MEHI/McIntyre Mental Health service, with offices in Inverell, Narrabri and Moree, was recognised at the Hunter New England Health 2014 Excellence Awards last Thursday.
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The service received the Local Solutions Quality Award for its Rural/Remote Recruiting and Retention Value-Based Redesign (R5) Project. Service manager, Leigh Philpott said the R5 project intent was to develop a higher standard of satisfaction in staff and consumers.
“What we were actually doing was looking at the way we recruit and retain and train up our staff, with the view to making sure the people we were recruiting were the sorts of people who would be able to provide excellent service for the people of the area,” Leigh said.
“So, the idea was if we got the staffing right, we supported them properly and we gave them the right education, then the outcomes and the experience for our consumers would become better.”
The service also examined consumer issues, number of appointments available to the community, percentage of time dedicated to clinical work, and response time.
They aimed to reduce the service staff turnover to 10 per cent, and increase staff numbers. The group aimed to fill 23 positions in the service’s three centres at Inverell, Narrabri and Moree. Leigh said they hit their target.
Finding staff that fit the service was a critical part of their assessment.
“Making sure that the sorts of staff that we employed not only had the clinical skills, but they had the people skills, and they enjoyed their job,’ Leigh said. “And if they enjoyed their job, then they were more likely to provide a good experience for consumers, and that’s above and beyond the clinical work that they do.” Leigh said they have integrated strategies such as staff mentoring, before and after staff relocated to new jobs, self-directed induction to empower new recruits and intensive management engagement with staff.
“It is a tough job and it’s really in easy in smaller areas to feel quite isolated. So anything we can do to make people feel supported and feel connected, is a really useful thing.”