Implementing Telecare
Plan the expansion project

If senior management believes the initial implementation of Telecare has been successful, they are likely to decide to expand the service to other groups or geographical areas. While this can use valuable lessons from the initial project, it will also raise new issues which need to be managed if the expansion is to work.

A new project

It is worth thinking of this step almost as a new project. Take the opportunity to revisit the activities of Chapter 1 and Chapter 2. It is as important now as then to ensure strategic leadership and governance of the expanded project, to develop and communicate a vision of the expected outcomes, and to write (or amend) a new project reference document. The project steering group may need to identify a new project lead, and will certainly need to strengthen or expand the project team to reflect the different challenges of the expansion, and the different stakeholders.

The project lead should use the activities in Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 to organise their approach to the planning for expansion. This will help them to ensure ongoing appropriate support from senior managers, by presenting a persuasive business case and ensuring they realise the strategic implications for the organisation of the proposed expansion.

Items in the plan

As the project lead develops the new project plan, they should set out as fully as possible the anticipated tasks, who is responsible for them, and a time-scale leading up to completion. As well as any lessons from the early implementation which will help the process, the project team (potentially a revised one) is likely to have to (re)consider the:

  • Strategic leadership of the project, including steering groups;
  • Strategy development – how they relate to other activities and agencies;
  • Clarifying responsibilities – who does what;
  • Training programmes – skills and experience required for new ways of working;
  • Communicating to raise awareness;
  • Resources and their availability;
  • Designing new operating processes and procedures;
  • Procurement and maintenance;
  • Monitoring and evaluation.

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