News

01/03/2010
Overhaul funding to create a fairer social care system for Wales

23/02/2010
Northgate responds to Personal Care at Home consultation

22/02/2010
New Customer Contact Centre set to enhance Ipswich council services

Communities in Ipswich are set to benefit from significant long-term improvement to their public services following the Ipswich Borough Council’s decision to route all public enquiries though a dedicated Customer Contact Centre.

The Council has entered into a pioneering three-year performance partnership with Northgate Public Services that will streamline communications with citizens, and enable council departments to focus clearly on service improvement.

The partnership will design and implement a centralised Customer Contact Centre, which is to be staffed by specialist customer service teams who will help to deliver a wide range of benefits by:
• creating a dedicated front office that gives citizens a single point of contact for all their enquiries, dramatically improving service quality and aiming to deal with citizens’ queries first time, every time;
• delivering better for less through carrying out an overhaul of the back office systems to improve front office services for citizens;
• using performance management data and customer feedback to shape further improvements to council services for citizens.
The partnership will deliver cashable savings of nearly £1.5 million over a period of three years to November 2012, over the life of the contract.

All fees paid to Northgate will come from cashable savings. The company operates an innovative risk and reward business model that links its fees directly to its performance. As a result, it only gets paid when it meets its agreed financial and improvement targets.

Terry Hayward, Head of Community and Customer Services at Ipswich Borough Council, said today: “Clear lines of communication are fundamental to the wellbeing of any relationship. The relationship between Ipswich Borough Council and the citizens it serves is no exception. For the first time, local people will be able to raise questions and resolve their concerns through a single point of contact with council staff. As a result, the Customer Contact Centre is certain to have a positive impact on improving the quality of life among our communities. Having worked with Northgate so successfully in the past, I am confident that our latest partnership will make a welcome difference to everyone who lives in our area.”

Joe Bradley, Managing Director of Citizen Services at Northgate Public Services, added: “It is essential that local councils enhance communications and engage effectively throughout their communities, reaching out to the most vulnerable people in these times of economic hardship. Our partnerships offer councils an innovative way of working at low risk and investing in improvement. If we don’t reach our performance improvement targets, we simply don’t get paid, and we only get paid, when we deliver savings. We are committed to working in collaboration with the Council and its employees to deliver better services for the people of Ipswich.”

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For more information:
Fellows’ Associates
Kathy Sutton +44(0)20 7324 6221; +44(0)7966 890401
Konstantinos Makrygiannis +44(0)20 7324 6222; +44(0)7949 421356

18/02/2010
Oracle recognises Northgate Information Solutions’ expertise in delivering specialised Oracle Solutions

03/02/2010
Salix Homes transforming Central Salford’s neighbourhoods with new partnership

Salix Homes has mounted a major transformation programme designed to radically improve the services it provides to customers while delivering much needed efficiencies at a time of economic downturn and unprecedented demand.
In an innovative five year performance partnership, Salford City Council and Salix Homes have joined up with Northgate Public Services to deliver its key priorities, with the implementation of the Keystone Asset Management system and Northgate Integrated Housing solution, as part of Salix Homes’ wider ICT strategy. The partnership will focus on community regeneration and targeted neighbourhood strategies; transforming the ALMOs services through the adoption of best practice; and enhanced collaboration with local agencies.

The partnership will deliver substantial improvement through measures including:

providing personalised and localised services for customers through improved community related information so that they are provided with the right information and appropriate services at the right time;
a major overhaul in managing assets and repairs;
raising employee morale by introducing new ways of flexible working and enhancing their skills and capabilities;
introducing extended self service for customers who want it and home based consultancy for vulnerable customers and others who need it.

Rob Wakefield, Director of Finance and ICT said: “Salix Homes is determined to provide a fresh approach to the management of homes - one that is all about results. Our vision is to make the neighbourhoods in which we work the neighbourhoods of choice. Our task is to provide housing, regeneration and a broader range of value for money services that are built around our customers’ needs. Our performance partnership with Northgate is focused entirely on excellence and making a wider contribution to improving neighbourhoods.”

Joe Bradley, Managing Director of Citizen Services, Northgate Public Services added: “We are delighted to be working with Salix Homes. It is an organisation which is committed to change that advances the well being of some of the most vulnerable within its communities. We fully support its ambition to provide quality homes and services that make Salford’s neighbourhoods popular places to live and work. Now more than ever, social housing providers must invest to improve. They can play a vital role in building better neighbourhoods through delivering a wider range of enhanced services which place the citizen at their heart.”

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For more information
Fellows’ Associates:
Kathy Sutton +44 (0)20 7324 6221; +44 (0)7966 890401
Konstantinos Makrygiannis +44 (0)20 7324 6222; +44 (0)7949 421356

28/01/2010
NHS Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Screening Programme appoints Northgate

Northgate Public Services has been appointed by the NHS Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Screening Programme (NAAASP) to develop and implement a national IT solution. Under a three year contract it will support the screening and referral process, administration of quality assurance and failsafe procedures, and enable the performance management of the NAAASP service.

An estimated 80,000 men aged between 65 and 74 are affected by abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA), which are caused when the main blood vessel in the abdomen - the aorta - weakens and starts to expand. If undetected, the condition can be fatal and around 6,000 men die every year from a burst AAA. If caught in time, many of these deaths are avoidable.

Once fully implemented the NAAASP will reduce deaths from the condition by up to 50 percent by detecting AAAs early and enabling monitoring or treatment to be offered. The Programme will invite all men aged 65 and over - who are most at risk from the condition – for screening during the year they turn 65 from across England.

Roll out of Northgate’s NAAASP solution commenced in December, following its launch at the 2009 National Vascular Conference in November. Once completed by end of March 2013, the solution will support screening and monitoring for around 325,000 men every year at 60 local screening centres.

The award of the contract, Northgate’s first adult screening programme, builds upon its long track record of work in newborn and infant screening, and its wider success in the NHS through Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs), Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) and National Joint Registry solutions.

Anne Stevenson, Programme Manager for the NAAASP said: “I am pleased that Northgate Public Services is working with us to develop and implement a national IT system that will help maintain the standards of the national Programme across England. The partnership is all about quality and is designed to ensure that our locally delivered screening programmes provide consistent, effective and efficient services for 65 year old men in their communities.”

Alan Campbell, Head of Screening Solutions at Northgate Public Services, said: “We are delighted to be working with the NHS AAA Screening Programme. To be effectively managed, screening programmes need robust solutions which support local practices while driving national standards. The experience we have gained through the implementation of other high quality screening programmes, combined with our consultancy led approach, will ensure that we develop a solution tuned to the unique requirements of the NAAASP and contribute towards saving lives. We are committed to providing national high quality innovative screening solutions and contributing to the Programme’s success.”

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For more information

Fellows’ Associates
Kathy Sutton +44(0)20 7324 6221; +44(0)7966 890401
Konstantinos Makrygiannis +44(0)20 7324 6222; +44(0)7949 421356

27/01/2010
Northgate supports Birmingham’s drive to transform planning services

Birmingham City Council’s pioneering e-planning service has been singled out as a leading example of service excellence in the UK, helping to transform public services to be more responsive to people’s needs.

Planning Management which is part of the Planning and Regeneration Service has recently achieved the Customer Service Excellence standard. This is the UK national standard of customer service excellence for public sector organisations overseen by the Cabinet Office.

Birmingham Planning Management deals with planning advice and all of the planning applications for city buildings. It has two main customer groups – the citizens of Birmingham and agents and developers.

Planning Management has formed an innovative partnership with Northgate Public Services. This is designed to streamline, simplify and strengthen planning services. It aims to make them more transparent, and engage the wider community in the process through the intelligent use of online services and technology. The partnership has been praised in the Service Excellence assessment report for improving services and making them more effective.

Planning Management supports the council’s Business Transformation Strategy, the largest transformation programme within local government in the UK. This seeks to revolutionise the way that services are delivered to citizens who live, learn, work in or visit Birmingham.

The national stamp of approval for Planning Management is based on partnership delivery of efficient and effective services. These include self -service systems which give citizens the opportunity to track the progress of planning applications, submit their responses, review decision notices and resolve queries and full mobile services which allow planning officers to spend more time engaging with their communities. Streamlined processes enable the council to meet national performance standards, and share information where necessary with other agencies. Council officers are able to provide a faster and more accurate enquiry services by having instant access to information so that they can provide immediate feedback to their customers on planning policy and guidance.

Cllr Peter Douglas Osborn, Birmingham City Council’s Planning Committee Chairman, said today: “We are delighted that our partnership has been singled out for praise. Effective partnership is all about shared understanding and dedication to improved outcomes. Northgate Public Services, like us, is wholly committed to building services around the needs of citizens. This achievement proves that we are well and truly on the road to revolutionising planning services in Birmingham.”

Russell Osborne, Managing Director of Citizen Solutions at Northgate Public Services, said today: “Now more than ever councils need to invest in online planning and realise the benefits from this. Councils can save precious resources by eradicating waste and inefficiency. However, it is equally important to create better services which build public trust and are more effective in responding to the needs of individuals and local communities. We are ambitious for change and our partnership with Birmingham is achieving it.”

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For more information
Fellows’ Associates
Kathy Sutton +44(0)20 7324 6221; +44(0)7966 890401
Konstantinos Makrygiannis +44(0)20 7324 6222; +44(0)7949 421356

25/01/2010
Northgate Public Services awarded Champion status from Investors in People

Northgate Public Services today announced that its specialist transformation division has been awarded Investors in People Champion status in recognition of its consistent commitment to the way it manages and develops its employees to deliver the organisation's goals.

The company will work with Investors in People UK to help other employers by sharing its experience and success in the area of people development. The best practice sharing activities will include mentoring and site visits for organisations wishing to learn from Northgate’s experience. It is one of only fifty organisations in the UK to receive this accolade.

The specialist transformation arm of Northgate Public Services has recently received the highest recognition from Investors in People and achieved the Gold award. Less than two per cent of public and private sector organisations have achieved this elite status.

Jane Jones, Director of Policy and Communications, Investors in People said: “Champions place the Investors in People Standard at the heart of their organisations. Northgate Public Services has reaped the benefits of effective people development. It will now share its expertise with employers across the UK, highlighting the business benefits of effective people development including increased employee motivation, higher retention rates and improved productivity. I am delighted that Northgate has achieved Champion status and I am sure that it will make a highly valued contribution to the continued success of our programme.”

Joe Bradley, Managing Director of Citizens Services, Northgate Public Services said: “Our investment in people is directly linked to overall organisational performance. It is central to the success of our transformation business. We will use this achievement to help build world class public services designed and delivered by motivated public service employees. Now, more than ever, public services must invest in the skills and capacity of their employees to foster innovation and to deliver services that are built around the needs of diverse communities which reach out to those most in need.”

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For more information
Fellows’ Associates
Kathy Sutton +44 (0)20 7324 6221; +44 (0)7966 890401
Konstantinos Makrygiannis +44 (0)20 7324 6222; +44 (0)7949 421356

13/01/2010
Leicestershire Constabulary iR3 initiative goes nationwide with Northgate

The iR3 resource and demand system has been developed and evolved exclusively with the Force. Northgate Public Services is now the exclusive supplier and integrator of iR3. It is offering all police forces the opportunity to meet their strategic priorities and boost public confidence in their localities while improving performance and driving efficiencies and cashable savings.

Leicestershire Constabulary introduced the iR3 solution to improve service delivery and enhance public confidence in the work of the local police. iR3 enables the Force to focus on priority issues that matter most to local people and ensures that critical resources are used efficiently and effectively.

By linking demand – such as crimes and incidents – to resources, operational managers can effectively plan, monitor and manage a variety of policing activities, from critical response to patrolling strategies. Better decision-making and analysis leads to an improvement in desired cashable savings, efficiencies and performance.

With iR3 the Force has been able to deliver and demonstrate a new and higher level of transparency in policing by ensuring that the right resources are in the right places at the right time; by improving the balance between response and patrol to achieve improved outcomes in Neighbourhood Policing priorities and NIM Tasking; and by enabling local officers to consult and report to local groups on activities and outcomes linked to local priorities such as ASBOs and vehicle thefts.
Officers in Leicestershire can now confidently show neighbourhood groups and the wider public where officers have patrolled on a visual computer display. For the first time, the community has a direct input on local patrol strategy by being involved in setting the locations that officers patrol either by foot or by vehicle. This helps to deliver increasing public confidence.

The Force delivered dramatic improvement and emphatic results during its pilot phase in the North Basic Command Unit. There have been significant increases in visits to, and time spent at, priority locations and marked reductions in crime and anti-social behaviour including:

police visits to crime hotspots up 286%
ime spent in priority locations up 545%
anti-social behaviour down 50%
emergency response times within 15 minutes up from 85% to 94%
fuel consumption down by 21%
fuel bills down 16%

Leicestershire Constabulary has now rolled out iR3 force-wide, focusing its emphasis on improving operational performance and delivering efficiencies, and is in the process of rationalizing its vehicle fleet to achieve impressive savings.

The project’s success has won recognition at the highest level. In his Independent Review of Policing 2008, Sir Ronnie Flanagan noted that the initiative has resulted in: “A dramatic reduction in self-deployment, substantially reducing multiple deployments and improving response times through automatic identification and deployment of the nearest available unit. Officer time spent in priority areas has significantly increased.”

Leicestershire Constabulary was also among the winners at this year’s ACPO Excellence in Policing Awards in September. Now in their second year, the Excellence in Policing Awards aim to encourage police forces across England and Wales to share the creative thinking and innovative solutions that are vital to making their limited resources go further and work harder.

Speaking today, Superintendent Jez Cottrill, a lead on the iR3 project at Leicestershire Constabulary said: “This is about putting accountability into visible action for the local community. Community representatives are now able to see our achievements on an interactive map on a regular basis. They can also have a say in where we patrol. We believe that forces up and down the country would gain dramatic benefits from its introduction, not only in the more efficient use of resources but in delivering more effective neighbourhood policing.”

Ian Blackhurst, Managing Director of Northgate Public Safety added: “The government’s White Paper on policing demonstrates the economic constraints facing the police over the next few years. Now is a time when police forces up and down the country have to deliver better for less. Through the introduction of iR3 police forces can rest assured that they will bring in sustainable, cashable savings over and above their initial investment. More importantly, they will improve police performance and help rebuild trust within their local communities, reaching out to those citizens most in need.”

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For more information
Fellows’ Associates
Kathy Sutton +44 (0)20 7324 6221; +44 (0)7966 890401
Konstantinos Makrygiannis +44 (0)20 7324 6222; +44 (0)7949 421356

11/01/2010
Consortium of Authorities in South East Wales extend shared services partnership with Northgate

Following recent successes, six Authorities in South East Wales, acting as a consortium, and Northgate Public Services today announce that they have renewed their shared services partnership for a further five years. The partnership is focused on the delivery of cost-effective IT solutions for Social Services.

The announcement follows the implementation of the Unified Assessment Process for Adults (UAP) and the Integrated Children’s System (ICS) across the Authorities in the consortium working cooperatively with Northgate.

UAP and ICS offer a holistic approach to assessing and managing people’s needs through an integrated approach across all care agencies, delivering care packages that promote the independence of the service user.

The consortium has employed a project manager and other dedicated staff and has aligned processes and data collection mechanisms across the Authorities in key areas. This brings added value by enabling further alignment of training, support and report development.

The partnership with Northgate has resulted in a number of tangible benefits for service users and staff. These include more effective and accessible services by reducing the need for different assessments by different agencies; a reduction in paper processes, reducing manual error and maximising efficiency; and considerable savings as processes are shared across all authorities.

The partnership is committed to expanding and progressing its information sharing initiatives to meet its overall goal where it is able to share information with all of its partners including other local Authorities in Wales.

Ellis Williams, Director of Social Services, Rhondda Cynon Taff Council and Chair of the South East Wales consortium said: “By sharing procurement and services, we have been able to develop a system which is responsive to the needs of our users and helps our staff deliver a joined up service built around personal needs, which also reflects value to the tax payer. We are delighted to be extending our partnership with Northgate. They are a trusted partner and a safe pair of hands that have given us the confidence to build a social care business which is truly aligned to the needs of our local communities.”

Russell Osborne, Managing Director of Citizen Solutions at Northgate Public Services, said today: “We are very proud of the work that our partnership with the South East Wales consortium has produced so far. We believe that shared services and joined up working can transform social care, not only for individuals, but for communities. At a time of unprecedented demand and limited resources, the consortium has shown how innovative delivery can be richly enhanced by local development.”

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For more information
Fellows’ Associates
Kathy Sutton +44 (0)20 7324 6221; +44(0)7966 890401
Konstantinos Makrygiannis +44 (0)20 7324 6222; +44(0)7949 421356

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