Sites were sensibly chosen

1.11 The Department has rolled out 42 LIFT schemes in three waves of six, 12 and 24, with a further nine schemes announced in November 2004. The first six schemes8 launched in February 2001 are all inner city areas, selected by the Department from Health Action Zones on the sensible assumption that these areas have the most urgent need for improvement. Applications from local health economies were invited for areas wishing to get LIFT status within waves two (February 2002) and three (August 2002) and assessed by the Department against a series of weighted criteria. The criteria were developed beyond the need for LIFT in the locality and the current condition of the primary care estate, to encompass ability for efficient delivery, project management arrangements and stakeholder support. Expansion of the criteria for inclusion in waves two and three was reasonable as it increased the chance that schemes could complete their first projects efficiently and to timetable.

1.12 The Department's selection exercise identified that there were deprived areas in need of LIFT, but which were not suitable for selection because they ranked low on ability to deliver. Primary Care Trusts were given detailed feedback from the Department on their weaknesses and were encouraged to consider how they could strengthen their application for later waves. Eight schemes rejected from wave two reapplied and were accepted in wave three9, and the Department encouraged Primary Care Trusts which were still not in LIFT to consider applying for the fourth wave of schemes.

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8 The first wave schemes were East London and the City, Manchester, Salford and Trafford, Newcastle and North Tyneside, Sandwell, Barnsley and Camden and Islington. However, only three of these schemes were amongst the first six to complete and feature as case studies in this report. Some schemes in the second and third waves completed before the other first wave schemes.

9 Doncaster, Gedling, Tees Valley, Leeds, Wolverhampton, Colchester and Tendring, Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow, and Bromley, Bexley and Greenwich.