6.7 It is good practice to include a wide range of interested parties when drawing up the output specifications. This should include representatives of the staff who depend on, or who are users of, the particular service. They will therefore be drawn from clinical and non-clinical staff, managers and those with a technical background or who are directly responsible for providing the service now. Care should be taken not to re-specify what currently exists but to consider what may be required or be of benefit in the future. It is easier to do this by thinking in terms of outputs and outcomes. However, setting out the existing service specifications may provide a useful starting point although these should be subject to a critical analysis, for example to establish what is done, how and by whom.
6.8 Depending on the size and scope of the scheme, the NHSScotland body may also need external advisers who have previous experience in drawing up output specifications for other projects - particularly if the specifications involve providing a new facility from which the NHSScotland body will be delivering clinical services.
6.9 Output specifications are wholly different from input based specifications and the project team and its advisers will have to encourage everyone involved to think in terms of outputs rather than inputs. They will also have to co-ordinate the preparation of the specifications so that they are consistent across the services. A key area of importance is to specify the interfaces between services included and excluded from the PPP deal.
6.10 NHS bodies should not underestimate the amount of work and the time involved in drawing up comprehensive output specifications for a project. The project team should manage their development and should also ensure that nominated stakeholders within the NHSScotland body are responsible for and have ownership of given output specifications.
6.11 NHS bodies should consider how best to interpret clinicians' requirements in a way that can be understood and acted upon by participants and their design teams.