2.1 Primary Care Trusts selected to develop a LIFT scheme are required to produce a Strategic Service Development Plan. The plan is a 5-10 year strategy for the area and its population - it identifies the service requirements and related facilities to be addressed. The plan is based to some extent on existing information and in the longer term is intended to provide a single and ready strategic planning tool for primary care. The Department now encourages all Primary Care Trusts to produce this document. We found that Strategic Service Delivery Plans are also now being used effectively in non LIFT areas.
2.2 Analysis of the initial Strategic Service Development Plans from our six case study LIFT areas found that they largely covered the Department's requirements although there were some gaps around the organisational set-up of the LIFTCo - descriptions of the structural framework of the LIFT were brief, perhaps understandably given the infancy of the joint ventures. We compared the model to the Office of Government Commerce "Successful Delivery Toolkit" which describes best practice for production of a robust strategy - it was broadly consistent in terms of purpose and suggested content.
2.3 Our survey of project directors indicated that Primary Care Trusts found the process of producing their plans complex and time consuming. This was understandable given the volume of work for individuals involved in setting up LIFT. Strategic Partnering Boards who are responsible for updating the plans following closure on the first tranche of schemes, now intend to work on improving the quality of the documents and to ensure they are updated annually.