3 March 20101 pulsetoday.co.
uk
Pulsein Practice
NEW SERIES
BASICBUSINESSSKILLS
Ten li|is
on how lo
write a
successful
business
pian
In the first of an occasional series on basic business skills for GPs,
healthcare consultant and GP Dr Junaid Bajwa offers his advice
on writing a convincing case for a new service
Whether bidding for a new service,
demonstrating the efficiency of your
service to a PCT or planning a more
businesslike direction for your practice,
writing a good business plan is becoming
an essential skill for GPs. At first, this
process can be daunting, but all it requires
is a bit of disciplined thinking to give it
creditability.
Eugene Kleiner, the famous venture
capitalist, said 'an idea may sound great,
but when you put dovwi all the details and
numbers, it may fall apart'. This article
will go through the key information you
should include in a business plan and
gives some advice about presenting it,
to make a convincing business case to
a commissioner.
1
Define your target patient group
Business analysts often remark that 'the
key to success is satisfied customers,
not a great product'. Although a simple
premise, it is important not to lose sight
that our patients are our customers.
The point of the business idea is usually
about how best to improve patient care.
When considering the idea, identify the
group your business will be targeted to.
Will your model target a specific health
need or deliver a service for cheaper than
the existing service provider (such as the
hospital's tariff charge)?
2 Be ciear, concise and distinctive
A successful business plan should be
well structured, consistent and
accurate. It should be easy to read, avoiding
jargon if possible.
Most importantiy, it should be
memorable. Don't forget most of these
documents are read by non-clinicians who
are used to seeing these in a structured
format. If you miss the point it will be the
equivalent of a history for acute cardiac
chest pain where a page is spent on social
^ ^ searchmedica.co.uk Sfes msaiss! Ess
history when all you need to do is get them
into a specialist unit as an emergency.
Inciude an executive summary
If an idea can't be explained in
a sentence, then it isn't a good one.
The executive summary should be a one-
or two-page teaser ofyour 'product' or
service, outiiningyour proposal.
Include a simple explanation of what the
proposal is and why it has arisen; what
makes your idea unique. What are your
unique selling points? Are there national
policy drivers, such as polysystems?
A Source information on current services
/ I Outiine the current services available
I to patients, including any relevant
data which may support this. Information
may be sourced from primary care
organisations (published online), the NHS
Information Centre, Health Observatories
or similar bodies. Does your proposal
address a long-standing capacity problem
in the area?
Outiine your proposed service
Go into some detail on the potential
impact of the service on patients, local
health economy, other services, other
professionals, and if possible health
outcomes.
Include forecasts or estimates of the
likely levels of activity under the proposed
new scheme. As far as possible, it is
important to avoid any anecdotal evidence
It is important to avoid
anecdotal evidence or
assumptive data, which
may lead to criticism
Expert advice on practice
finance, management,
systems and services
or assumptive data, which could lead to
criticism from the reader.
As a summary of the new service, it can
be helpful to include a description of the
'patient journey'. Pictures tell a thousand
words here, so break up the text with some
pictures or diagrams - for example, what
the patient journey currentiy is and how
you are looking to change it.
/ Detaii Í10W tiie service can be evaluated
The plan should include some key
performance indicators - both
internal and external - that can be
employed to evaluate your service.
If you don't have access to anything at all
consider auditing your service. Usually
prehminary data collection will be
illuminating enough to consider funding.
'~~7 Inciude details of your team
/ The people who will ensure the
/ success of your business proposal
should also be included in your plan.
Include the GVs of your team leaders.
Remember to include details of practice
managers, nurses or administrative staff,
so you appear as a committed team able to
make the project work.
Include an organisational structure
demonstrating how the management
responsibilities will be shared and how that
particular team can achieve the business
goal. It should also show any plans to
reinforce the team in the future - such as
taking on a human resources lead - and
any strategic partnerships - for example,
with voluntary groups.
Prepare a marketing pian
Ciood business plans will detail the
specific plans to promote the service,
and which external partners vwll be
engaged to deliver this element of the
business - such as your practice-based
commissioning cluster or GP neighbours.
a
Online extra Common errors in
writing business plans
DrJunaidBajvi/a explains
six common mistal<es that
CPs make when writing
business proposals, and
how to avoid them.
^ pulsetoday. co. uk/inpractice/businessplanerrors
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CPDr Simon Tickle
explains how his practice
has set up services
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k- pulsetoday. co. uk/inpractice/sociallyejicludsd
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Skills seminar
Brush up on yourfinancial skills at our
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^ pulse-sem'mars.com
Outline an implementation schedule
If successful, what will be your lead
time before the service is
implemented? Business plans should
consider both the initial phase and five-year
implementation plan.
The schedules should include key
milestones in setting up the service, vwth
dates. It is useful to include detailed charts
showing activities by month and named
leads for each activity.
This could become a lengthy document,
but try to get it onto one chart with dates
against activities, such as a Gantt chart.
/ ^ Include a financial plan
I J This is perhaps the most daunting
^ \ ^ section for clinicians. It is often
the section where most of the effort in
writing the business plan is focused, but
evaluators often comment that it carries
less weight than the other sections.
Financial planning should encompass
the nextfiveyears (and at least one year
beyond the break-even point). It should
include the best- and worst-case scenarios
for thefive-yearfinancialprojections, and
what mitigating steps are planned in order
to minimise risks. Points to include are:
• Start-up costs: What are the financial
requirements for the business?
• Income: What are the revenue sources?
• Funding: How vwll it be paid for? Will the
scheme save money elsewhere?
• Balance sheet: What are the key
assumptions in the financial proforma
(cost of capital, market share, margin)?
Dr Junaid Bajwa is a CP in Greenwich,
south-east London, and healthcare consultant
at Prospect Health - www.prospecthealth.co.uk
Useful resources
• NHS Information Centre-www.ic.nhs.uk
• Association of Public Health Observatories-www.apho.org.uk
• Government advice on how to write a business plan -
www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/layer?topicld=1073869162
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