HOW TO GET REAL MEASUREABLE RETURN FROM INVESTMENT IN TRAINING

Case Study: Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust

The Training Facilitator: Activity Group

The Programme: Developing Leaders within the NHS

The Return on Investment:  Project Saving and Incremental Revenue to Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust of approx over £220,000 per year as a result of the Developing Leaders within the NHS Programme.

Training, there’s an awful lot of it going on.... but, just how much of it actually brings back more than it costs? The general mindset is too often ‘Well, it’s a good thing to do, it must have some positive effect, it keeps people happy, and we don’t expect a clear measureable indication that it really does pay back what we have invested’.

The pleasing news is that following the work the Activity Group have implemented in the health service over the past nine years this has fortunately changed the mindset. In the past it has indeed been difficult to credibly prove the value of training events over what they cost, but now we can, with good results.  The most recently completed ‘Developing Leaders within the NHS’ programme for Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust will bring in a potential combined project value well in excess of £220,000 – signed off and agreed by line managers.

This has not been a sudden or an easy task to achieve, and during the recent six day Developing Leaders within the NHS skills programme at Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust has achieved a genuine return on investment of 2000% (with verification) what it cost via projects completed during the programme, either individually or in pairs, presented to their Chief Executive, Line Manager and in most cases, Director level.

The project and presentation provides a natural source of evidence that enables each person to gain the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) Award in Management at Level 5 – with the option of progressing to Certificate and Diploma Level.

Developing Leaders within the NHS

In pursuit of excellence a joint working relationship between Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust and the Activity Group has been established to deliver a programme of bespoke learning-rich training Cohorts for Managers, Clinicians, Middle Management, Sisters, Finance and Team Leaders the programme’s objectives and learning outcomes of the programme are as follows:

• To give participants the business skills, knowledge and confidence to perform better
• To give participants the skills to mange their teams more effectively
• Apply techniques to actual projects within the NHS, which when delivered will ensure we can measure success and see real sustainable improvements in performance and teams
• To develop a programme which is built on real-life projects, where the benefits of attending the programmes can be clearly seen and measured

Better Leaders Provide Better Patient Care!

The Developing Leaders within the NHS programme with Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust is due to commence with its third Cohort.  The internal support from the Learning and Development Team, headed by Debra Davis and her team has been paramount to the success of the programme and all parties are convinced that further programmes will provide enhanced patient care, resulting in further savings and incremental revenue for Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust.

Facilitator Information - Activity Group

The Activity Group has a national reputation within the NHS for delivering affordable professional training programmes through flexible learning.  Established in 2002, our team of dedicated professionals operate to the highest standards and have the skills and experience to enable staff employed in the NHS to achieve their full potential.  Our services provide experienced and aspiring managers with a thorough grounding in the contemporary management skills and techniques that are essential to support their career progression within the NHS.  

Our approach to learning is to provide intensive, participative, learning-rich development sessions, keeping theory to minimum, rooted in the real world issues that we know managers of all levels face every day.