Practice 10.1 Implementation of practices

Examples of notable practice:

Engagement with clinical and professional colleagues

The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, in cooperation with the Postgraduate Medical Educational and Training Board and the Healthcare Commission hosted a symposium in October 2005, the aim of which was to encourage communication and coherence in assuring the quality of medical education. With enormous change in this area of work at present, this unparalleled opportunity acted as an "engine" producing a range of action points for further consideration by the:

• Royal Colleges
• Academy
• PMETB
• Healthcare Commission
• Concordat signatories

These suggestions have been published and form an important portion of the ideas for implementation of the Concordat among relevant signatory bodies.
Symposium invitation (pdf 114kb)
Symposium programme (pdf 31kb)
Symposium report (pdf 112kb)

Managing implementation – the Mental Health Act Commission

The Director of Strategy has lead responsibility for implementing the Concordat. The Mental Health Act Commission is represented on each of the three Concordat working groups by a member of its senior executive team, in order to spread workload and match skills to topic area. A progress update and review of implementation is presented at the monthly Senior Executive Team meetings.  An update on any significant new developments is provided to the Mental Health Act Commission Board, as part of the routine report from the Director of Strategy, and/or in Regional Directors’ reports if this is more appropriate.  A more detailed annual review against all the objectives and practices, using the Healthcare Commission template, was provided to the Board at its July 2005 meeting and it is planned that this will take place annually. Implementation of the Concordat is included within the organisation’s Assurance Framework.

Managing implementation – the Audit Commission

The Audit Commission have established an internal governance framework to manage the implementation of the Concordat both centrally, and through its regional structures. The Managing Director for Health has lead responsibility for implementation, which is managed through a combination of new and existing structures:

• The Audit Commission is represented on each of the three Concordat working groups and meet once a month to share progress and ensure activities are coordinated
• The Health Management Team reviews Concordat implementation workstreams on a monthly basis and organisational performance against the 10 objectives is reviewed every 6 months
• The NHS Auditors’ Group, a standing group of auditors representing all audit suppliers, is updated on a monthly basis of Concordat implementation issues. The messages from these meetings are then cascaded down to all field auditors
• Concordat developments are cascaded to regional staff via the Health Implementation Group
• The Concordat is a standing agenda item at quarterly meetings of Health Relationship Managers

Coordinating implementation

The Healthcare Commission has appointed an acting senior manager, whose remit is to ensure the implementation of Concordat objectives and practices within its Operations Directorate, as well as to make relevant links across Healthcare Commission structures to ensure implementation across the organisation.