Service Delivery Plan
Design The Services That Meet The Needs
Prioritize the Needs
Using the analysis of the information collected in your
community needs assessment, prioritize your community's
needs.
Some criteria you may want to use in establishing the priority
of the needs you have identified are:
- the number of people experiencing the need and affected by
it (e.g. this would not only include the person who needs the
care but also how it affects the family members);
- the acuteness of the need (e.g. a need for in-home nursing
care following surgery; the need to stabilize a person's
diabetes);
- access to alternate programs and services for meeting the
needs (e.g. is there an outreach support system or service
that is accessible that could adequately meet the need
instead of developing a service in the community); and
- the reasonable expectation that individuals with disabilities
or chronic illnesses can live in their home community.
Conduct Research into Services that Other
Communities Provide
Gather information about the kinds of home and community
care services that are provided elsewhere. Some sources of
such information are:
- other First Nations communities and Inuit settlements. A
description of existing Home and Community Care Programs
across the country is available in the Planning Resource Kit
under the tab "Supporting Documents".
- your local or regional health board - this will give you
information about the services that the provincial/territorial
and municipal/regional governments fund in your area.
You will also be able to get information by talking to people on
the phone and reviewing printed information in reports,
brochures and pamphlets. In some cases, it may also be
appropriate to actually visit a community where they are
providing services that sound particularly interesting to you.
The main purpose of the information you gather is not simply to
copy another community's ideas but to stimulate new ideas
and options that will work in your community. Discuss the
information within your planning team and with your
management structure as a whole.
The First Nations and Inuit Home Care Framework and the
Home and Community Care Program Criteria document identify
a number of essential elements and services required in the
foundation of an effective Home and Community Care Program.
These services must be in place prior to expanding the
continuum of care to other community services. The essential
services are:
- Program Management and Supervision
- Managed Care: Case Management
and Referrals and Linkages
- Client Assessment
- Home Care Nursing
- Home Support Services: Personal
Care and Home Management
- In-Home Respite Services
- Medical Supplies and Equipment
- Information and Data Collection
Strategies for small
communities:
- share the services with
other communities
- purchase the services from a
provincial/territorial,
regional/municipal or private
agency
- "pool" together to form your
own agency
- have the services delivered
through a (First Nations) Tribal
Council or Regional (Inuit)
Association
It is important to keep in mind that
even though you may not be able to
implement all the services at once,
they should be included in your plan.
Also the way in which the services are
delivered is to be determined by your
management structure on the basis of
your identified needs.
Telehealth is an example of an emerging field that has the
potential to benefit the home and community care provider and
the client. The Planning Resource Kit contains a document on "Telehealth for Home and Community Care in First Nations and
Inuit Communities" which describes how telehealth could be
used to enhance home and community care in remote and rural
communities. The document also describes the basic steps
involved in setting up a telehealth system related to home care
by taking you through a step by step assessment process.
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