has recently helped to clerk the Council’s Planning and Licensing Committee when it dealt with the Council’s largest planning application in over a decade for an energy recovery facility in Nottinghamshire. She is also a member of the National Executive of Solicitors in Local Government where she has worked hard to ensure young solicitors are represented on the group.
Nathalie said: -I am delighted to have won this award which I receive very much on the behalf of the team I work with.
-I take a ‘can do’ attitude to my work to ensure that the needs of my council colleagues are met within legal means – there is no point in putting up unnecessary hurdles or not finding ways a round a legal problem.
Nathalie was nominated by the County Council’s Chief Executive Mick Burrows and Head Of Legal Services Heather Dickinson.
All children love the elements, whether it is digging or planting in the earth, running in the sun, splashing in the rain or watching how things move with the strength of the wind. With this love of natures elements in mind, Playgarden www.playgardens.co.uk have launched a range called Elements for Play, that schools, nurseries and pre-schools can incorporate into their outdoor learning and play.
The first products to be launched from the Elements for Play range will focus upon water and the number of limitless play opportunities it offers children! From stepping into a puddle or simply pouring water into different sized containers buckets and containers, children are naturally drawn to water. Children can move water from one place to another to see how it reacts and how it makes objects.
Water play is a great way for children to interact and cooperate with others, they can use their imaginations to create fun, exciting games that can be reinvented time and again. It helps children develop fine motor skills whilst helping them understand weights and measure simply by moving water around.
Bamboo Channels are one of the most popular water products in the Elements for Play range and can be used for both indoor and outdoor water play. They come in a pack of 4, 1m in length, and being lightweight, offer great opportunities for water and sand transportation. The 4 parts to the Bamboo Channel encourages children to think creatively, testing their coordination and engineering skills to build a larger channel.
In addition to Bamboo Channels, Playgarden is offering a range of essential water play items including watering cans, water bowls, water sprays and water pipes.
Commenting, Paul Collings, MD at Playgarden says, -Here at Playgarden we are working hard to highlight the value of outdoor play for young children. We want to see more and more early years settings and schools incorporate the natural elements into outdoor play, hence why we have created the Elements for Play range. Water is something that children never grow tired of and they are fascinated by how they can manipulate it and how it works in a natural setting. Jumping in a puddle to create the biggest splash is a delight to children and we want to harness this fascination and love of water to offer a range of water based play resources that will enhance this.
Playgarden Design and Resources Ltd has been launched by Paul Collings, Managing Director, who is also the face behind Playgarden’s successful sister company, Timberplay. Playgarden is an online service – www.playgardens.co.uk offering outdoor play solutions. The company will purposefully target nurseries, pre-schools and primary schools with solutions designed specifically to address their play needs.
To find out more call 0114 282 1285 or visit www.playgardens.co.uk
Rodney Pearce, one of the UK’s most senior and highly respected Fire Risk Assessors, who recently passed away, has been awarded a posthumous certificate of competence from Warrington Certification Limited (WCL).
Receiving the award on behalf of Rodney were Fireco’s MD Neil Purssey and Tom Welland, with Fireco Fire Risk Assessor Cyril Moseley who was also awarded the WCL Competent Fire Risk Assessor Certification.
Simon Ince, manager of personnel schemes for WCL, presenting the awards said, ‘Congratulations to Cyril on being one of the first Fire Risk Assessors in the UK to successfully attain Competent Fire Risk Assessors Certification. I wanted to come here myself to present this certificate as Fireco have assisted us in pioneering this scheme and I also know they are extremely passionate about appropriate certification for Fire Risk Assessors.’ Speaking of Rodney he added: ‘Presenting his award to Fireco is a fitting tribute to a very capable man, who will be missed by all those in the industry who knew him.’
WCL, in partnership with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), operates an independent third party ‘competent persons’ scheme in accordance with ISO/IEC 17024:2003. This UKAS accredited scheme, called FRACS (Fire Risk Assessors Certification Scheme), has been designed to allow fire risk assessors to prove, through third party certification, their competence to complete ‘suitable and sufficient’ fire risk assessments as required by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order (RRFSO).
Engineers at the University of Bath have opened a new state-of-the-art laboratory that allows them to measure very large objects, such as aeroplane wings, to within a fraction of a millimetre.
The facility, named the Laboratory for Integrated Metrology Applications (LIMA), is based in the University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering and has strong links with the Department’s Innovative Design & Manufacturing Research Centre.
Metrology is the science of measurement, and the researchers at LIMA are working with a number of industry partners to develop new techniques for measuring large objects such as aeroplane wings and engine parts to accuracies that were not feasible before.
Another key objective of LIMA is to develop measurement-assisted automation that will revolutionise the way robots and machines are functioning.
LIMA’s partners include the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), metrology company Renishaw and other metrology vendors, five other universities and a wide range of advanced engineering and aerospace companies including, Airbus, Rolls-Royce and Vestas.
The laboratory was officially opened on 25 November by Mr Peter Mason, CEO of the National Measurement Office, in the presence of the University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Glynis Breakwell.
Peter Mason said: “It’s great to see this sort of initiative that brings together government, the national measurement institutes, industry and academia, all focusing on a very clear requirement to apply measurement to the widest possible purpose.
-It has been a real pleasure for me to see these excellent facilities at first hand.”
The University also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Physical Laboratory that will strengthen their future collaboration in advanced metrology research and development, and accredited services to industry.
Dr Graham Topley, Head of the Measurement Solutions Division at the National Physical Laboratory, said: -This event represents an important milestone in the development of our relationship with the University of Bath, as well as our collaborative business venture from LIMA.
-It also confirms very significant support and interest from our academic, governmental and industrial stakeholders.
At the same event, the University also exchanged corporate gifts with Renishaw to mark the opening of the Renishaw Metrology Laboratory, within LIMA.
Professor Geoff McFarland, Group Engineering Director of Renishaw, said: -LIMA is the first lab of its kind. Integrated metrology is very important because it is bringing together research and practical application.
Professor Paul Maropoulos, Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Chairman of LIMA, said: -We are delighted at Bath to be working with all the partners of LIMA to develop new metrology-enabled technologies and methods that will have applications in many industry sectors from aerospace, to wind turbines, power generation and healthcare.
-Today, we celebrate the formal opening of LIMA and the creation of strategic links with the National Physical Laboratory and Renishaw. We now starting work to develop research projects, accredited measurement services and training material that will address the industrial needs and generate economic impact.
Housing Minister John Healey visited New Broughton in Salford today recently as it is the first North West scheme supported by the Homes and Communities Agency’s (HCA) Kickstart funding programme to be fully signed off, with all legal agreements and contracts now exchanged.
New Broughton was officially approved for £8m of funding in October as part of the Kickstart Housing Delivery programme which targeted stalled sites, to support construction of high quality mixed-tenure housing developments. Since the confirmation, the HCA, Salford City Council and developer Countryside Properties have been working towards the final stages of the deal.
Deborah McLaughlin, North West Regional Director of the HCA, said: -The HCA recognises the potential of New Broughton coupled with the local demand for affordable, quality homes. All parties have rallied together to get builders back on site ensuring that a real difference is made to local communities.
Les Brown, Countryside Properties’ Regional Project Director said: -It is fantastic news that we have now cleared the final hurdle to draw down the additional funding. We have been particularly eager to complete the complex and lengthy legalities as quickly as possible with the HCA and our other partners – Contour Homes, Great Places and Salford City Council – so that we can get onto site and deliver the much needed affordable new homes for the area.
-It has been a challenging past few months for all parties concerned with a plethora of legal agreements to fulfil, however it is extremely satisfying that we are now back on site and new life is being breathed back into New Broughton.
Councillor Peter Connor, Salford City Council’s lead member for housing said: “We’ve worked with our partners and the HCA to beat the effects of the economic downturn and get New Broughton back up to speed.
“The government money is a much needed helping hand for the project which will be used to provide quality affordable homes for local people.
New Broughton in Lower Broughton is one of the country’s largest and most ambitious regeneration schemes, with 3,500 new homes planned, a new primary school, recreation and open space along with new retail and local facilities. Construction has now begun on the next phase of homes.
The government-appointed Working Group charged with setting rules for how ‘game birds’ will in future be produced for shooting has caused widespread dismay this week by publishing a Code of Practice that fails to outlaw the notorious battery cage for breeding birds.
Even the UK’s leading pro-shoot lobby group – the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) – has long condemned the cages and called for them to be banned. Made of wire mesh, and holding around eight female pheasants and one male, the contraptions expose the birds to the elements all year round. Partridges are confined in breeding pairs in metal boxes that are correspondingly smaller and just as bleak as the pheasant units.
The cages were first exposed nationally by Animal Aid when its undercover footage was broadcast on BBC’s Countryfile programme in November 2004. Animal Aid’s evidence convinced BASC that the cages were publicly indefensible and the lobby group has maintained its opposition to them ever since.
This week’s draft Code of Practice on the Welfare of Gamebirds Reared for Sporting Purposes is the product of more than two-and-a-half years of fitful deliberations by the industry-dominated Gamebird Working Group, which was established under the 2006 Animal Welfare Act. Animal Aid submitted detailed filmed, written and verbal evidence to the Group. This week’s draft Code of Practice ducks the issue of a cage ban. Instead, it offers three options for public consultation to keep the cage system as it stands, to allow ‘enriched’ cages, or to ban the cages outright.
Animal Aid has covertly filmed examples of ‘enriched’ cages. They generally have a plastic ‘curtain’ set towards the back for a small measure of privacy, and a piece of dowel resting on bricks for perching. In reality, these ‘improvements’ make little difference to the bleak prisons or to the distress of the caged birds.
The Working Group looked at a broad range of issues relating to game bird production, including diet, veterinary care, transportation and housing. Another especially contentious area is the industry’s routine use of various restraint and vision-limiting devices on birds as they pass from cages to sheds and finally to the large pens, in which they are held prior to release for shooting. The aggression between birds that the devices are intended to limit is caused by the crowded, unnatural and oppressive conditions in which the birds are reared. The devices are typically attached to beaks or over eyes, and include so-called bits, spectacles, masks and clips. Some bits are attached with a pin that pierces the nasal septum. Other birds have the ends of their beaks amputated. Apart from calling for a ban on the nasal septum-piercing bits, the draft Code fails to set out clear restrictions. Typically, it urges that the devices should not be ‘generally’ or ‘routinely’ used.
Says Animal Aid Director, Andrew Tyler:
‘Animal Aid has been exposing the suffering that is integral to game bird production for more than a decade. We first brought battery cages to public attention five years ago and have led the growing campaign – which now includes important elements of the shooting industry itself – to outlaw their use. The failure by the DEFRA-appointed Working Group to produce a draft Code of Practice that clearly prohibits cages is not only gravely distressing to animal protection groups but will also disappoint key pro-shoot bodies such as BASC, which knows that there is no rational, ethical argument that can be made for the cages- not least because the purpose of the birds being produced is to serve as feathered targets for wealthy shooters.’
Animal Aid reiterates its call for a ban on the production of birds for ‘sport’ shooting. Such a ban was introduced in Holland in 2002. As a matter of urgency, we seek a prohibition on the use of battery cages and of devices that restrain and restrict the vision of birds during their breeding and growing cycle.
More information:
Contact Andrew Tyler or Kit Davidson on 01732 364546. Out of hours 07918 083774.
City law firm Trowers & Hamlins has advised new social landlord Plymouth Community Homes on the largest ever housing stock transfer in the South West of England, in which all of Plymouth City Council’s 15,000 homes have been transferred to Plymouth Community Homes.
According to Trowers & Hamlins the investment programme that will follow the transfer will be one of the largest capital investment projects the City of Plymouth has ever seen. £1 billion of investment will be made in the city’s social housing over the next 30 years, facilitated by over £150m of grant funding from the Homes and Communities Agency and over £100m of private finance provided by the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Rob Beiley, project partner at Trowers & Hamlins, comments: -The transfer will mean that over the next five years the residents of the city will benefit from £168 million of investment in their homes, demonstrating the continued importance of housing transfers in the regeneration of social housing in England and Wales.
-This was a challenging project for the firm. Quite apart from its size, this project involved the transfer of over 500 staff and arrangements for the wholescale demolition and rebuilding of two of the city’s estates. This presented a number of complex contractual and regulatory issues to address as well as an innovative funding structure to put in place.
Trowers & Hamlins have acted for Plymouth Community Homes on the project since the City Council started tenant consultation in 2007. The project involved specialist solicitors from the firm’s Public Sector, Banking and Pensions teams, its Procurement team as well as Real Estate lawyers from both its London and Exeter offices.
Anthony Collins Solicitors acted for Plymouth City Council and Addleshaw Goddard acted for Royal Bank of Scotland plc.
Injuries and their consequences produce a heavy burden on society in terms of short and long term disability, mortality, economic loss and health care costs. Whilst injuries account for only about three per cent of total deaths in Wales, the distribution of the age of death in those dying is very different from most other causes of death with a high proportion of deaths occurring in the young. After the age of one, injury is the first or second leading cause of death in most European countries, including Wales.
There is increasing concern being expressed to address the prevention of death and disability in Wales, for example the Chief Medical Officer, Dr Tony Jewell, is supporting the concept of ‘preventing the preventable’. Injuries are caused by predicable interactions between individuals and the environment in which they live and work. The term ‘accident’ is no longer used as it tends to suggest that injuries are random events and not amenable to prevention, when in reality they usually follow a predictable pattern of exposure and are largely preventable. Increasingly references are made to unintentional injuries or events, such as crashes or collisions, rather than terms such as ‘accidental injury’.
SafeHome is a web-based home safety and hazard assessment tool designed to reduce injuries in the home, particularly amongst children and older people. SafeHome has been developed by injury prevention researchers at Swansea and Cardiff Universities with input from a number of charities and organisations. Available on www.Safehome.org.uk, SafeHome enables the individual to complete a short online questionnaire. There are two forms available because some things are dangerous for young children that are not dangerous for adults and older children. A personal report is then generated which identifies hazards and safety features in their home and gives guidance on how to make their home safer. It will also compare hazards in your home with other houses.
SafeHome can be used by anyone, of any age, who has access to a personal computer. Alternatively, it can be accessed through the internet provision available at local public libraries. It is web-based and very simple to use. SafeHome can also be used by teachers in the classroom as part of Personal and Social Education sessions related to health and safety or as part of Information Technology lessons.
Working with the Centre for Health Information, Research and Evaluation (CHIRAL) at the School of Medicine, Swansea University, the Conwy and Denbighshire Local Public Health Team of the NPHS helped to pilot this tool across both counties in 2008. They were supported by Conwy and Denbighshire Local Authorities and Local Health Boards( now Betsi Cadwaladr University Local Health Board) As part of this trial, the type of hazards in the home were analysed.
A total of 53 households in Conwy and Denbighshire completed the tool. Particular hazards recorded (which are present in more than 50% of households in both counties) included:
Carbon monoxide monitors not fitted
No fire escape plans
Visitors not knowing about fire escape plans
Window locks not fitted on every upstairs window
Window locks within reach of children
Candles used in the home
Multiple appliances connected to sockets
No fire blankets or extinguishers available
Chemicals and hazardous substances not stored safely
Use of front rings of a cooker in houses with young children
Stairs with one or no handrails
No handrails fitted in baths
No non-slip surfaces or mats in baths
No anti-scald thermostatic mixing valve fitted to baths
No handrails fitted in showers
No handrails are fitted in reach of the toilet
Injuries, particularly injuries in the home, are an important public health issue. SafeHome is a web-based home safety and hazard assessment tool designed to reduce injuries in the home, particularly amongst children and older people. As a result of the pilot described, the tool is being simplified and further improved in collaboration with the charity Children in Wales. Use of the tool has highlighted particular home hazards in the counties of Conwy and Denbighshire, which could be used by partner organisations such as local authorities to plan risk-based provision of services and equipment. The hazards identified are likely to be applicable to other local authority areas across the UK.
By:
Dr Rob Atenstaedt, Consultant in Public Health Medicine and Local Public Health Director for Conwy & Denbighshire, National Public Health Service for Wales (NPHS)
Professor Ronan Lyons, Professor of Public Health and Co-Director of UKCRC DECIPHer (Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement) Centre
Samantha Turner Research Assistant, Centre for Health Information, Research and Evaluation (CHIRAL), Swansea University
GREATER Manchester Police Authority (GMPA) has scooped a national award for an innovative community engagement project with young people.
The Authority fought off competition from police authorities in Avon and Somerset, West Midlands and West Yorkshire to secure the accolade from the Association of Police Authorities (APA).
GMPA Chairman Cllr Paul Murphy said: -The Authority was short-listed in all three award categories.
-That’s a fantastic achievement in itself. To go on and be picked as a final winner in one of them is the icing on the cake.
It’s the second year the APA has staged its Recognising Excellence Awards and for the second year running, GMPA was the only police authority to be short-listed in all three categories.
The three categories are Innovation, Collaboration and Community Engagement and police authorities from across the country are invited to put themselves forward for an award.
GMPA’s knife crime project called What’s the Point? impressed judges the most in the engagement area and representatives from the Authority picked up the award at a ceremony in Nottingham yesterday (November 26).
What’s the Point? featured a series of seminars delivered in schools, colleges, young offenders’ institutes and prisons.
Their aim was to raise awareness of the national strategy to tackle knife crime at the same time as gathering views on the scale of the knife crime problem.
The sessions also highlighted the consequences for people carrying knives and addressed the issues that may be faced by people who go on to use or carry knives.
All of the information captured during the sessions is being used as part of an educational DVD resource to be launched in 2010.
Wakefield Council has signed a pioneering agreement to boost mutual trade opportunities and open new doors for a wide range of local businesses. On Monday 2nd November Wakefield Council Leader Peter Box formalised the district’s economic relationship with Romania by signing a memorandum of agreement with Antonie Solomon, the Mayor of Craiova. The milestone development between Wakefield Council and Craiova City Council, which is located in South West Romania, involves a pledge to develop economic links through promoting import and export opportunities, joint ventures and technology transfer.
More than 4,000 UK companies are already reaping the benefits of working in Romania, and investment opportunities are available for enterprises spanning water, oil and gas and waste treatment to construction, infrastructure and agriculture. A wealth of service industries such as financial services and training and education can also take advantage of the dynamic initiative.
Councillor Peter Box, Leader of Wakefield Council, said:
This economic agreement is another important step towards establishing trade links between Wakefield and the city of Craiova. We welcome our Romanian colleagues and look forward to helping businesses in both countries to develop mutually beneficial relationships so that our communities will prosper together.
The agreement forms part of an official visit to Wakefield by Antonie Solomon, the Mayor of Craiova and Robin Barnett, Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Romania. The high-profile figures were guest speakers at a packed International Trade Seminar on Tuesday 3rd November at the Waterton Park Hotel, at which dozens of local companies heard how to tap into Romania’s expanding and accessible markets.
Robin Barnett, Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Romania, said:
This agreement will forge closer links between Craiova and Wakefield. It will enable business partnerships to prosper for the benefit of the people of both cities. Romania is full of opportunities for British companies and has recently seen Ford invest in a £675M manufacturing plant in Craiova.
Antonie Solomon, the Mayor of Craiova, added:
This is a major step in our partnership with Wakefield and will bring strong results for the future. Romania needs Wakefield and Wakefield needs Romania and it is important to seize opportunities now because, in a few years time other investors will have taken advantage
first chief executive Mohan de Silva, who spearheaded the first trade mission to Romania in 2007, which led to a Cooperation Agreement with the regional development agency in Oltenia, concluded:
Craiova is the main economic centre of South Romania and the wealth of opportunities for Wakefield companies to forge partnerships and secure contracts is tremendous.
Hospitals in the UK produce an estimated 206 million reports each year, with general practitioners adding another 184 million. Currently, transcription of medical dictation consumes half a billion pounds of the NHS budget each year. Add to that the increasing healthcare requirements of an aging society and it becomes obvious that healthcare providers must act, in order to ensure high quality care while keeping costs down.
This is where speech recognition fits neatly into the UK health policy framework from both efficiency and data protection perspectives. Speech-activated solutions help reduce the costs associated with managing ever-increasing volumes of documentation.
Speech recognition software in the NHS
Using speech recognition software increases workflow efficiency and considerably reduces document turnaround times. This in turn makes it easier for Trusts to meet the requirements of the government’s various health policy initiatives. One such policy is the 18-week referral to treatment pathway, which sets a maximum time of 18 weeks from the point of initial referral, up to the start of any treatment necessary, in consultant-led care settings. Indeed, the average wait for treatment on the NHS has come down to 8.6 weeks in recent years. Heart patient waiting times, for example, have decreased from 14 to 7 weeks, between March 2007 and January 2009. But there are still many institutions that struggle to meet the targets and need to take measures to improve efficiency.
Meeting targets is not only a question of increasing the availability of medical practitioners. The ability to streamline communications, on a larger scale to maximise overall efficiency becomes a crucial factor. Vital additions to the armament necessary to tackle the future of NHS efficiency are speech recognition, transcription and distribution based workflow solutions. Their highly efficient processes can reduce document turnaround times to less than a day if needed, or even just a few minutes, which goes a long way in helping NHS Trusts to achieve the 18 week goal and other targets, relating to the care of cancer patients or the distribution of discharge summaries. The latter is particularly ambitious: from April 2009, discharge summaries have to be delivered within 48 hours to the referring physician. In March 2010, this requirement will decrease to 24 hours.
Future NHS targets will not only require highly streamlined processes, but also a consistent use of digital communication networks by medical institutions and Trusts. Indeed, digitalisation of the UK healthcare system is the second NHS policy initiative that can be achieved through the introduction of speech recognition. Within its National Program for IT, the NHS aims to establish regional Electronic Medical Record (EMR) solutions enabling hospitals and GPs to easily share patient data. The aim is to improve the quality and speed of patient care. Speech-activated systems offer a highly efficient way to store reports or letters that have been signed off by the physician directly in the EMR, thus making them readily available for access by cooperating institutions or referring GPs.
Reaping the benefits
Speech-enabled healthcare organisations, such as the Royal Free Hospital in London confirm the massive efficiency gains brought by speech-activated solutions: According to Simone Towie, Head of Radiology at the Royal Free Hospital, London speech recognition allows the department to ensure delivery of reports to referrers, in some instances within minutes of the completion of an exam.
Melanie Hiorns, consultant radiologist and chair of radiology at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London, saw a significant improvement in quality, a reduction in turnaround time and an increase in patient safety as a consequence of implementing speech recognition. In plain film radiography, before speech recognition, 40 percent of the reports were available within 24 hours. The addition of speech recognition raised this number to 65 percent almost instantly. While the transition to speech recognition can be tough at the beginning, the rewards are enormous.
HCA International, central London’s premier healthcare facility, has reduced average report creation times from 24 hours to two minutes and 40 seconds. Kaye Bonython, Imaging Informatics Programme Manager found it even more surprising, as they had to deal with concerns. People had negative past experience with speech recognition and they thought it would result in too much time added to their reporting schedule. But the initial negative thoughts simply vanished once they saw that the technology had progressed to a state where it could really improve the timing.
Conclusion
Speech-activated clinical documentation solutions can help medical institutions to meet waiting time and document processing goals. Speech recognition technology is also highly suitable for use in a digital healthcare environment, since the distribution of final documents into various electronic medical record solutions can be easily automated. This can lead to significant cost savings and improved patient care, due to the reduced risk of errors associated with streamlined and standardised digital processes.
At the heart of the Government’s plans for public sector reform is the need to reduce costs, and improve the accountability and quality of the services it delivers. In April, Chancellor Alastair Darling announced plans to make £9 billion in efficiency cuts each year by 2013, in addition to the £5 billion announced in the pre-Budget report in November 2008.
Many public sector organisations have responded already by making redundancies. Around 7,000 jobs have been lost in local authorities, for example. Managers have a huge challenge ahead- they need to maintain the skills, talent and performance of their workforce, and at the same time, increase efficiency and productivity in the face of toughfinancial constraints.
We all know that efficiency is a measure of resources expended relative to the outputs produced by them, and improved efficiency requires a reduction in the running costs of services over time. But to achieve efficiencies, public sector organisations must have greater administrative flexibility.
Given the complexity of measuring efficiency and quality, many approaches assess work processes or institutional arrangements that are reasonably thought to contribute to efficiency and service quality. While various tools have been developed to measure specific services,
organisations now need to set criteria that capture key elements of
performance in relation to:
Financial management
Human resources management
Information technology management
Capital management
Managing for results
Key indicators are essential in the following four areas: record management, internal audit, performance appraisal, and project evaluation. And within those four areas, three intermediate dimensions of performance are needed: “results focus,” accountability and employee
morale.
Managers in the public sector have their work cut out establishing these new measures of performance and evaluation processes, while ensuring they are focused on results. Other potential challenges overburdened managers may face include the need to redistribute job roles, delegate additional responsibilities, achieve more with fewer resources and, in
many cases, make difficult decisions about redundancies.
One simple, effective and often overlooked approach to saving money and improving employee performance is to address gaps in employees’ knowledge and skills. However, the main difficulty for many managers in tackling underperformance is that they lack up-to-date and accurate information concerning the skills, competence and confidence of their employees. Without this, it is difficult for them to understand how to best utilise their staff, reassign roles or address knowledge gaps.
One solution is to introduce customised knowledge development programmes based on individual employee assessments. Such assessments will provide mangers with vital insight into the skills, competence on the job and confidence of their staff. Assessments should be carried out regularly, as most employees move through various jobs and ranks during their
career. Without regular testing, managers cannot be certain employees understand their changing roles or if they require further coaching, mentoring or training.
Such assessments highlight the strengths, weaknesses and knowledge gaps of individuals immediately, and the results provide managers with the information they need to identify the most appropriate intervention to address any knowledge gaps.
With this information, individually tailored employee training and development programmes can be introduced to address an employee’s specific needs. This approach tailors learning and development spending and reduces the need for -one size fits all- programmes which can be
expensive and ineffective.
An organisation’s top performers can also be identified. These are the ‘go-to’ people in the department who are a consistent and reliable resource for other employees. Identifying these individuals will help managers improve efficiency and productivity in several ways. When faced
with difficult expense reduction decisions, assessment programmes help to determine objectively the capability of all employees. They also identify which employees have the potential to deliver training to their peers or are able to coach and mentor others. When faced with the need to cut services, managers will know which individuals have the potential
to be re-deployed elsewhere.
If all government departments were to identify and address employee skills and knowledge gaps, overall efficiency would improve significantly. Last year, a report from the industry analyst firm IDC, entitled -Counting the Cost of Employee Misunderstanding, showed that
one in four employees do not understand certain aspects of their job role and that major knowledge gaps remain unaddressed in many organisations. A misunderstanding can range from misinterpreting a policy, process or job function, to a combination of all three. These
kinds of misunderstandings are inevitable, but they can also be incredibly costly – the report estimates that UK and U.S. businesses lose £18.7 bn a year as a result of employee misunderstandings and also suffer damaged relationships with key customers and clients.
With mounting pressure to reduce costs, now is the time for public sector organisations to tackle employee underperformance, and for managers to take the lead on it. Assessments can be the first step in objectively identifying the interventions needed to help improve efficiency and morale at many levels within government.
Cognisco is a global provider of intelligent knowledge development and assessment solutions. The company works in over 150 countries in 70 different languages with its international headquarters in the UK.
Stuart Littleford speaks with Jeremy Galpin, Sales Director of De Poel Consulting
Prior to joining de Poel, Jeremy spent nine years working for one of the UK’s largest recruitment groups. Having worked initially in operations, Jeremy then progressed to a corporate business development role where he was responsible for delivering group recruitment solutions to some of the UK’s largest logistics and manufacturing companies.
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