photos: workshop group, sent by Mid Trent; hand and pen: Carl Dwyer

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2.3 First steps: Where do you start?

Making the case

You may be convinced that information prescriptions are the right thing for patients and professionals in your area but, no matter how great your powers of persuasion are, you cannot assume that everyone will instantly agree. You are going to have to 'make the case' for IPs and for the changes that adopting the IP approach will require.

It is important not to start something as big as an IP project without the support from key people in your organisations. Elsewhere in this resource – there are pages on the importance of engaging stakeholders, on developing their sense of ownership and on methods you can use.

Thinking about the key people in your organisation without whose support you will not be able to get IP off the ground, ask yourself:

• what IP means for your organisation
• where senior support needs to come from
• what arguments you will need to present (see also the page on the benefits of IP)
• what information you will need to have at hand to support your argument
• what resources you have, and how you can make a case for getting the further resources that you will need.

In the resources box on the right there are links to examples of development plans written by some of the pilots. Reading these may be a good way to think through the types of issues you are likely to face.

Presenting your case

This link opens a PDF of a presentation illustrating the building blocks of a successful IP process. It sets out the essential starting points – with specific actions – organised under the headings 'people', 'culture' and 'systems'. You might use it to test your plans or you may find it useful material for preparing your own presentations to the people you want to work with.

Building internal support

Sites who applied to be an IP pilot tended to have an enthusiastic core team who were able to drive the project forward. Although they had the endorsement of senior managers, most teams found they still needed to persuade their colleagues of the value of this new initiative.

National guidance and evidence from patients and carers shows how important reliable and accessible information is to improved patient care. The Department of Health's Better Information, Better Choices, Better Health puts information at the centre of health, states that all NHS organisations have a duty to provide a range of quality information to their patients and allows them to plan and commission information with confidence and without costly duplication. The Healthcare Commission – the independent watchdog for healthcare in England – has found that patients and carers want to be provided with more comprehensive and reliable information and support about their healthcare.

There is lots of information about ways of involving staff and users and carers in the next section, Involving People.

 

The pilot sites adopted different models of information prescribing, depending on their circumstances. We look at these next.