Policies

Some emerging strands of health policy are as follows:

• Targets for health gain focusing on the main killers: cancer, coronary heart disease and stroke, accidents and mental illness
  
  
• Achieving continuous quality improvement in health care by the continued implementation of Clinical Governance
  
  
• Ensuring that health care professionals work more flexibly and in new partnerships to improve patient care
  
  
• Developing a new strategy to enhance the contribution which nurses, midwives and health visitors make to health care
  
  
• Achieving more efficiency and effectiveness in health care delivery by combining performance management, process review and the latest IT

The preferred work styles are:

• More devolved decision making, achieved through introducing Care groups
  
  
• More emphasis on doing fewer things really well at all levels to ensure we improve year on year
  
  
• More encouragement of a positive, proactive approach and partnership working
  
  
• More determination to tackle the difficult things as well as the things that come more easily
  
  
• More consistency by setting standards which are well communicated and well monitored
  
  
• More involvement of key people in the design and development of services, especially staff and patients
  
  
• More informed staff who are confident about the present and not fearful of the future

The emerging vision indicates that we need to:

• Maintain current initiatives in health strategy, the new management structure, Clinical Governance, IT, business planning, performance management and process review
  
  
• Secure our current services by addressing a number of deficits which are now becoming critical to our operation as our services undergo a step change to meet the increasing demands. This will require considerable additional resource now
  
  
• Plan to reduce uncertainty and risk and ensure that we are able to prepare and adapt to The New Hospital, which will also demand additional resources
  
  
• Invest resources in reviewing our work processes in advance of implementing a new IT strategy with a view to achieving greater efficiency in the way we deliver health care