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WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE CHIEF MINISTER BY THE CONNÉTABLE OF GROUVILLE
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 12th MAY 2015
Question
Will the Chief Minister give an estimate of the number of LEAN initiatives that have been carried out across States Departments and an estimate of how much money has been saved by those initiatives? Furthermore will he give the 5 best examples of those initiatives that have been introduced and how much money has been saved in each of those examples?
Answer
Lean techniques aim to create more value for customers with fewer resources. It is not principally about saving money; however it is commonly accepted that using Lean practices to minimise waste and streamline practices can save resources, and therefore money.
Lean training for staff began in 2012 in the Health and Social Services Department (HSSD), and was extended to the rest of the organisation in 2013. Just over 800 members of staff have been trained to support improvement projects as a part of a team and to conduct small projects as part of their role.
A further 80 staff have been trained to a higher level, enabling them to both lead and support service improvement projects, as well as delivering coaching and training for others. Health and Social Services also has four expert practitioners.
It takes a number of years to fully embed a Lean approach into an organisation, and a continuous improvement culture is now gathering momentum in our public sector. This attitude to change is becoming increasingly important as we restructure the organisation to make savings and prepare for the future.
More than 300 Lean projects have been run across the organisation.
- Examples from Health and Social Services
| Initiative | Saving achieved to 30/04/15 |
1 | Hospital Dining Room (Thyme Out) | £180,700 |
2 | Patient Food | £65,000 |
3 | Air Mattress Hire | £45,000 |
4 | Petty Cash Process | £35,000 |
5 | Weekly Call Point Testing | £29,500 |
| Total | £355,200 |
A number of other initiatives have released more time for staff to spend on patient care:
Initiative | Time released to patient care per year (hours) |
Nursing Appraisal | 4,750 |
EAU Board Round | 560 |
SNS Timesheets | 402 |
Samares Ward Food Service | 365 |
Meeting Rooms & Robin Ward Food Total | 263 6340 (equivalent to 3.25 full time staff) |
- Examples from Social Security
Income Support
The way claimants inform the department of a change in circumstances has been changed and as a result the average processing time has been reduced from a target of 10 days (sending in a form) to 30 minutes (if the customer is present) or 3 days (if the information is received by post or email).
In the first year of operation this change has:
- significantly improved customer satisfaction
- allowed more than 5,000 changes of circumstance to be processed while the customer waits
- saved at least 700 staff hours, and approximate salary costs of £11,400
It is anticipated that further benefits will emerge as the project review is finalised.
Reduced rate class 2 contributions
Closer cooperation with the Taxes Office has streamlined the process of calculating class 2 contributions (paid by self-employed and non-employed people)
This change has:
- reduced the interaction required from customers
- significantly improved customer satisfaction
- reduced tax liability reprints requested from the Taxes Office
- saved approximately 1,700 staff hours per year, equating to salary costs of £28,000.