Faculty of Health

Pharmacy

You will receive a new streamlined and user-friendly questionnaire for each discipline in April. A combined blood sciences option is also available to all departments who subscribe to both Chemistry and Haematology.
Completed questionnaires should be returned to Keele by the end of June. Help and advice is available at all stages of the completion process.
You will receive the first draft of the reports mid-July, which is the first step in the ‘data checking’ process.
The Keele data cleaning process then analyses the data – you may be contacted for clarification on some areas of your data.
Final reports (which include commentary from our specialty panel of nominated representatives from the Royal College of Pathologists, the IBMS, the ACB and the ACS) and analysis tools are then sent out in November.
An annual user feedback meeting takes place in Birmingham in January (free to attend for participants) giving you the chance to review the data with your peers and to input into the development process.

We have significantly reduced the cost of participation from last year. Our flat rate is now £1,150 for the first discipline and £600 for each subsequent one, but if you subscribe as part of a network (3+ labs) or are happy to commit for 2 years* the cost will be just £1,000 for the first discipline and £500 for each subsequent one. A typical submission of four disciplines would therefore cost £2,500 for networks and those willing to commit to 2 years. (All prices exclude VAT)

*The price will be fixed at the lower rate for both years. The subscription fee for the second year will be payable in April 2014.

Access to the only source of national comparable quality, workload, staffing, productivity and cost benchmarking data currently available.
A fully authored report by members of our specialty panels for each discipline. The reports are made available in Microsoft Word and Adobe PDF formats.
Excel-based analysis tools which allow you to create custom reports and layouts, and compare your laboratory to any other laboratory or group of laboratories in the measures which are most important to you. In addition to the fully loaded pivot tables, dashboard layout and “quick analysis” options given in the 2012 tools, the new versions will also feature an entire suite of “one-click” layouts for each section, giving beginners the power to instantly get access to the data they require.
Help and assistance from the Keele team and specialty panels throughout the process where required.
Free places at the annual user feedback meeting, which presents a unique opportunity to discuss the data, receive training in the use of the analysis tools, contribute towards the future development of the scheme, and network with your peers.

Get access to data which can:
- Help identify the strengths and weaknesses of your department compared with your peers
- Help identify areas for cost saving and/or efficiency improvement
- Help inform staffing and workload business decision planning
Demonstrate the value of your service to your customers.
Have the opportunity to share best practice data with your peers. The scheme is neutral and identifiable data are not shared with any non-member of the scheme, however you do have the option to remain anonymous if you wish.

The short answer is ‘yes’, if you wish. However, we strongly encourage participants to make their contact details available to other participants to allow networking and sharing of best practice. Keele University Benchmarking Service reports and analysis tools are only made available to participants, and we ask all participants to honour the confidentiality agreement when they receive their data. The scheme is intended to be non-competitive, and to promote the sharing of best practice information to allow all participants to identify ways to improve their own service.