Identify key spokesperson for each service

Individuals with the appropriate skills, background and authority need to be identified to take responsibility for providing information and making decisions for each of the services to be included in the new facility. This will include making a ‘commitment in principle’ to funding. These individuals, known as service leads, may be responsible for more than one service, and will be drawn from the different stakeholder groups that are involved in the project.

Allocating such tasks to specific individuals will engender a sense of ownership and will avoid confusion about responsibility and consequent delay. The service leads will normally become members of the project team and have an ongoing role in the project.

The range of services to be included in the new facility will have been identified in the functional content schedule for the project, where the nature of each of the component services will be set out.

Individuals, known as service leads, should be identified to take responsibility for providing information and making decisions in relation to each of the component services. The individuals concerned should:

• be familiar with the service in question
• be familiar with the way in which the service should develop to meet national and local policy objectives
• have the authority to work with staff and users to modernise existing work patterns
• be capable of gaining the support of staff working within the service for any changes that may be promoted
• have the authority to give commitment in principle to funding the relevant service, either by having the authority themselves to make such decisions or by having access to a decision-making board
• have the time and organisational skills to commit to the project

Service leads might typically be GP practice managers, practice nurses, nursing team leaders, service development managers, social work managers etc. They will be drawn from the stakeholders in the project, from whom they will require support and backing. Individuals may represent more than one of the component services – this should be borne in mind when selection is made, as each of the service leads will become a member of the project team. The size of the team should be considered to ensure that it is manageable and appropriate to the scale of the project.