Arwel Williams
Service Delivery Manager
Right now, I’m a Service Delivery Manager in an Acute Trust, working across General Medicine and Critical Care. I’m involved in all aspects of managing a service, from writing business cases through recruiting staff to deputising for senior managers.
Monday
I usually begin the week by organising my diary. I'll also meet with the multi-disciplinary team (MDT) in the day hospital to go through new patients coming in that week. Before lunch I meet with a contact from the Trusts contracts team so that I can brief them on a meeting I am attending at lunchtime. I then attend the meeting to discuss funding of a particular service within the day hospital.<br><br>I've set aside some protected time in the afternoon in order to write a business case that I'm helping a consultant pull together. Meeting with consultant later in the week to go through where we are up to so far.
Tuesday
I've got a pre-lunch theatre efficiency meeting with the theatre manager, nurse managers and theatre secretaries, to ensure that theatre is being used to capacity. In this meeting I'm representing the critical care delivery unit which includes the hospital's anaesthetists. Between 1pm and 2pm, I meet with the divisional finance manager to discuss issues that came from Monday’s meeting. Then at 2pm a senior nurse and I meet with a pharmaceutical rep to negotiate a discount in the cost of a particular item that we use a lot of on one of our wards. Successfully managed to negotiate a 25% reduction in the cost of the item. Rest of afternoon spent catching up on paperwork/emails.
Wednesday
Begins with an 8.30am meeting with the clinical director, quickly followed at 9 by a weekly performance meeting which is chaired by the Trust's performance manager and attended by the majority of senior managers. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the Trust’s performance against key national targets such as A and E waiting time targets. At 10.30am it's time for my monthly service delivery unit business meeting. This is a meeting with the divisional finance, human resources, clinical and general managers to discuss my particular Service Delivery Unit's performance. Other service delivery managers and nurse managers also attend. Topics discussed include; our budget and whether we are under/overspent, sickness/absence rates, any disciplinary matters and anything else that has come up since the last meeting. This meeting is more about discussing strategic issues. At 12pm I've got another theatre efficiency meeting, this time for the second of the Trust's two hospitals. After lunch, I attend the Trust's full Board meeting, chaired by the Trust's Chief Exec, because I find it interesting and it all helps my understanding of how the hospital is run at a strategic level. I've also got an evening meeting tonight with ward staff who are concerned about proposed changes.
Thursday
I have an action learning set all day with 5 other trainees in my region. We meet on a regular basis and use the sessions to help each other work through problems and to learn best practice from one another. Today the session was in another trainee's hospital so have been away from my hospital all day.
Friday
Begin with the weekly service delivery unit meeting with divisional general manager and all other service delivery unit and nurse managers. It's an opportunity to discuss operational issues and to get input from the divisional general manager. At 11am, I had a catch-up meeting with another service delivery manager who I'm doing some work for, just to bring her up-to-date with progress. I catch up with yesterday's and today's emails over lunch and make a few essential phone calls. Between 2pm and 4pm, I inspect wards with other managers and nurse managers, looking at all aspects of cleanliness, and at 4pm, I have a meeting with a consultant to discuss progress of a business case.