Company: CIGNA HealthCare, Greenock, UK
Company Description: CIGNA HealthCare is one of the UK’s leading providers of medical insurance products, including: private medical insurance, managed care services, cover for expatriates, corporate dental plans, as well as absence management and health management services.
Nomination Category: Team Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Best Customer Service Team

Nomination Title: CIGNA HealthCare's Healthcare Services team

1. Tell the story about what this nominated team achieved in the past year (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

CIGNA’s unique approach to employee healthcare is based on providing nurse led
telephonic case management.  Our philosophy is to provide high quality care to
rehabilitate someone whether they need medical treatment, are absent from work
or need support with specific health conditions.    

Every member is encouraged to speak with a nurse.  With the industry’s highest
ratio of nurses to members, our clinical team is a critical part of the overall
service proposition.  CIGNA has invested in the long-term development of its nursing staff, all of whom engage in a programme of continuous professional development.  In addition, the majority of CIGNA nurses engage in further vocational education with many choosing to gain additional counselling skills, as a significant part of their role managing members’ concerns.  In this way the nurses can support our members throughout the entire treatment process, not only explaining benefit coverage but also helping them to understand their healthcare options and ensuring they feel informed and supported.

Our nursing advisers add a further dimension to our customer service ethos. Our
unique team plays a crucial part in our organisation’s success..  They liaise with
specialists, members and their families, ensuring that the members receive the
appropriate treatment and the highest level of service.  The nurses’ involvement
with the member enables them to offer a unique and personal service, identifing
cases where innovative and patient centred solutions are required and facilitating
the provision of these benefits.  This may include providing services such as
childcare, home helps, gardeners, etc which will assist our members in a speedy
recovery.   

During 2004 there were a number of issues facing the nursing team. Firstly CIGNA
HealthCare experienced a period of heavy absence due to illness, and those
nurses who were available worked additional hours without overtime to ensure that
patients’ needs were met.

The nurses also showed exceptional flexibility to ensure shifts were covered
through the absence period, for example some nurses who started at 9am agreed
to stay on till 8pm when we experienced unexpected absences.

CIGNA also received positive feedback from clients on the nurses handling of
difficult situations, for example transferring terminally ill patients to the NHS.

CIGNA hosted a very successful Open Day at a new satellite office in central
Glasgow, the main aim of which was to help recruit more nurses.  The day was
largely manned by current nursing staff that gave guidance to interested
candidates, and as a direct result CIGNA was able to recruit the number of nurses
required.  This concentrated recruitment also resulted in  experienced nurses
acting as “Buddies”, supporting the new recruits whilst balancing patients and
business needs.

Some of the nurses also stepped up to support the training of new recruits due to
coach shortages.  This has worked well and continued to include existing staff
training too.

Despite a number of challenges throughout 2004, CIGNA gained a 6% increase in
the Client Satisfaction Survey for contact with nurses and over 97% of members
being satisfied with their experience with the CIGNA nurses. 

2. List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:

http://www.cigna.co.uk/nurses/index.asp

http://www.cigna.co.uk/global/pressroom/herald_article.asp

3. Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of this nominated team:

Eileen Bonar has worked at CIGNA HealthCare as Healthcare Services Manager
for two years. She joined CIGNA from a general insurance background and a
career spanning 25 years with a lot of experience gained primarily working with
major insurers including General Accident and Prudential and in large broker
environments. Eileen has a wealth of experience including claims, sales and
contact centre management and she has spent time in most areas of the business giving a rounded perspective on general insurance.