Data-driven management has brought greater consistency to services and enabled resources to be allocated where they are most needed.
Wellbeing services county of North Savo has significantly improved the quality of services for elderly, enhanced resource efficiency, curbed cost growth, and increased transparency in day-to-day management through benchmarking and peer development.
“We began benchmarking in the Kuopio region even before the wellbeing services reform, after noticing major differences in service provision between municipalities and operational units, and realizing we lacked an overall view of the service landscape,” says Kaija Kokkonen, Director of Elderly Care services at North Savo wellbeing services county.
North Savo has succeeded in identifying differences between home care units and in sharing effective practices across the entire county. From the outset, Nordic Healthcare Group (NHG) has supported data-driven management and benchmarking in North Savo.
“Data-driven management has brought consistency to services and enabled resources to be allocated where they are most needed. We have been able to direct staff working hours more effectively to client-facing work, which has reduced the cost per customer hour. Staff satisfaction has also increased,” Kokkonen says.
“Data-driven management has brought consistency to services and enabled resources to be allocated where they are most needed.”
Kaija Kokkonen, Director of Elderly Care services, North Savo Wellbeing Services County
Benchmarking events share best practices across counties
Key element of the model are benchmarking events, during which different wellbeing services counties share their successes with one another.
“It is very important to understand how our services compare to those in other counties,” Kokkonen says.
”It is very important to understand how our services compare to those in other counties.”
Kaija Kokkonen, Director of Elderly Care services, North Savo Wellbeing Services County
According to Mikko Ikivuo, Elderly Care Sector Lead at NHG, county leaders gather for the benchmarking events twice a year.
“At these meetings, participants network and review topics, analyses and results achieved by different counties according to a specific theme, and examine how these results compare across regions. The aim of the discussions is to understand which operating models could be adopted from the top-performing counties,” Ikivuo says.
According to Kokkonen, benchmarking provides a clear situational overview of service quality and adherence to agreed practices.
“Based on the results, services are delivered to customers as agreed, and, for example, service interruptions in home care and housing are relatively rare in North Savo. These factors improve customer satisfaction,” Kokkonen says.
Medicine dispensers free up nurses’ time
North Savo has also introduced several technological solutions that streamline daily work and generate cost savings, such as remote care and medicine dispensers for clients.
Currently, 16 percent of home care clients are covered by remote care, and 26 percent use a medicine dispenser.
“Through analyses produced by NHG, we have gained a good overview showing that these solutions are worth using and expanding. For example, the use of medicine dispensers significantly frees up nurses’ time for tasks other than medication delivery,” Kokkonen says.
Next, North Savo will expand benchmarking to elderly housing services and client guidance, rolling these practices out across the entire county. It has already been observed that clients tend to enter housing services slightly earlier in North Savo than in other counties.
“This is an extremely valuable finding, as we still have room for improvement in transitions to housing services,” Kokkonen says.
Kokkonen encourages other counties to engage in benchmarking and peer development.
“It enables a comprehensive review and analysis of operations. Benchmarking data helps to understand the model of one’s own service provision. Benchmarking has proven genuinely beneficial, which has encouraged us to continue it in various services for the elderly.”
Ikivuo also encourages other counties to strengthen data-driven management in elderly services.
“In elderly services, it is possible to succeed simultaneously in effectiveness, cost-efficiency and staff satisfaction. Our data shows numerous teams and care homes where all these aspects are met — for example, there are excellent examples in northern North Savo. Hundreds of people in Finland manage the same services, so why not share good practices more actively? There is no need to reinvent the wheel,” Ikivuo states.
”Hundreds of people in Finland manage the same services, so why not share good practices more actively?”
Mikko Ikivuo, Elderly Care Sector Lead, NHG
Project highlights
Challenge
In North Savo region, there were significant differences in elderly services between municipalities and units, and there was no overall picture of the situation. This made it difficult to allocate resources efficiently.
Solution
Data-driven management and benchmarking were implemented. Best practices were shared across the county, and technological solutions like medicine dispensers and remote care were utilized.
Results
Service quality improved, resources were allocated more efficiently, staff satisfaction increased and cost-effectiveness improved. Customer satisfaction also increased clearly.
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