When developing/reviewing a document, thorough consultation is a fundamental requirement before it can be considered for publication on the Policy Hub. Consultation ensures all relevant colleagues and stakeholders have had the opportunity to review the content and if necessary, submit comments to the author for their consideration.
Consultation Steps
Section 2: Scope
When completing Section 2 of your document, please consider who you need to include. This has a direct impact on who should be consulted on the content. If a colleague or service is mentioned in Section 2, then that person or a representative of that group must be consulted with; this may include the Care Organisations, Diagnostics & Pharmacy, and Corporate services. The document control team will be seeking this correlation when checking the document prior to publication on the Policy Hub.
Section 10: Document Control Information
In Section 10 (see below), please insert all colleagues/groups that have been consulted, even if they have not responded. It is recommended to include the method you used to consult with colleagues/groups underneath their names, e.g., email correspondence, meetings, Trust-wide communication channels such as Inform etc.
Things to remember
- Not all colleagues will respond to/acknowledge your consultation communication, however if you feel it is important to gain their feedback, you may wish to consider verbal communication (if originally sent by email), or escalation to a senior team member to request your document is reviewed.
- Set a clear and realistic deadline for comments to be returned by - 3 to 4 weeks is generous. This avoids delays in completing your document - highlight in your communication any comments beyond this date will not be taken into consideration.
- Please contact the document control team at any point for support at document.control@nca.nhs.uk