Operational Plan

[Guest]

I know this has been discussed before at some length. My question, having just done a total overhaul of our policies, is: do you think it's really necessary to have another copy of each policy, risk assessment etc in the Operational Plan if these are already in their own clearly indexed folders? Is it OK just to put 'see policy on---' or whatever? Or is it better to have it all together in one thick folder as well? I'm just getting fed up with the high levels of duplication that seem to interfere with doing the real work of relating to the children and their families!

[HappyMaz]

I think the answer is (or should be) whatever works best for you. If the idea of an Operational Plan is so that should the worst happen someone else could pick it up and understand how the group is run then I don't see anything wrong with having an index which says something like "health and safety policy - see prospectus in top draw of filing cabinet" or whatever. So long as the user is signposted to where the information is kept (and that when they get there the information is where it says it should be) then I would think that is sufficient.

 

Otherwise as you have said, there is a high level of duplication and you'd spend all your time printing or copying!

 

Maz

[Beau]

I would agree with Maz. The drawback to having a separate copy for the operational plan is that every time something is changed or updated, someone needs to remember to take the old one out and replace it and obviously this also means double wastage every time a new bit of paper is needed too. This is not an efficient use of resources or time.

[sunnyday]

Oh yes - cross reference whenever possible!

 

Sunnyday

[Guest]

I agree - such a lot of copies of this and that....drives you bonkers!

[Guest]

Thanks so much - I've really been stressing aout this and you've confiirmed my instincts about what's right for me!