SHuRePlan

What are the outcomes that the plan is trying to achieve?

The purpose of any plan is to produce change. If this is to be successful we need to be able to describe the desired change in a way that clearly differentiates it from other possible outcomes. In identifying these outcomes it is useful to identify the following:

• Vision - a picture of what the service, or workforce will be like when we have achieved the desired outcomes. Developing a vision is generally an excellent way of ensuring engagement of all the stakeholders in the planning process.
  
  
• Values - describe the things that would be improved when the vision is achieved e.g. improve patients' access to services, reduce patient's pain and anxiety, improve staff retention. To be effective there should be means by which we can measure when things have improved in relation to a given value.
  
  
• Goals, targets and objectives - in order to make progress towards the vision and values more measurable, it is common to define specific targets and objectives. For example, improved access may be measured by the achievements of specific targets for reductions in waiting times. An objective usually defines the completion of a process such as completing implementation of 'Agenda for Change'. No one in the NHS needs to be told the danger of treating targets as ends in themselves rather than measures of progress towards the underlying vision and values.
  
  
• Structuring values - a final stage in the process is to put some structure into the values. In some cases achieving one value might be at the expense of another. For example, a specialist tertiary centre may offer better clinical outcomes for a patient but at the expense of convenient access. It is important to clarify at this stage which values support each other and which might conflict. Where they may conflict, stakeholders need to agree which are the most important e.g. clinical outcomes override access.