Under the Health (Amendment) (No. 3) Act, 1996, health boards are required within 42 days of receipt of their allocation to adopt and submit an annual service plan to my Department outlining the planned activity which they will deliver for the funding received. This legislation was put in place to improve accountability in the health services and the resultant service planning framework has led to significant benefits in the management of health service delivery.
The introduction of the service planning framework has provided an opportunity not just to improve financial accountability in the narrow sense, but to enhance the way in which the health services are planned in terms of addressing changing needs and ensuring that the best possible quality of care is provided for the resources available. This has brought an enhanced framework and discipline to the management of the health services. Service plans offer a context for ensuring that policy is being implemented as required, as well as assisting in the consideration of policy and service developments. The need to clearly plan upfront activity for each year and have the plan approved by health boards means that there is a better understanding and joint ownership of the strategic management process throughout the health board system.
An important feature of the service planning process is the ability to enable us to assess how we are progressing towards our goals. Formal review meetings take place at senior level over the course of the year to review the delivery of service plan objectives. By its nature, service planning is an evolving and developmental process that is subject to continuous refinement and improvement. Last year saw a set of performance indicators conjointly agreed between the health boards and the Department being put in place to enable better performance and accountability in the delivery of health board service plans. This is to enable both the Department and the boards reach a better shared understanding of the position in monitoring and evaluating the attainment of service plan objectives by the health boards.