Drive For Change Website

Case Study

Cheshire and Wirral Mental Health Care Trust

Prior to this project, the Trust had received capital investment for a new facility for mental health services. Central to the development was securing the full involvement of users, employees and unions to develop the right kind of service for clients.

Clear understanding of the need to change

One of the central lessons from the Care Trust was the importance of a shared understanding of the need to change. The development of the new facility provided the opportunity for managers, employees and service users to drive forward real improvements in service delivery.

Agreed principles

It was important that the key partners agreed the principles underpinning how the project will progress. This provided an agreed reference point for the partners at every stage of the project and could be referred to if any problems arose.

The project team used the TUC's Six Principles of Partnership which are featured in the staff handbook and underpin employee relations. Marion Needham of the management team stated that the principles are explained to all managers, and managers and representatives are challenged if they don't work to the principles.

• TUC principles

Robust evaluation process

The Care Trust had a clear evaluation process in place. Many public sector bodies have sophisticated systems for measuring and evaluating service performance. If there isn't a system already in place which is appropriate for your project, you may need to create a process for assessing and evaluating progress.

The evaluation process to measure the impact on the service must be factored into the action plan. This should involve service users.

• Guidance on evaluation

As each stage in the action plan is successfully completed, this should be acknowledged and celebrated.