Integrating services is essential, to make sure that clients transfers from one service to another as seamlessly as possible. To be effective, every single person working along that pathway of delivery needs absolute clarity about the role they play. When we don’t have clarity, we have inefficiency, clients are missed and staff feel disempowered.
A phrase the Welsh Government used a few years ago was ‘only do what only you can do’: an excellent principle by which we can ensure clarity for staff and clients.
We need to ensure that people are given the work that only they can do and work isn’t directed to the person nearest at hand. If work is redirected because of performance issues, they should be picked up through capability procedures. No work should be diverted because it’s the easy thing to do.
We should always strive for performance excellence because it drives up efficiency and team wide expertise. Integrated care to the client needs clarity of role for the professional. In a culture of performance management, we can ensure our people are proficient and clear in doing what only they can do and clients are supported by efficient and seamless services that value excellence and prioritise care, first and foremost.