​The Green Paper, ‘Caring for each other, caring for ourselves’, was produced in May 2011. Following public consultation, eight service areas were selected for early service development in 2012 – 2015. Sustaining Acute Services was identified as being ‘business as usual’, and was removed from the OBC list. Therefore, seven OBCs have been produced.  

Once approved, each OBC will be progressed to full business case (FBC) – this is anticipated to be by Autumn 2012. The FBC will provide detail on the service change, including detailed timescales and action plans for implementation. Service implementation commences once the FBC has been approved and funding secured from the Medium Term Financial Plan, which is due to be agreed in late Autumn 2012.

This Outline Business Case presents the elements of service change that must be considered in order for plans to be robust, stakeholders to be fully engaged, and risks to be managed effectively.

The case for change for improving access to psychological therapies is presented, building from the case for change in the Green Paper. The linkage with the Health and Social Services Department's strategic principles and with the relevant services’ strategies is clearly identified. The outcome of the Green Paper consultation, and in particular the views of stakeholders received during the consultation period, have been presented, where applicable, in recognition of the importance of these views.

The OBC then outlines the proposed service change, and the elements thereof, for example, the impact on workforce, on costs and on service delivery / quality.

Indicative costs and benefits are outlined. Some rounding adjustments have been made. All costs are presented at prices relevant to the each year, to ensure that the full cost of the proposals is understood. Costs and benefits which are quantitative and qualitative, short and long term, and relevant to patients, service users, carers, families, clinicians and the public have been considered.  

Implementation considerations are then presented, including stakeholder engagement and communication, key risks and issues for both the implementation period and for the full service delivery.