Rahima Bhatti

NEWS – Delt Shared Services Earns Place on Newsweek’s list of the Top 100 Most Loved Workplaces for 2023

Delt Shared Services earns place on Newsweek’s list of the Top 100 Most Loved Workplaces for 2023 

5th October 2023, Plymouth, Devon

Delt Shared Services today announced that they have been ranked as #9 among 100 UK companies recognised for outstanding employee sentiment and satisfaction. 

Newsweek recently published their annual rankings for the Top 100 Most Loved Workplaces® list, the result of a collaboration with the Best Practice Institute (BPI), a leadership development and benchmark research company.  

The results were determined after surveying more than two million employees from businesses with workforces varying in size from 50 to more than 100,000. The list recognises companies that have created a workplace where employees feel respected, inspired, and appreciated and are at the centre of the business model.  

Giles Letheren, CEO at Delt said: “I’m absolutely delighted that we have been accredited as a Most Loved Workplace, a certification that recognises companies for creating emotionally connected workplaces. I firmly believe that our team is truly exceptional, and our people are our most valuable assets. Our commitment to collaboration, teamwork, opportunities for advancement, and a culture of understanding and respect are some of the reasons why we have earned this recognition. We believe that creating a workplace where everyone can thrive empowers us to collaborate effectively and deliver exceptional results for our customers. This is essential to fulfilling our aim of helping people do amazing things. 

Jane White, Chief People and Culture Officer added: “We are extremely pleased to be recognised by the prestigious Newsweek as #9 on their list of Top 100 Most Loved Workplaces. Delt works hard to ensure that our culture is employee-centric, and this award is a recognition of the hard work we’ve put into gathering employee feedback and taking actionable steps that benefit our employees.” 

 The key areas included in the analysis are based on how well companies demonstrate the areas within the Spark Model as defined by BPI including Systemic Collaboration, Positive Vision of the Future, Alignment of values, Respect, and Killer Achievement. Employee sentiments and emotions indicating how engaged employees are, how positive they feel about their workplace, and how committed they are to the organization’s success were analysed to identify the Top 100 Most Loved Workplaces.  

 “With the rapidly changing workplace and competition for top talent, more companies are recognising the importance of employee engagement and commitment”, said Nancy Cooper, Global Editor in Chief, Newsweek. “The workplaces that have demonstrated a commitment to their employees in 2023 are more likely to attract the best talent and deliver strong business outcomes.” 

 “Fully understanding and acting upon employee sentiment, emotion, and recommendations continues to be a challenge and top priority of executive leadership,” said Louis Carter, CEO of Best Practice Institute. “The companies on this list have committed to listening carefully to their employees to create a workplace employees love.” 

As a publicly owned but privately operated company founded in 2014 by shareholders, Plymouth City Council, and the NHS Devon, Delt is a shared services provider dedicated to providing comprehensive and complex back-office services including Payroll, Finance, IT, Cyber Security, Print and Mail, HR, Estates Management and Management Consulting to public sector organisations in the South West of England.  

To date, the company’s efforts have made a significant impact creating an annual socio-economic gain of nearly £16M in the region. With a presence in over 250 service areas across 400 locations, Delt plays a crucial role in supporting many of the area’s critical services, including NHS trusts, local government, blue light services, and educational institutions.   

 

For the full Newsweek list of 2023’s Most Loved Workplaces, please visit: https://www.newsweek.com/rankings/uks-100-most-loved-workplaces-2023 

 

 To find out more about why Delt was recognised for outstanding employee sentiment and satisfaction, please visit: Delt Shared Services – Most Loved Workplace® 

NEWS – Delt Shared Services and Integy’s Revolutionary GP Cloud Platform is Shortlisted at the HSJ 2023 Awards

Delt Shared Services and Integy’s Revolutionary GP Cloud Platform is Shortlisted at the HSJ 2023 Awards

Devon-based shared services provider, Delt, is delighted to announce that its GP in the Cloud (GPitC) platform, developed for NHS Devon, has been shortlisted in the ‘Digitising Patient Care’ award category at the prestigious Health Service Journal (HSJ) Awards 2023. 

The ‘Digitising Patient Care’ award category aims to acknowledge effective initiatives that have harnessed technology and digital systems to enhance patient access to care, enable staff to optimise capacity, and elevate the overall experience and quality of healthcare. 

The GPitC platform effectively addresses a pivotal challenge in the evolution of digital primary care innovations. Amid a GP shortage in Devon, innovative strategies were sought for efficient primary care. Online consultations reshaped GP services during Covid-19, but limits persisted, hindering remote locum use due to system constraints. To address this, Delt worked collaboratively with cloud computing experts, Integy, NHS Devon and the National Association of Sessional GPs (NASGP) to pioneer a groundbreaking technology solution called ‘GP in the Cloud’. 

GPitC enables locums located throughout the UK to conduct patient consultations seamlessly over the internet. This is achieved through a secure cloud-based virtual desktop, preserving a practice’s internal clinical system integrity while granting access to systems required for remote consultations. The outcomes have been noteworthy: substantial cost savings for primary care in Devon, heightened patient care standards, and an enhanced work-life balance for staff. 

Commenting on the recent shortlist, Dr John McCormick, GP and Chief Clinical Information Officer at NHS Devon, said: “We are very proud to be recognised this way. Being shortlisted for in the HSJ Awards 2023 will be a huge boost for our dedicated and hard-working team. 

“GP in the Cloud has been transformative for our local GP practices and made significant improvements to us being able to better meet the demands of our patients at a time that there were huge challenges in accessing local GP services. 

“Being shortlisted for these awards gives us the opportunity to share our success with colleagues from across the entire sector, as well as showcasing everything we’ve learnt through implementing our project.” 

Delt CEO, Giles Letheren, added: “We are thrilled to be involved, along with our partners, in implementing a pioneering solution for the NHS Devon that harnesses technology and digital systems to enhance patients access to care. GP in the Cloud was developed to enable GPs from anywhere in the UK to deliver support to primary care, across multiple clinical systems, without the need for dedicated NHS hardware – enabling staff to optimise capacity, improve experience and most of all the quality of care.” 

As it enters its 43rd year, the HSJ Awards maintain their position as the pinnacle of recognition for healthcare service excellence in the UK. Winners of the HSJ awards will be announced at the award ceremony on 16th November at Evolution London.  

Malcolm Senior – Non-Executive Director

Malcolm Senior – Non-Executive Director

Malcolm joined the NHS in 1997 after a career in Coal Mining and working on the Channel Tunnel Project. His 26 year career in the NHS has mainly been spent as a Chief Information Officer in Acute Hospitals in Torbay and South Devon and Musgrove Park Hospital in Somerset. Between January 2017 and May 2021 Malcolm worked on national Digital Programmes for NHS Digital, based in Leeds and London before joining NHS Devon in June 2021.

Malcolm currently has responsibility for Digital Transformation across the Devon Integrated Care System, with a real focus on increasing the use of digital technology to enable new models of care and improve the experiences and outcomes of care.

Malcolm has three grown up Son’s and enjoys walking in the beautiful Devon countryside, all forms of theatre and travel. He is an avid sports fan, supporting Leeds United FC and Castleford RLFC.

Blog – Military Leadership

Military Leadership

It is Armed Forces Day on the 24th June and many people’s thoughts turn to our military community. I don’t dwell on the past but at this time of the year I do think a little bit more about my own military service. I left the Royal Navy 4 years ago and since then have been lucky enough to be working for Delt Shared Services as their Chief Projects Officer. Delt’s staple diet is the provision of IT managed services to Plymouth City Council, Devon NHS Integrated Care Board, Devon NHS Partnership Trust, and Transforming Futures Multi Academy Trust. We also provide a range of other services such as soft and hard facilities management, print & mail, procurement, finance, payroll and pensions, and, of course, project management. To deliver this wide range of shared services we need staff with various skills, including leadership.

A key skill of being a successful military operator is leadership. In my head, leadership is not a title or a job description it is a state of mind. The young sailor planning their part of ship maintenance, the chef conjuring up another amazing meal for 200 (and there are many other examples) and then working with their team to deliver are just as important leadership roles as the Commanding Officer of a ship, a squadron or a regiment. Young people serving in our military are exposed to leadership and leading from day 1 of their time in uniform.

As an Armed Forces Covenant signatory Delt is proud to support our military community. We hire veterans and use their leadership skills in our business. As we go through our annual performance management reviews, we select staff to attend one of our leadership training courses. In April this year our leadership training culminated with a graduation ceremony at Devonport Hall. Nine staff members completed the course, 4 of them were ex-military and covered all 3 Services. On that day I was immensely proud of all our brilliant Delt staff. Everyone delivered excellent presentations summing up their own personal leadership journey. There were some amazing leadership lessons, a great deal of emotional intelligence displayed and a few tears! It was especially rewarding to see 4 ex Royal Navy, Royal Airforce and Army men and women show how the experience they gained in the military and the lessons they learned during training and on operations allowed them to operate with confidence in a different environment.

Thank you from Delt to all our Armed Forces for your amazing work, and a special shout out to all the veterans working at Delt for your contribution to our success.

 

Gary Pettitt, Chief Projects Officer

Blog – Send Three and Four Pence…

Send Three and Four Pence…

Proper and effective communications is often cited as fundamental to success. So how do we ensure we hit the target when it comes to efficient project communications? How can we avoid the message, send reinforcements we are going to advance, being received as, send three and four pence we are going to a dance!?

An effective project leader needs to be a good communicator and like leadership the way we deliver our message needs to work for the situation we find ourselves in. We also need to think carefully about our desired outcome, our audience, the methods of communication that are available to us and the timing of our messaging. I once found myself being asked to send a letter rather than an email!! My instinct was to push back, but that was a battle I couldn’t win. Best to accept that this person required information to be communicated in a particular way. I conformed and reaped the rewards with a relationship that delivered results. You need to adapt to your customers’ needs, a telephone call, an MS Teams / Zoom / Google Meet… call (camera off or on?) or do they prefer an email or a DM? They might even want you to come to their office and meet in person! Understanding the how of communications is an important step to effective dialogue.

What about the when? You are on the train merrily chugging down the track for your weekend away and the train slows to a halt unexpectedly. To start with you are fine, after all your risk analysis showed that only 89% of UK trains arrive on time (made up statistic!) so your mitigation measure is to arrive 30 mins before you really need to. All good. Naturally you want to know what has happened, something has changed so your plan needs updating. Five, 10, 15 minutes pass and no announcement, you start getting agitated. You need input, your plan needs updating. An early acknowledgement of the delay and commitment to update soon would have sufficed. The timing of customer communications needs careful consideration and experience can be a factor. It is, however, just as simple as asking. Talk to your customer, what do they need / want to know and when. What events need an immediate call? Most importantly don’t leave anyone you work with in the dark, if you haven’t been in contact with your customer for a couple of weeks then you ought to do that now.

I wouldn’t advocate style over substance but the way you package your customer communications will serve as an important indicator to your professional persona. The situation will largely dictate your style, a dynamic young AI start-up will arguably need a different style from a global ‘blue chip’ behemoth. Judge the situation, your audience, the output you desire and craft your message carefully using an appropriate style. And at the risk of being branded a pedant, or even worse having this blog returned to me with all the spelling and grammar errors highlighted, getting spelling and grammar correct and eradicating typing errors is important. The Amstrad PCW 9512 that I had in the late 80’s had a fabulous spelling and grammar checker, so there are no excuses!

Given the considerable reduction in face-to-face meetings there is one aspect of communication style that is now increasingly important and that is how we say things. Google tells me that 10% of conflict is due to a difference of opinion and 90% is due to delivery and tone of voice. Example (stern voice), ‘I need you to get the PID for the Network project sorted today, no excuses just get it done!’ or (calm soothing voice), ‘we need to have a chat about the Network project PID, it needs to be done today. I know you are busy so let’s talk about how we can prioritise your work to give you the best chance of finishing today.’

In summary, communicate with your customers never leave them in the dark, even saying that nothing has changed is valuable. In doing so you need to consider the situation you are in, the desired output, what you need to say, when to say it and how you will deliver the message. Remember the well-worn, but still relevant, George Bernard Shaw quote, ‘the single biggest issue with communications is the illusion that it has taken place’ So always check understanding, you need reinforcements not 3 and 4 pence!

 

Gary Pettitt, Chief Projects Officer

Rachel Lyddon – Staff Nominated Non-Executive Director

Rachel Lyddon – Staff Nominated Non-Executive Director

Rachel has worked as the Financial Accountant at Delt for just over five years.

As a qualified chartered accountant (FCA) for nearly twenty years, Rachel has worked in in a variety of sectors including both the NHS and local government. She completed her chartered accountancy training at Mazars LLP which involved auditing a wide range of clients in the public and private sector.

Having grown up near Plymouth, Rachel has lived and worked in various locations, including completing a volunteer role as an expedition accountant in Central America. However, Rachel returned ‘home’ to Devon in 2018 and soon took up a position with Delt.

In addition to her accounting experience, Rachel is a qualified teacher and spent several years as a lecturer in further education.

In her free time Rachel likes to dabble in a spot of sea swimming, the colder the better!

Blog – Questions vs Answers

Questions vs Answers

In case you don’t know about Alex the parrot, let me introduce you to him.  Alex is/was (unfortunately he is no longer with us) considered one of the most articulate animals to interact with humans.  Alex developed a considerable vocabulary and was, amongst other things, able to answer questions about the name and colour of objects.  This is pretty impressive, but perhaps not out of the ordinary given there are monkeys, dogs, seals and other mammals that have similarly mastered language skills.  What makes Alex more interesting is that he was the first known animal that formed his own question.

Once he had mastered the primary colours, he was shown his reflection in a mirror and asked what colour he was.  That’s quite a breakthrough, no longer is he showing willingness to “talk” for a food reward, this was a parrot wanting to use language to enquire and learn more.

The point is that one of the key attributes of the best staff is their interest in development and learning.  In other words they are ceaselessly asking questions.  Alex stands out amongst all the other talking animals in that he wanted to use his language skills to understand what the name of his colour was.   (Makes you wonder if he wasn’t a bit disappointed to be grey given the wide pallet of colours that other parrots enjoy?).

Since the arrival of AI chat bots – with Chat GPT that wrote a previous blog for us – the end game appears in sight for those of us who thought that we were employed on the basis of being able to answer questions.  Whilst at times we are expected to know the answers to do our jobs, the arrival of software with the power to understand natural language questions and provide uniquely crafted and increasingly better responses is going to reduce the premium given to roles requiring expertise or analysis.  One of the vital skills in a post AI chat bot world has to be knowing what the right questions to ask are.  This like any other skill, is one that requires practise.  Making time to consciously reflect on the situation we find ourselves in and find the right questions to ask in order to resolve problems or exploit opportunities will be what we need in a modern workforce.   Anyone with these skills might also be the more interesting people to share time with too!  So, returning to the issue posed by the headline on this article and asking whether which is better: questions or answers, I would contend that whilst we can’t ignore the power of knowing the answer, in the long term those who understand the power of asking a question will be more successful.

If you don’t believe me about Alex you can find out more about him here: https://www.bl.uk/the-language-of-birds/articles/alex-the-african-grey-parrot

 

Peter Honeywell, Non-Executive Director

NEWS – Delt Partners with Reliance Cyber to Offer Industry-leading Cybersecurity Services to the Public Sector

Delt Partners with Reliance Cyber to Offer Industry-leading Cybersecurity Services to the Public Sector

Delt Shared Services and Reliance Cyber have partnered to provide industry-leading managed security services to public sector organisations.

The partnership with Reliance Cyber aims to provide an ‘always on’ security approach that will strengthen the defences of public sector organisations and safeguard them against the increasing number and complexity of cyber-attacks.

With the increasing number of attacks on the public sector, comprehensive cyber security is vitally important. In August 2022, 36 NHS organisations were impacted by a severe cyber-attack that had significant and long-lasting effects. Incidents like the attack on the NHS are costly, time-consuming, and disruptive. Such attacks, highlight the need for public sector organisations to have comprehensive cybersecurity defences in place.

Delt’s partnership with Reliance Cyber will provide public sector customers with a fully managed security service which includes 24/7, 365-day-a-year monitoring, detection, and response, mitigating their risk of cyberattacks. This partnership is a significant milestone in the expansion of Delt’s capabilities and is a direct response to the market’s need for increased resilience against cyber threats.

Giles Letheren CEO of Delt, expressed his delight at the collaboration, saying, ” We are committed to always providing our customers with the highest level of service, working with Reliance Cyber enables us to further meet this objective. Letheren went on to say, “The partnership provides a top-level security service that supports and responds to the real threats facing public sector organisations. ”

Rob Walton, Chief Revenue Officer at Reliance Cyber, added, “We are proud to work with Delt in protecting public sector organisations from the mounting threat of cyberattacks. Our team of experts is dedicated to providing best-in-class security, and we look forward to collaborating with Delt to further secure their customers.”

The Delt and Reliance Cyber partnership is set to enhance the cybersecurity of public sector organisations and provide Delt’s customers with peace of mind. Delt believes that its clients should feel confident that they are protected by the best possible security service in the market. With Reliance Cyber’s expertise and experience in advanced cyber threats, there is confidence that this partnership will provide customers with the highest level of protection. By working together, this partnership will help clients mitigate their risks, stay ahead of emerging threats, and focus on their core operations with the knowledge that their critical assets and data are secure.

There’s No I In Team

There’s No I In Team

 

The challenge of the unknown, being asked to develop a new service line, or take over an area of the business that I have had previous exposure to is always an exciting but scary journey. 

I have been privileged in my professional career to be given the opportunities to develop new services, new customers, and new people. Of late this has been focussed specifically on developing new services to new and existing customers.  Whilst daunting, it’s not something we at Delt shy away from, as we have a collective passion to deliver successful outcomes for our customers and partner organisations. 

Our latest venture has been the introduction and integration of Estates Management Services, and now a year in I’m confident to say that there has been a successful transition of the services and significant improvements to our customers. Who, in turn, have a better environment for their service users. Is it easy? No! But with the right mindset, risk appetite and positive can-do attitude we have steered the turbulent waters of turning a service around. 

We have always had a great track record of helping our staff to grow beyond their existing roles, and supported them as their personal aspirations are realised. It’s only one small step to take those personal aspirations and use these to define and drive service improvement, be this at a senior strategic level, or on the ground teams. By selling the vision, of the future service outcomes, and then supporting the whole team on the journey we can grow from the services seeded by customers. Those customers who want to see improvements but have completing priorities with their own primary service needs, to freeing already performing teams to be the best they can. 

For me, personally, this summer has been emotionally challenging as I was given the opportunity to take a team from one of our education customers and improve the delivery of the service, ultimately to improve the learning experience of some of our communities most vulnerable and challenged pupils. The areas requiring attention were so diverse it was difficult to know where to start, but having those challenging conversations with our customers allowed us to identify the areas which were causing them the greatest challenges and, at least, provided areas of focus.  

Collectively we developed a plan of action which was shared, and then we simply started at the beginning and worked though the defined tasks, overcoming obstacles as we went. Being able to clearly lead at times and knowing when to step back and let others take the helm helped to form bonds and gave aspiring leaders the opportunity to shine. Providing ongoing communication was key to successful delivery. From co-ordinating contractors, feeding back to stakeholders and sharing the success with the internal teams. It’s been a long time since I have done physical work but even that was required, on occasion, to support and build the team, walking a mile in their shoes gave me a valuable insight into their challenges and how I can help to overcome those with them. 

Ultimately, we made a promise to our customers, and we delivered on that promise, at the same time forming new relationships and strengthening existing bonds. Whilst exhausting, it has been one of the most rewarding summers that I have had in any workplace. 

Damean Miller, Chief Services Officer

I am what I am

I am, what I am

Do you currently feel outside of your comfort zone? If the answer is yes, then you’re not alone. If the answer is no, then you’re missing an opportunity to grow, and I hope that this short story, about a recent experience of mine will encourage you to seek opportunities to better yourself both personally and professionally.

Public speaking to large crowds of people has never been something I ever felt any good at and it’s something I have been largely able to avoid throughout my career. After all, who wants to put themselves into a position where they feel out of their depth and cause themselves unnecessary stress and anxiety? However, over the years I have realised that confronting these things head on by operating outside your comfort zone is a critical component to personal growth.

So, I finally did something about my public speaking challenge thanks to some advice from a colleague [Jane White] and, a few months ago, joined Toastmasters International which is a US headquartered, non-profit educational organisation that operates clubs worldwide for the purpose of promoting communication, public speaking, and leadership. I joined the club in Plymouth and as part of the educational pathway, I have been challenged to speak to audiences on various topics.

My first speech was called “I am what I am” and is based on a quote from Charlie Chaplin:

“I am what I am: an individual, unique and different, with a lineal history of ancestral promptings and urgings; a history of dreams, desires, and of special experiences, all of which I am the sum total.

The pathway and club provide a safe environment to learn and prepare for my first speech. But, even so, as the days counted down to the big day, I felt the pressure building and had to spend time in the evenings and weekends to prepare for this inaugural speech. I have to admit there were times when I thought about delaying it as I was too busy at work and I would be better resourced to do it in 4 weeks. Thankfully, I kept to the mission and set myself some small goals, creating a plan taking me up to the day of the speech. I found that this really helped and each time I met the goal I felt an achievement which gave me the motivation to reach the next goal and so on.

Writing the content was the easy part; reflecting on whether it was DNA, life experience or both which made me who I am today. Having done some research, I concluded there is no easy answer and therefore felt that it was a combination of both. I touched on my humour which I know I got from my father, he was a funny man, and like me enjoyed the “work hard, play hard” motto. At the end of it all I really enjoyed writing because it came from a place of interest and desire to better myself. 

After plenty of practice the night finally arrived, and I had to deliver this first public speech to a virtual audience, hearing the words “ready when you are”. There was almost a moment of “oh no” but the robot switched on and I went and delivered my talk. Throughout the speech I continually focused on body language, facial expressions, vocal tone as well as remembering my cues which were on a little cheat sheet stuck to my screen (the benefit of virtual presenting!).

On finishing the speech, I felt like I had been on an emotional rollercoaster and I felt shattered later that evening but also elated after a real humbling amount of positive feedback from the evaluator. I am now planning my second speech, so if anyone has any ideas for my next topic do let me know.

Why am I bothering writing this? Well, it’s certainly not to bore you. I hope to inspire and encourage you to push yourself out of your comfort zone. I have always been an advocate for the saying “you reap what you sow” and opportunities rarely land on laps, so seek out those opportunities and don’t give up. I am still in the ‘sow’ stage but hope, one day, to be able to stand on stage in front of a large audience and achieve my long-term goal. Hard work does pay off and I encourage you to go and grab any opportunities out there for self-betterment and above all else – pride!

Paul Jones, Chief Information Officer

Photo by Aatik Tasneem on Unsplash