babel projects ltd
integrated care competency framework development for the NHS
babel projects' Jennifer led a long-term organisational development project for the East London NHS Foundation Trust. Partnering with Affinity Health at Work, Jennifer refined, tested, and developed a new integrated care competency framework for the Bedfordshire, Luton & Milton Keynes Integrated Care System (BLMK ICS). This framework describes the key knowledge, skills, and attributes required by staff for effective integrated care working across the full range of health and social care settings.
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Together with partners at Affinity, babel projects delivered the complete design, testing, and validation of the framework, providing a platform for future workforce development.
the challenge
validating competence across diverse agencies
The primary challenge was developing a single, robust and statistically valid competency framework that accurately defined the complex and varied knowledge, skills, and attributes required for effective integrated care working. This had to be achieved across numerous, diverse health and social care agencies and occupational groups within the BLMK ICS. The final framework needed to be highly reliable and developed through a participative methodology to ensure system-wide acceptance.
the solution
psychological expertise and robust methodology
The solution involved an academically rigorous, multi-stage methodology delivered across 18 months, ensuring the framework was grounded in evidence and tested across the stakeholder groups. The project included:
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Evidence review: Sourcing and summarising the best available evidence from research and practitioner literature.
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Draft development: Creating and refining the draft framework content.
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Qualitative testing: Organising four separate stakeholder focus groups to test the utility and practical application of the framework.
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Quantitative testing: Deploying an online survey for large-scale quantitative testing. This allowed for academic-grade statistical analyses to test the reliability and validity of the framework.
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The collaborative approach and the quality of the technical execution were highly praised:
Jen’s work was excellent at each stage, from sourcing the best available evidence on which to ground the project, summarising and synthesising the findings, facilitating workshops, developing our survey, and managing and analysing survey responses. She completed her work consistently on time, building rapport with all stakeholders in the project, and working with motivation and accuracy independently.
- Dr Rachel Lewis, Director, Affinity Health at Work
the result
a strategic competency framework tool for the full employee lifecycle
The project delivered a new, statistically validated Integrated Care competency framework complete with behavioural indicators for measuring competence across the system. This outcome generated a critical tool that supports the future success of integrated care delivery.
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The new framework is a flexible model that provides the organisation with a platform to structure discussions for individuals and teams. It can be used across the entire employee lifecycle, from onboarding and performance appraisal, to selection and assessment, development and promotion.
Jen also demonstrated flexibility of approach when the scope of the project changed. I would not hesitate to work with her again.
- Dr Rachel Lewis, Director, Affinity Health at Work
