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Care planning is important in the provision of good‐quality care and serves a variety of functions, including acting as a communication tool. An accessible format for care plans is therefore important. The National Minimum Care Standards in England now require that all residents in care homes have a service user plan. This study examined the format and content of 117 blank care plan documents used in Manchester and Cheshire care homes in 2001/02. Sixty‐eight per cent of homes used a problem‐orientated care plan document, 25% used a problem‐orientated care plan with assessment domains defined, 15% used standard care plans and five per cent used daily care plans. Although the government has stressed the importance of involving the user in the care planning process, only 16% of homes had a care plan that specifically asked for a resident's signature or agreement. There were also differences in content of care plans by home type, which may reflect the professional background and training of staff in nursing homes. The variety in types and format of care plans suggests that the interpretation and recording of care planning may not be uniform across homes and there is a need for further detailed work in this area using interviews or observational approaches.

Increasingly mental health services are attempting to become recovery focused which demands changing the nature of day-to-day interactions and the quality of the experience in services. Care planning is the daily work of mental health services and within this context, care planning that enhances both the experience and the outcomes of a person's recovery is a key element for effective services. However, care plans, the care planning process and the Care Programme Approach (CPA) continue to pose a challenge for services. The purpose of this paper is to discuss these issues.

Conceptual paper.

Within recovery focused services a care plan becomes the driving force, or action plan, behind a person's recovery journey and is focused on their individual needs, strengths, aspirations and personal goals. If involving people directly in the development of their care plan is critical to creating better outcomes then supporting self-management, shared decision making and coproduction all underpin the care planning process. Based on the evidence of people's experience of care plans and the care planning process it is time to seriously debate our current conceptualisation and approach to care planning and the future of the CPA.

The paper describes aspects of the current situation with regard to the effectiveness of care planning in supporting a person's recovery. The paper raises some important questions.

There has been much research focusing on contracting and its effect on individual voluntary sector organisation, and some mapping of the extent of voluntary sector participation in joint community care planning. Each of these is a new and formal relationship with the statutory sector, and in many cases the tasks are fulfilled by the same voluntary sector worker (usually the senior paid officer of the agency). But the impact that these two new relationships have on the voluntary organisation’s perception of its dependence and inter‐dependence has received less attention. The paper will draw on structured interviews in three local authorities, with voluntary sector participants in contracts for social care, and with participants in joint community care planning groups, as well as on documentary research. It will explore the impact of the evolving roles for those seeking to operate effectively in the pluralist provision of public services. It will analyse experiences within joint community care planning structures, and will analyse experiences of contractual relationships. The paper will seek to identify the elements present in each research site which influence the culture of joint working within the two statutory/ voluntary relationships.

Quality of family planning services is now considered as a global concern and importance. The purpose of the present study is to assess quality of family planning services in the urban health centers of Shahid Beheshti Medical Science University.

This was a descriptive study to assess structure, process and outcome of the family planning care services. A total of 15 health centers of Shahid Beheshti Medical Science University were randomized and the quality of provided care by 65 family planning care providers of these health centers were observed and assessed using checklists. A total of 75 family planning clients were interviewed to assess their knowledge about their selected family planning method all of whom completed the related forms of satisfaction with the services. The tools for data collection were two observational checklists, and two questionnaires with subsequent data analyzed using SPSS 11.5. In total 75 clients with an average age 24 (7±4) (mean±SD) participated in the study. The provision of family planning services by 65 providers was assessed by observation at three intervals. Of the providers, 60 (92.3 per cent) were midwives.

Mean satisfaction score of clients was 83.3±9.05 percent meaning clients were highly satisfied with the services. Mean knowledge score of clients about their family planning method of use was 59.1±18 percent, which shows their moderate knowledge about their method of use.

A more advanced tool to assess quality of care of family planning services with more focus on special care for the contraceptives was developed. Quality of care in family planning services of Shahid Beheshti Medical Science University health centers showed adequate facilities and equipment and to have trained personnel however their client's knowledge about the selected method was moderate. Therefore, interventional programs are needed to improve counseling and the educational process of clients, which should be considered in future research and planning of the programs.

The purpose of this paper is to provide, first, an explication of the interconnectivity of logistics as an element of health care disaster posturing and second, to use a context of strategic‐level planning, for supply chain management's inclusion in health care emergency management planning.

Using a review of existent literature, this work examines and expounds upon the impact of effective supply chain management processes in disaster mitigation and planning.

This paper presents a discourse in health care supply chain management's involvement in disaster mitigation by clarifying the role of logistics in strategic‐level planning.

Optimally, for a health care organization to be truly prepared for disaster, leaders must first have a sound logistics platform from whence support and sustainment are received. For an organization to be truly prepared logistically, however, there must exist a basic understanding of principles related to emergency management and health care operations.

Arguably, a critical path to success in health care supply chain readiness posturing involves evidence‐based, critically applied insight into disaster mitigation and preparations across multiple echelons of managerial responsibilities.

A key recurring problem is that little research is available or related specifically to health care logistics management. Few works can be found concerning health care supply chain management's involvement in disaster posturing. In an applied sense, the paper provides health care managers with concepts related to effective crisis mitigation.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how three communication interventions commonly used during discharge planning and care transitions enable inter-professional knowledge sharing and learning as a foundation for more integrated working. These interventions include information communication systems, dedicated discharge planning roles and group-based planning activities.

A two-year ethnographic study was carried out across two regional health and care systems in the English National Health Service, focussing on the discharge of stroke and hip fracture patients. Data collection involved in-depth observations and 213 semi-structured interviews.

Information systems (e.g. e-records) represent a relatively stable conduit for routine and standardised forms of syntactic information exchange that can “bridge” time–space knowledge boundaries. Specialist discharge roles (e.g. discharge coordinators) support personalised and dynamic forms of “semantic” knowledge sharing that can “broker” epistemic and cultural boundaries. Group-based activities (e.g. team meetings) provide a basis for more direct “pragmatic” knowledge translation that can support inter-professional “bonding” at the cultural and organisational level, but where inclusion factors complicate exchange.

The study offers analysis of how professional boundaries complicate discharge planning and care transition, and the potential for different communication interventions to support knowledge sharing and learning.

The paper builds upon existing research on inter-professional collaboration and patient safety by focussing on the problems of communication and coordination in the context of discharge planning and care transitions. It suggests that care systems should look to develop multiple complementary approaches to inter-professional communication that offer opportunities for dynamic knowledge sharing and learning.

Although strategic planning promised to boost organizational performance, many health care managers found it difficult to implement it successfully. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the success of strategic planning in health care organizations of Iran.

This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted in 2016 using a valid and reliable questionnaire completed by 99 health care managers in Tehran province, Iran.

Strategic planning was positively related to organizational performance including employees’ and patients’ satisfaction and organizational productivity. However, strategic planning was moderately successful in enhancing organizational performance of Iranian health care organizations (score of 2.84 out of 5). The most and least success was observed in the planning and employee management constructs of organizational performance. Process management, organizational culture and customer management constructs had the most effect on the success of strategic plans in health care organizations.

Strategic planning is effective and provides a clear focused direction for health care organizations. Understanding the success factors of strategic planning would enable managers to develop more effective methods for developing, implementing and evaluating strategic plans in health care organizations.

This paper highlights the relationship between strategic planning and organizational performance and offers suggestions on how to develop and implement strategic plans to achieve higher organizational performance.

Evaluates care plans documented in two different ways, using controlled and randomised studies of consecutive acutely admitted medical patients. Within 24 hours after admission, a care plan was made for the hospital stay, specifying active problems, a plan of action and a time‐schedule. In study 1, patients had care plans written directly into their medical records during the intervention period, while the normal admittance procedure was followed in the control period. In study 2, all patients had a care plan made on a planning form and in the medical record. Patients were randomised either to have the form stay in the medical record or to have it removed. Study 1 results showed that care plans were associated with earlier recognition of patients’ active problems, whereas the tendency to initiate solutions to active problems earlier was insignificant. Length of stay (LOS) and risk of readmission remained unchanged. In study 2, planning forms were associated with a 1.5‐day lower LOS and higher accuracy of planned LOS. Risk of readmission and accomplishment of plans of action were unaltered.

Employee turnover is a growing challenge for health-care providers delivering patient care today. US population demographics are shifting as the population ages, which leaves the field of health care poised to lose key leaders and employees to retirement at a time when patient care has grown more complex. This means health care will lose its core of key employees at a time when skilled leadership and specialized knowledge is most needed and directly impacts health care's ability to deliver quality care. Operational succession planning (OSP) may be one solution to manage this looming challenge in health care, as the process identifies and develops the next generation of leadership. Thus, this exploratory national study used a quantitative and cross-sectional design to examine the relationship between OSP and employee turnover. Demographic and 10-point Likert scale data were collected from n = 66 medical practices, using an online survey instrument. Data were analyzed using various descriptive and inferential statistical methods. Distribution (frequency and chi-square) analyses of the study sample, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and regression analyses were performed across seven demographic characteristics of the medical practices: Specialty, Ownership Structure, Number of full-time equivalent (FTE) Physicians, Number of FTE Clinical Employees, Number of FTE Nonclinical Employees, Number of FTE Employees Left Position, and Region. Study results provided statistically significant evidence to support the relationship between OSP and employee turnover, highlighting that OSP was associated with lower employee turnover. The finding suggests that OSP can serve as an effective mechanism for increasing employee retention.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and review the leadership challenges in workforce planning, paying special reference to adult social care primarily in England (UK) whilst raising leadership issues that have international resonance.

This is a viewpoint which presents a distillation of key issues, challenges and relevant literature spanning workforce planning, human resources and social care.

The paper finds that growing demands on services, rising expectations for personalised care and support, together with the provision of safe and effective joined up care are some of the key drivers facing social care and wider public services. Leaders need to ensure a robust data and evidence base, sound interpretation of intelligence as well as building integrated approaches to workforce planning both within and between services.

Workforce leadership provides the bedrock to ensuring social care builds the workforce required for the future. As services undergo redesign and transformation the workforce planning task is more important now than ever and is a key responsibility for every organisation's leadership, including chief executives, commissioners and workforce specialists.

Workforce planning in social care is afforded relatively little attention and the analysis presented in this paper provides the stimulus for debate.