The same criterion should be applied in the HO. Thus, the
Ministry of Health or Health Department should have a strategic
plan and, within the Health Department, the regional health
service should also have a strategic plan that is aligned with the
former body. In turn, there could logically be a strategic plan for
specialized care and, within this, a specific hospital could have a
strategic plan. The only qualification for the implementation
of strategic plans is that they should be well aligned with one other
and not be in conflict or divergent. The just ification for their
existence is that that they pertain to a structure which, even
though subordinate, is sufficiently large, complex and different
from the rest of the organization.8
From this point of view, an
integrated management unit, a clinical institute or a clinical
service, depending on its complexity, may well need its own
strategic plan which will differ from the current higherlevel strategic plan. The only methodological requirement is that
it is aligned with the higher-level strategic plan and is not in
conflictordivergent.Inrecentyears, andwithinthehospital-based
cardiology, SP has been conducted for subunits such as hemodynamics, electrophysiology, clinical cardiology, noninvasive diagnosis, etc. Strategic planning is relevant when the subunit is
sufficientlylarge, complexandspecific,is clearlydifferentfromthe
rest ofthe service, and the plan is consistent with the higher-level
strategic plan.