Purpose of the tool

This stage involves planning for the long term – embedding your project into routine practice to ensure its benefits endure and expand. The goals of this stage are to: (a) identify factors influencing sustainability; and (b) consider scalability and spread.

How to use the tool

Work through the questions below, then create your own Sustainability Action Plan. When you have completed the questions, you can print or save the tool to guide discussion with your colleagues or mentor.

Need more information?

If you’re unsure where to start or want to learn about this TRIP stage, click below to go to the relevant Learning Hub page.

Learn about Sustainability, Scale, and Spread

1. What impact has your intervention demonstrated to date?Briefly describe the key outcomes of your project, including any measurable improvements (e.g. patient outcomes, service efficiency, safety, staff experience, cost-effectiveness).

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Focus on outcomes that matter to decision-makers (e.g. patient outcomes, safety, efficiency, cost savings).

2. How does your intervention align with organisational priorities or strategic goals?Identify specific strategies, policies, or priorities your project supports, and describe the strength of this alignment.

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Explicitly link your project to existing strategies, policies, or key performance indicators to strengthen the case for continuation.

3. What processes are used to monitor and review outcomes?Describe how outcomes are measured (e.g. audits, dashboards, data systems), and the consistency of measurement (e.g. ad hoc, embedded in routine practice).

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What gets measured gets maintained. Without ongoing data, the project becomes invisible and unlikely to be prioritised. Outcome monitoring supports accountability and continuous improvement.

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Keep measures simple and feasible - sustainability is more likely when data collection fits into routine systems.

4. What workforce capability is required to sustain the intervention?Outline the skills, roles, and capacity required, and identify any gaps or risks (e.g. reliance on key individuals versus shared capability and succession planning).

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Sustainability requires shared capability and training embedded in onboarding. If only a few people know how to deliver the intervention, it becomes vulnerable to staff turnover.

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Reduce reliance on single champions by building capability across the team and embedding training into onboarding.

5. To what extent is the intervention embedded in routine practice?Describe how the intervention is incorporated into workflows, systems, or standard care (e.g., policies, procedures, electronic systems), and whether it continues as a project activity or becomes routine practice.

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Integration into routine practice is the single strongest predictor of sustainability. If the intervention is not embedded into workflows, systems, or standard care, it will almost always stop once the project ends.

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A key strategy to enhance sustainability is integrating the change into established workflows, forms, or systems.

6. What leadership and governance structures support ongoing delivery?Specify who is responsible for maintaining the intervention (role, not just individual), and outline any supporting governance, reporting, or oversight mechanisms.

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Sustained change requires clear accountability. Without an identified role responsible for continuation, initiatives lose momentum quickly.

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Name a responsible role (not just a person) to ensure continuity despite staff turnover.

7. What resources are required to sustain the intervention?Identify the staff, time, funding, equipment, and/or systems needed, and describe whether these resources are secured for ongoing use.

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Even well-designed interventions fall if there is no ongoing staff time, funding, or support system. Sustainability depends on whether resources are built into business-as-usual.

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Develop a simple value proposition - show how benefits outweigh costs to support ongoing investment.

8. How adaptable is the intervention to changes in context?Describe which components must remain consistent and which can be adapted, and how the intervention could respond to changes in workforce, policy, or setting.

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Clearly define what must stay the same (core components) versus what can be adapted locally.

9. Are key stakeholders engaged and committed to sustaining the work?Identify the key stakeholders (e.g. clinicians, managers, consumers) and describe their level of engagement and commitment to ongoing delivery.

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Share success stories and data regularly - ongoing visibility helps maintain engagement and buy-in.

10. Is the intervention ready to be scaled or spread to other settings?Describe whether the intervention could be implemented in other settings, including any required adaptations, supports, or resources.

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Package your intervention (e.g. guides, training, tools) so others can adopt it without needing your direct involvement.

Output: Sustainability Plan

Use the fields below to create a structured Sustainability Action Plan based on your responses.

Project

Demonstrated impact

The intervention will be sustained by

Ongoing delivery will be supported by

Workforce capability will be maintained through

This initiative requires the following resources

These will be supported by

Outcomes will be monitored through

Scale and spread

Key risks to sustainability include

Mitigation strategies include

Progress will be reviewed at