Admin New Starter Success in Bedfordshire and Luton Mental Health Admin Teams

 3rd December 2024

Author: Marlyn (Admin Training Assistant, Bedfordshire and Luton Mental Health and Wellbeing Services), with contributions from the project team. 

In Bedfordshire and Luton, a QI project was launched to create a local admin induction and professional development of admin new starters. This project aimed to provide structured training, foster confidence, and improve service delivery by ensuring all admin staff received uniform, high-quality support from the beginning. 

Figure 1: Admin staff attending the ‘Leadership for Improvement – Habits of an Improver’ training session

Project Background 

After feedback from both new and experienced staff members that there was dissatisfaction within the team, particularly relating to confidence, support and workload, the team commenced a project to address these issues. New starters felt that there was a lack of communication following offer of employment through to commencement of their role. The team aimed to increase admin team satisfaction by 20% by April 2024, in the hope that this would provide service users with reassurance and confidence with communicating with services. 

Development of the Project Strategy and Testing Change Ideas 

To address the gap in admin staff’s professional development, the QI team identified the need for a structured local induction and a Continuous Professional Development (CPD) system. The team developed a Driver Diagram with change ideas and conducted a Training Needs Analysis to tailor the system to staff at different levels. Using the PDSA cycle, the team ensured continuous monitoring and improvements. 

Figure 2: The project’s theory of change, displayed as a driver diagram.

The QI Project Team designed a local Induction and a CPD System. The Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle was used to ensure continuous improvement and iteration of the changes had taken place before being implemented. Much of the data we received was qualitative feedback, see ‘Feedback on ELFT Continuous Professional Development System’ for more details.   

For the CPD system, the initial challenge was to identify the specific training needs among the different grades of administrative staff.  A Training Needs Analysis, and feedback sessions, revealed a desire for a local induction and a “one stop shop” for Admin Training and Development.   

Successes and Outcomes 

Both change ideas were implemented with email communications and a series of presentations to Admin Staff and Managers in Beds and Luton. The CPD system, along with the Local Beds and Luton Local Inductions, not only provided support to our new administrative staff but also ensured that all new starters across the locality received consistent, high-quality training and development. 

The team saw an improvement in staff satisfaction with daily task achievement (Figure 3), along with highly positive feedback from staff across Bedfordshire and Luton. Staff commented that the CPD System and local inductions have streamlined training, strengthened team bonds, and empowered admin staff with clear development paths, fostering a strong sense of value.  

Figure 3: A Control Chart (I Chart) showing the average staff satisfaction with their daily task achievement.

An unexpected outcome has been that, within eight months of implementing the CPD system, administrative leads from other localities have shown interest in adopting it. The team are now exploring collaborative opportunities to further enhance the system for administrative staff across the entire Trust.

Conclusion

The Admin Continuous Development Programme available on the ELFT Learning Academy is a testament to the power of targeted professional development. By investing in our new starters and the growth of our administrative staff it has fostered a culture of continuous learning and improvement.

This story highlights how a well-planned and executed QI project can lead to significant improvements and positive outcomes for both individuals and the organisation.

Project team learning and reflections:

Feedback on ELFT Continuous Professional Development System

Feedback on Bedfordshire and Luton Admin Local Inductions

Project Team