NHS Wales

Client Cardiff and Vale University Health Board NHS Wales

Region UK

Sector Public Sector, Health and Not For Profit

Offering Organisation Change & Implementation

The Challenge

Cardiff and Vale University Health Board (CAVUHB) is one of the largest healthcare organisations in the UK, with over 14,000 staff caring for a population of nearly 500,000 people.
To deliver its Shaping our Future Wellbeing Strategy, CAVUHB has agreed a series of priority programmes agreed by the organisation’s Executive, split across two core portfolios: Strategic Programmes and Recovery & Redesign.
Given the scale, complexity, interdependencies, and timelines of the strategic programmes, Q5 was asked to support CAVUHB to establish robust governance structure and processes for the Strategic Programme Portfolio and to support Programme Directors with accelerating the work of their programmes and provide a framework for new projects within the portfolio.

Acting as an embedded member of the Health Board’s newly established central Change Hub, we worked with Programme Directors across the Strategic Programmes, the Deputy Director for Strategy & Planning, and key members of the Strategy & Planning Team, to rapidly design an approach to governance within strategic programmes. At the core of the approach was balancing the need to ensure robust governance and assurance to Executive and the Board of the organisation, while trying to reduce time spent on reporting to free up Programme Directors’ time for value adding activity across their programmes.
This included embedding an operating within the Strategic Programmes team including fortnightly Executive meetings and establishing a monthly Strategic Programme Steering Group, with clear terms of reference and reporting requirements.
In addition, we provided focused support to individual programmes, that included leading and facilitating a series of virtual workshops to advance the approach being taken to clinical service redesign, and coaching and supporting several key members of programme teams, helping them to develop their thinking and initiate their programme in full.

We have created a programme and project management toolkit called The Cardiff and Vale Way – featuring tools and templates to drive consistency in project and programme management across the Health Board.
There is a now a clear operating rhythm within Strategic Programmes, with an established reporting rhythm and clarity for Programme Directors on reporting requirements.
Developed approach underpinning clinical service redesign workshops.
An extensive Programme Brief and governance approach is now established for a major regional partnership programme.
The Health Board’s population health programme is now integrated with the rest of the Strategic Programmes.
An approach to assessing programme’s contributions towards the overall Shaping our Future Wellbeing strategy has been delivered.