This section considers good practice that should be applied when preparing your feasibility study, SOC and business case.
There are two key factors that strongly influence how to write business planning documentation for the development of primary and social care premises. These are:
It is a good idea to articulate (in writing) the roles of the people to whom you are directing your feasibility study and the issues to be covered to allow them to make a decision. For example, do you want your reader to:
If you are looking for regulatory approval from your lead PCT or SHA, you will need to concentrate on strategic issues and other areas of approval and resources that you might need such as equipment or extra staffing.
If you are looking for investment in terms of discretionary funding such as cost rent you will need to show that you can meet the regulations as outlined in the 'Directions 2004' and 'CIM'.
GPs and others who are developing premises that they will own can usually obtain long-term funding (from banks or other financial institutions) for up to 100% of the project costs. However, you will need to show that your project is viable and well thought through. The response you want should always be in the forefront of your mind when you write a feasibility study. If you want a response from GP partners, local residents or patients then your feasibility study should do more than simply communicate what is going to happen; it may need to be used as a consultation paper to stress the benefits of the project.
Financiers tend to like concise documents with any jargon clearly explained. PCOs will want to know more about the benefits to patients. In each case, the style of writing should be slightly different.
If the document is to be used for more than one purpose, it is usually a good idea to have a standard structure and then adapt this for the various audiences.
Your document should make a good impact on first sight. It should be:
Statements should be unambiguous and supported by relevant and meaningful figures, wherever possible. For example, when describing the patient population, you may say:
'The practice has 11,000 patients many of whom are very poor and living in deprived areas.'
However, it may be more helpful to say:
'The practice has 11,000 patients, 38% of whom live in the *** council ward which the Indices of Deprivation 2000 ranked 36 out of a total of 8,414 English wards. Deprivation payments are received for a total of 6,380 patients (58% of total patient population).'
Finding relevant data to support your feasibility study may appear to be a daunting task. It may mean some initial investment to obtain assistance from professionals such as surveyors, accountants or architects. If you are working with a third party developer, they will help by providing data on possible sites and developing outline plans. However, by investing some of your own time, you will probably be able to find relevant data to give credence to your plan. Your first source of information should be your local practice or PCT's LDPs, which should outline the project objectives for improving services in the medium to long term. The success of future plans may well depend on having sufficient space and resources and your building may not be suitable. Other examples of evidence that may be available in-house include:
Relevant information may also be found by referring to strategy documents compiled by your PCT. Local government statistics, university research, medical press, patient and other stakeholder consultations/surveys will provide good sources of information. Many of these can be found by accessing local or national sites on the internet.
It is useful to enlist a trusted colleague to help with constructive criticism. The overall content should be fine at this stage but you need confirmation that the document is easily understandable and the tone is appropriate. Someone else should proof the document to spot any flaws such as typing and spelling mistakes, or numerical errors.