Sunderland Bunny Hill - Widening access to services for the local community
Key contact: Paul Quin – Project Manager
Telephone: 0191 561 5111
Email: paul.quin@sunderland.gov.uk
Address: Bunny Hill Customer Service Centre, Hylton Lane, Sunderland, SR5 4BU
Centre Manager: Amanda Cantle
Centre Telephone: 0191 520 5213
In a nutshell
We are a Sunderland Council led partnership initiative – providing probably the largest number of local services ever available under one roof in England. By focusing on what the customer needs – we have brought together statutory, voluntary and a private sector agency to provide a wide range of services to the local community.
The issues addressed
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Sunderland saw a dramatic decline in the traditional local industries – many coal mines and shipyards closed down. This had a severe effect on the socio-economic situation of a large number of local residents and created some of the country’s most deprived areas.
The approach to the issues
Our centre is part of a wider Council approach that focuses on the customer and enables them to shape the services they need. The Council decided that they wanted to make sure that local communities had better access to services by setting up local centres for customer services - and wherever possible to do this in partnership with other service providers. The Council’s Customer Service Strategy has therefore been the key to the development of Bunny Hill.
At Bunny Hill we aim to go further than just co-location and make sure that all the services in the building work together in an integrated way.
Setting up the work
A community study was carried out in 1999. It identified the need for more services in the local area. The Council took the lead in the development and approached potential partners to see if they wanted to be involved in the project. Six external partners came together with three Council departments. The construction cost of the building was £7.8 million. The funding was secured through the Council mainstream funding, grants and ‘lease premiums’ from the external partners.
Evidence of success
Through the Council’s customer service focus and partnership working, we have improved access to - and quality of - community services. It has also resulted in efficiency gains for all partners involved – allowing them to concentrate on delivering better services.
Bunny Hill is designed to make people’s lives better and a customer satisfaction survey has revealed that 92 per cent of customers were satisfied with the services on offer. The survey and the feedback which the Council received have told us that:
• journey times are shorter;
• the GP practice facilities are better – and the practice has increased by 2,000 patients;
• usage of library services has doubled;
• around 70 per cent of people who have been referred to our gym decide to join it;
• the centre is ‘so good’ that the Primary Care Centre attracts people from the wider area.
One great thing – Improved access to services
The best thing at Bunny Hill is the sheer range of services which are provided under one roof. This has made services more accessible and cut down waiting times. Customers who access one service are often referred or signposted to other partners in the building.
Lessons learnt
• Remember that you are delivering services to customers. Ask them how, when and where they want them.
• Adopt a ‘can do’ approach and be opportunistic when deciding on which services should be included in the project.
• Local knowledge, coupled with an open and honest relationship with strategic partners can produce the best outcome for everyone but most importantly the customers. Be prepared to ‘go in’ with partners as well as asking them to ’come in’ with you.
• Remember that all projects are different so a flexible approach is required. It is therefore better to take what suits your needs from all available models.
• It is important that people know that you are there. Market your services before your work starts. It is about getting customers through the door and then making it easy for them to access other services from there. And market widely to get a higher uptake of services.
• Costs are never static and adding new things during a project’s development period can be very expensive. Make sure that the costs are clear at the outset and that any changes along the way are strictly controlled and funded by the agencies or services who want them.
What Next
The Council has already opened nine customer service centres. It continues to focus on the most deprived areas identified by indices of deprivation – and four more customer services centres are planned.
Note: Some information here has been obtained from a FOSS Case study (IDeA) 2007. It is available online.
