GEN126 Monitor, evaluate and improve inter-agency services for addressing health and wellbeing needs

Overview

This standard covers monitoring, evaluating and leading teams to improve delivering inter-agency services for addressing health and wellbeing needs. It covers evaluating the quality of work with both service users and providers. This standard applies to those who are responsible for improving inter-agency services for addressing health and wellbeing needs. The nature of the standard assumes that the person has management responsibility for the inter-agency services. Users of this standard will need to ensure that practice reflects up to date information and policies. Version No 1

Knowledge and Understanding

You will need to know and understand:

1. the nature, roles and functions of the principal agencies within the health sector
2. the nature, aims, objectives, values, policies and systems of your own agency and how these differ from other agencies with whom you work
3. how your own work and work role interacts with others in related agencies
4. the contribution that your own and other agencies can and do make to promoting health and wellbeing
5. how to develop and sustain effective working relationships with people
6. how to communicate effectively with staff in other agencies to promote understanding, goodwill and co-operation
7. the benefits and costs of multi-agency working
8. how teams and collaborative working evolve over time and the impact of this on relationships and effective working
9. how to evaluate the effectiveness of inter-agency working openly and honestly
10. how to end collaborative working relationships once their purpose has been served
11. the legislation, standards, codes of practice and protocols which relate to the work being undertaken and the context in which it takes place
12. strategies to use in negotiating agreements regarding resources and work allocation for inter-agency services
13. methods of communicating with, motivating and supporting those involved to meet service requirements
14. the purpose of providing information on the inter-relationships between different agencies and roles in inter-agency work
15. ways in which you and others can provide support, development opportunities and information on the work required to staff
16. the range and use of standards, protocols and guidelines that can be used to both support people as they work and also control the activities which they undertake
17. why it is important to give and receive constructive feedback to improve future performance
18. how monitoring and evaluation should be built into the planning of services to enable sufficient and relevant information to be collected
19. the value of different perspectives in evaluation and how they can be encouraged
20. methods of analysing information and feedback to identify quality issues and potential solutions
21. principles of quality assurance, quality assurance strategies and systems and how to adapt and apply them
22. how to present conclusions and recommendations to people so that they are likely to be influenced and change their practice
23. how to influence people beyond your direct line of responsibility

Performance Criteria

You must be able to do the following:

1. work jointly with relevant people to develop implementation methods and plans which take account of:
1. evidence of past practice
2. priorities, objectives and context of the inter-agency services
3. the roles, responsibilities and level of commitment of different agencies and individuals
4. the resources available
5. others' interests, values and contexts
2. discuss and agree with relevant people the plans for implementing the services, including how they will be monitored
3. lead and support people throughout implementation encouraging them to:
1. understand their contribution
2. offer suggestions, ideas and views
3. take an active part in the process
4. lead others in promoting and addressing health and wellbeing needs
5. informally network with others
6. share achievements jointly with colleagues in their own and other agencies
7. challenge tradition, take risks and express dissatisfaction
4. share information with those involved in a way which achieves the best possible balance between:
1. enabling people to gain a better understanding of the roles, responsibilities, values and ways of working of other people and agencies
2. supporting joint working
3. maintaining any necessary confidentiality
5. accept joint responsibility for any arising problems and tensions using these to improve future practice
6. communicate progress to those involved in a manner which emphasises and recognises the achievements made, notes any constraints and encourages people to remain committed
7. recognise achievements in a way that is appropriate to those concerned, the nature of the achievement and the overall context

Additional Information

This National Occupational Standard was developed by Skills for Health. This standard replaced MH86. This standard links with the following dimension within the NHS Knowledge and Skills Framework (October 2004): Dimension: Core 4 Service improvement