Getting it right first time

Recently one of the parishes in the Cosford Division that I represent failed to receive funding for a project.   The funding guidelines were not read closely enough and as a result the application did not represent the nature of the project in the best way.  This was disappointing, but all is not lost; I understand there is still some funding in the pot and we can resubmit the form.  However, the omission has so far cost several phone calls, quite a lot of repeated fact finding and writing up, and the need for an additional meeting in the village to revisit the application.  Much of this could have been avoided if I had got things right the first time around.

Getting things right the first time is a theme that you hear quite a lot about these days.  It has long been an important tenet in the commercial world, but increasingly it is becoming a mantra in government as well.

It is the basis of the thinking behind a number of the transformation programmes that are being launched by the county council in an attempt to redesign services and deliver better services for less.  There are two aspects to the idea, the first being to designate just one lead person to a problem.   The aim of this is to avoid duplication of effort and also minimise ‘hand offs’ where the problem is transferred from one agency to another and gets lost in translation.  The basis of this is good partnership working from the start, when one partner, such as the police or social services, is assured that others involved can be trusted.  

The second important thing is to make sure that any intervention is considered, effective and appropriate so that whatever is done works first time.  Having to revisit situations where a mistake has been made is very time consuming and expensive.

A good example is the appropriately named ‘Making Every Intervention Count’ programme which aims to transform Children’s Services.  The project it is hoped will provide a better front line service, by avoiding the waste and inefficiency of multiple visits to families by different agencies such as probation and social services.  Valuable resources should be saved too.

Of course this is not a new idea, but is, I suppose is just a new take on the old saw that a stitch in time saves nine!