Section I. 1Annex 1b

Organisation within WP4

The WP is lead by The Danish Society for Patient Safety (DSPS). The work package has 25 APs involved. Four APs have been appointed task leaders (TL).

All partners have been asked to share information on their organisation and the co-workers involved in the WP4 work on a so called business card. When complete, this information will be shared among the WP.

Task groups

The work has been divided into 6 task groups. The four task leaders and themes are:

1. 
   DSPS (Denmark): Review and establishing a glossary and conceptual framework
   
2. 
   IfPS (Germany): Data collection: identifying and describing safe clinical practices and MS needs
   
3. 
   HOPE (European Hospital and Healthcare Federation): Defining concepts for exchange mechanisms and developing implementation support tools
   
4. 
   PMU (Austria): Sharing SCP through an interactive web tool
   
5. 
   DSPS (Denmark): Feasibility analysis and action plan for the remaining project period
   
6. 
   HOPE (European Hospital and Healthcare Federation): Implementation: sharing of SCP through exchange mechanisms.
   

All partners have been asked to rate their preference for participation in the four task groups from 1 to 4. On this basis the WP Leader will propose task groups, which will be validated by the partners. This is to ensure that preferences, needs, motivation and qualifications of the partners are brought into play right from the start of the JA. The detailed production schedule will be agreed upon at the JA Kick-off meeting in Copenhagen.

To ensure swift work and efficient utilisation of resources each partner will actively be involved in two tasks. Some partners have very little budget in WP4, thus they will mostly be partners, who review and comment on the work in progress, or provide input on very specific issues. Other partners have a large budget and will actively work on the content of the WP.

Roles and responsibilities

The WP Leader will act as the contact to the Coordinator of the JA in procedural and administrative matters. The WP Leader will be responsible for coordinating activities within the WP and will assist the task leaders in their work. The WP Leader will also coordinate the work with other WP Leaders and work in close cooperation and permanent contact with the TLs of the work package. If problems arise, the WP Leader has responsibility for rectifying the situation.

All TLs assist the WP Leader in ensuring that the WP objectives are met. TLs’ responsibilities cover the coordination of the task, including the organisation of task teleconferences as required, reporting work in progress to the WP Leader, preparation of the draft deliverables, and reporting major changes from the work plan. TLs are responsible for ensuring that the technical objectives of the corresponding task are met. Further the TL must ensure input from all WP-partners is gathered as well as handle internal communication and hearing of issues related to the specific task.

Partners will provide (human) resources to perform the tasks, and contribute actively and constructively to the task solving and the general work in the work package. The partners will perform the work as detailed following the schedule in the work plan, and updates to this schedule, as required throughout the JA. Any changes in personnel working in the WP will be communicated to the WP Leader before its formalisation or shortly after to ensure continuity of work and flow of information.

Coordination and communication

The partners will meet face to face at the coordination meetings during the project. The respective host partners of the meetings will be defined at a later stage. The purpose of the meetings is to present and coordinate the work, and to go into in-depth discussion on WP-issues. It is also a suitable forum for decision making and approval of work, as all partners will be present. The agenda for the meeting will be put together by the WP Leader in cooperation with the host and the TLs. The host partner is responsible for local arrangements regarding meeting venue, technical support, and information to all partners on location etc. This is done in cooperation with the WP Leader. Partners must arrange their travel and accommodation for these meetings themselves according to the JA standard operating procedures.

Generally the WP Leader will inform all WP partners by mail about internal WP issues. The WP Leader will also ensure that all relevant information from the wider JA bodies to be fed back to WP4 partners. For this purpose a general WP-mail list will be established. This general mail list contains mail addresses of all co-workers from all partners, as specified by the partners themselves. The partners are responsible for feeding back any information on changes in contacts.

Each partner must appoint one main contact person, to be responsible to the WP Leader to facilitate spread of information and communication in their own organisation/country, and importantly to account for feed back to the WP Leader in communicating and approving work achieved, including partners progress reporting etc.

To ensure coordination of work and communication between the TLs teleconferences will be established of a frequency and length agreed among the TLs (estimated every 4-6 weeks). Each TL will keep the WP Leader informed about the progress of work; milestones reached, possible obstacles etc., and will notify the WP Leader of any circumstances, which may affect the delivery schedule. The WP Leader is responsible for the agenda and the minutes from these teleconferences. These documents will be shared among all WP partners.

To ensure coordination of work and communication within task groups mail correspondence will be mainly used. However the TL can convene teleconferences to coordinate communication among the task groups. Whenever the task group has reached the vital task milestones all partners of the WP will be informed and have the opportunity to give feed back on the work. For this purpose the general mailing list is used.

It is important at all stages to ensure a high level of communication among partners in the WP.

Decision making and approval of work

The final WP4 work plan will be developed by the WP Leader and validated by the AP after the Kick-off meeting of the JA. If later modifications are required, a request for modification will be presented to all partners and approved. The WP work plan will be coordinated with the final project work plan and the SOP developed by WP1. The general approval process for project deliverables will be outlined in the SOP, and if necessary further described in the WP4 work plan.

In general, decision making in the WP will rest upon input from all partners and consensus will be striven for. It is the task of the WP Leader to ensure consensus or facilitate negotiation and reach compromises in the WP. For the approval of the specified task milestones, the task group must reach consensus. The TL is responsible for the approval of milestones in the task group and among TLs. In case of problems in reaching consensus in approving tasks, milestones or deliverables the WP Leader will consult the Coordinator or a body in the governance structure and find a solution.

For the final approval of the WP deliverable each partner must feed back through their appointed main contact. When the WP Leader has received all comments from the partners and revised the deliverable accordingly it will be circulated among partners again for validation. When validated, the deliverables will be processed by the WP Leader to the JA project organisation for approval according to the SOP.