In september 2008 Gloucestershire Supporting People Team asked Foundations whether we could project manage the restructuring of HIA services across the country. The different types of services and the varying levels of quality meant that the people of Gloucestershire experienced a different type of service depending on which local authority area they resided in. Foundations had worked with Gloucestershire for many years and provided the skills and experience required to undertake this challenging project.
Work began shortly after on a project that was initially scoped to last for 18 months, though due to the change in commissioning climate over the period the project actually lasted for roughly two years. The input from Foundations over the period was substantial and covered many of the following:
There were many hurdles to overcome along the way, the most substantial being gaining the buy-in of district and community health commissioners and feeding in the experience of existing providers. To do this, two project groups were set up, one of key commissioners and one for existing providers. The commissioning group was chaired by Foundations and was a vehicle for answering the concerns of the commissioners and planning the next stage in the process. The provider group fed in the views of the existing HIA providers to ensure that the specification for a new countrywide agency reflected the reality from the perspective of the HIAs.
This contract has recently been successfully tendered and Gloucestershire now have a new, more robust countrywide HIA.
Martin Cooper, Supporting People Manager and Gloucestershire Supporting people said:
"We were pleased with the contribution of Foundations in brokering the agreement to the new vision."
