What this looks like in practice

• Create a vision and shared purpose in an inclusive and transparent way ensuring meaningful input from all, including those with lived experience. The executive leadership of the organisation must drive this work, but it cannot be designed and created by one team.
• Involve communities and people with lived experience as partners in the design of the vision and shared purpose.
• Find ways to ensure the vision and shared purpose are lived everyday by its people and are underpinned by core values.
• Ensure all improvement work is focused on the shared purpose and vision and question any work which does not align to these. Start by focusing on the current NHS priorities and pressures your organisation is facing.
• Set a powerful purpose-driven context for improvement work so that people are more likely to engage, based on commitment to the purpose, rather than compliance with a process.
• Understand the world in which frontline staff are working, their challenges, their successes, and the improvement they’d like to see to guide this vision and shared purpose. Methods of co-design and collaboration like crowd sourcing platforms or running engagement events can be used. Understand the current Care Quality Commission well led scores and where there are areas for improvement.
• The shared purpose and vision should allow staff to understand the importance of their work and to see it from the service user’s perspective. Celebrate and share good practice where possible.

Guidance and resources

Courses, workshops and events

• Improvement Academy training courses, both virtual and online, focus on helping health and care staff to improve the safety and quality of care in everyday practice.
• Connect with leaders across the UK navigating the opportunities and complexity of leading change through health and care systems – Learning and Improving Across Systems Peer Learning Programme – NHS Confederation.

Free tools and guides

• The Model Health System – NHS England – The Model Health System is a data-driven improvement tool that enables NHS health systems and trusts to benchmark quality and productivity. By identifying opportunities for improvement, the Model Health System empowers NHS teams to continuously improve care for patients.
• The Change Model Guide – NHS England – This guide explains the eight components of the Change Model and includes supporting tools and further reading.
• Access QI Improving planned care pathways toolkit – This toolkit has been developed, using learning from across Scotland, to support NHS boards in taking a quality improvement (QI) approach to sustainably reduce waiting times.
• Quality Improvement Essentials Toolkit – Institute for Healthcare Improvement – Ten essential quality improvement tools to help you with your improvement projects, continuous improvement, and quality management, whether you use the Model for Improvement, Lean, or Six Sigma.
• Aim Statement Worksheet – Institute for Healthcare Improvement – Use this worksheet to help you write an effective aim statement — which defines clear, specific plans for the improvement work ahead.
• Inspiration Library – Leadership Academy – Short snippets of learning ranging from videos, podcasts, blogs, links to Ted Talks and much more.
• Co-design toolkit – New South Wales: agency for Clinical Innovation – Co-design enables consumers to become equal partners in the improvement process for health services. This toolkit is a practical resource for health services to adopt a co-design approach.
• NHS performance tracker – Nuffield Trust – Nuffield Trust’s monthly-updated analysis of the NHS’s performance against totemic access and waiting times targets.
• Provider collaboratives: Improving equitably programme – NHS Providers – Using shared improvement approaches to tackle inequalities: These resources for senior leaders were curated as part of the improving equitably programme from NHS Providers and the Q Community.

Journal articles, reports and research

• Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion for health and social care services. They can help facilitate meaningful engagement and gather patient feedback to shape a shared purpose and vision.
• Building common purpose – NHS Confederation – Learning on the role engagement and communications play in partnership working and developing thriving integrated care systems.
• The Improvement Journey – Q Community – The improvement journey: This report outlines why organisation-wide improvement in health care matters, and how to get started.
• Developing principles for working across local systems – Q Community – Developing principles for working across local systems: The Q Communty’s five principles for working across local systems to develop shared improvement approaches.
• Research Outputs Archive – The Healthcare Improvement Studies (THIS) Institute – Browse an expanding evidence base for the NHS about how to improve quality and safety in healthcare.

Case studies

Examples of this happening in practice:

Further case studies to demonstrate building a shared purpose and vision:

• Using online patient feedback to improve care – Point of Care Foundation
• Improvement insight hub – NHS Confederation
• Shared learning case studies – NICE