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JOINT FUTURE AGENDA: SHORT LIFE WORKING GROUP ON JOINT PREMISES DEVELOPMENT IN PRIMARY AND COMMUNITY CARE: FINAL REPORT
APPENDIX 5
SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS
1.1 Recommendations - Success Factors
Recommendation 1 - Vision: Local partners develop a joint service vision for the community to provide a focus and support for joint planning and from which an agreed joint strategic service development plan and related strategy for relevant joint property provision can be put in place.
Delivery might take place around the community-planning table or be more focussed on discrete services/care groups, for example, within a community health partnership. The model of delivery through which this might take place may be a wholly public sector model or some form of PPP model, the choice of model is independent of the requirement to establish a joint service vision and strategic service development plan.
Recommendation 2 - Strategic Leadership: Local partners encourage "champions" to promote joint premises development. See also Recommendation 12 that highlights to need for local "champions" to gain the necessary skills and experience required to effectively carry out such a role.
Recommendation 3 - Communication: Local partners develop an appropriate internal and external communication strategy to foster the right attitude and commitment to joint premises development by local partner organisations and their staff.
Recommendation 4 - Development Principles: The Scottish Executive and local partners should recognise that the principle of maximising the community benefit of heritable assets is a crucial consideration for progressing the Joint Future agenda. The principle needs to be incorporated into mainstream property management policies and decision-making in both the NHS and Local Government. Accordingly, NHSScotland and Local Government should develop compatible systems for mapping heritable assets and for property management processes.
Recommendation 5 - Regulation and Guidance: The Scottish Executive and local authorities should consider our recommendations as part of any existing and proposed reviews of legislation and guidance that constrain joint premises development with a view to supporting crosscutting work and removing barriers at a local level.
Recommendation 6 - Partnership Risk Culture: The Scottish Executive should review existing legislation and guidance from the perspective of removing requirements that deter local innovation and development of opportunities while maintaining necessary safeguards to protect public assets. The Scottish Executive should also consider current procurement policy and practice within NHSScotland and Local Government with specific regard to joint developments by encouraging appropriate flexibility within the agreed confines of public accountability. See also Recommendation 11 below.
Recommendation 7 - General Systems and Processes: Local partners should develop joint strategic service development planning, budgeting and reporting mechanisms which can be supported by joint premises development. These arrangements should be mainstreamed within normal planning and development systems where possible. The Scottish Executive should support the development of appropriate templates to assist the implementation of this recommendation by local partnerships.
Recommendation 8 - Property Management Information: Local Partners should draw up compatible and appropriate joint property databases, initially for community care services but preferably more widely, to act as a reference source for all statutory agencies and to assist joint service planning and development.
Recommendation 9 - Staff Motivation and Performance management: Local partners should co-ordinate staff performance management arrangements and ensure that managers within each organisation are incentivised to plan jointly and assessed against delivery of commonly agreed objectives. Performance management targets within respective organisations should be integrated for joint developments.
Recommendation 10 - Staff Skills & Experience: Local partners should assess the level of appropriate staff knowledge, skills and experience available within their respective organisations when considering joint premises developments. Where appropriate a local skills development programme should be put in place (or alternatively a national programme accessed) to address skill gaps and staff development requirements. Local Partners should consider enlisting additional support or consultancy to develop their community planning process and joint service plans.
Recommendation 11 - Staff Development around Risk Management: There is a specific role for staff development in relation to the development of appropriate knowledge, skills and attitudes towards risk management of joint projects and the importance attached to the identification and realisation of opportunities created by the Joint Future Agenda. Local partners should ensure that staff development arrangements specifically address this matter.
Recommendation 12 - Equipping Local "Champions": The Scottish Executive should ensure that the Joint Future Organisational Development Group should be asked to consider how elected members, non-executives, senior managers, estates management professionals and staff can be better equipped to champion the joint premises implications of the Joint Future agenda.
Recommendation 13 - Financial Sustainability: Local partners should develop joint service plans identifying future client centred services which will utilise existing mainstream financial and planning frameworks. Proposals could be agreed through the Community Planning framework.
Recommendation 14 - Financial Sustainability: Local partners should employ their Joint Resourcing Financial Framework to develop medium-term financial plans which support joint property development, through recognition of the baseline for property costs of aligned/joint services and costed action plans for proposed service changes.
Recommendation 15 - Affordability, Best Value and Business Case Evaluation Process:
Local partners should develop a set of agreed joint objectives and service development strategies that are integrated with their own corporate objectives.
This recommendation complements the work of the Joint Future Implementation Advisory Group that is leading development of joint service strategies based on agreed partnership vision and joint objectives.
Recommendation 16 - Affordability, Best Value and Business Case Evaluation Process: Local partners should conduct their appraisal of proposed options for service reconfiguration within the context of joint service development strategies through existing mainstream business case regimes..
Recommendation 17 - Affordability, Best Value, Business Case Evaluation Process: The Scottish Executive, NHSScotland and individual Local Authorities should ensure that arrangements for business case approval should be amended so that each body is required to consider strategic partnership and joint services as part of their option appraisal process (in the same way that the "Do Nothing" option is currently required).
Recommendation 18 - Affordability/Best Value, Cost of Capital Regimes: The Scottish Executive should examine the differing cost of capital regimes that apply to NHS Bodies and Local Authorities to identify a suitable cross-sector model capable of providing a more consistent basis on which to judge affordability and best value.
1.2 Recommendations - Other Models of Delivery
Recommendation 19 - Flexible models for delivery:
The Scottish Executive should ensure that a standard suite of flexible delivery models is developed incorporating key solutions as practical experience of joint property development evolves. PPP represents a real opportunity to effect risk transfer, lever additional finance, and secure a long-term vehicle for delivering additional investment across Scotland that directly underpins joint strategic planning arrangements.
Recommendation 20 - Public Private Partnerships:
The Scottish Executive should introduce legislation that will enable Scottish Ministers, NHS bodies and contractors, local authorities and private sector providers to enter into Joint Venture agreements in order to make available another vehicle to support joint premises development. The first stage would be to consult on proposals.
Recommendation 21 - LIFT: The Scottish Executive should consult within its proposals for Joint Venture Organisations such as LIFT on the basis that such arrangements offer flexibility for joint premises developments in community care under the umbrella of community planning partnership(s).
1.3 Recommendations - Performance Management
Recommendation 22 - JPIAF: The Scottish Executive, SWSI and Audit Scotland should include joint premises development in their upcoming review and update of the Joint Performance Information Assessment Framework.
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