What to consider when initiating a project in the care world

Health & social care in Britain is a diverse industry and can encompass everything from at-home assistance to assisted living facilities.

People of all ages and backgrounds are likely to need health or social care at some stage in their lives, and this means that there are millions of potential stakeholders out there.

As a project planner in this industry, how can you ensure that you meet their needs in an effective way?

Secure your funding

It goes without saying, but the first thing to do if you’re planning a project such as a new site opening, or a redesign of an existing facility is to think about money. In recent years, health & social care organisations have seen a funding squeeze – and it’s not looking likely to get better.

As a result, planning ahead is key. In some cases, your funding may come from government sources. If you are planning private funding, perhaps through customer payments or the liquidation of customer assets, it pays to keep on top of changes in the law – such as the recently proposed ‘dementia tax’ – which could affect your business.

Financial modelling software could also be your friend here. By inputting information about your resident numbers, your income in recent years and more into a system, you can extract insights that indicate what could happen to your business in the meantime if significant regulatory or other changes were to occur.

Speak to your stakeholders

But there’s more than just the financial aspect to consider here. In a sensitive area like health & social care, it’s often the case that stakeholders with deep or emotional connections to the services you provide are likely to be affected by any significant project work.

It’s important to communicate what the project will entail to your residents, service users or other stakeholders, and how it will benefit the community in the long run. That way, they won’t be left feeling disengaged or as though you haven’t given them the help that they need.

Ensure you’re well-staffed

At the more junior end of the spectrum, there’s often a high turnover of health and social care staff – meaning that it can be difficult to keep people engaged, and that staff could leave between now and your project’s completion.

If you’re planning a project that is staff-intensive, it could well be worth investing in your team and their longevity through performance-related incentives, planned pay increases and more.

A smart data system, which can help you to identify the triggers of staff turnover, meanwhile, could be useful here in order to plan your staffing contingent better for the long term.

If you’ve got a big plan in the pipeline for your health & social care organisation, you've got a lot to be thinking about. From how to communicate the issue to stakeholders to ensuring that your funding streams are in place, there’s plenty to keep you occupied.

Improve user engagement during the project lifecycle

Once you've launched your project, it is important to ensure all stakeholders involved are engaged throughout the lifecycle of the project. This will support the success of the project.

The key things to consider are to engage your staff and keep an open communication with them. It is important to communicate the reasons for the change and the positives, whether it is for a small scale change or a bigger change like the implementation of a new system.

Creating a steering team which involves staff from different roles, job seniority and departments is a crucial step as well. This will ensure you consider different perspectives from various people involved in the project and who, for example will be using the new system. You would want to have input from staff such as carers, finance, IT, administration etc.