NHS IMPACT Operational Improvement Training Programme
The NHS IMPACT Operational Improvement Training Programme provides access to practical learning materials designed to help clinical and operational staff strengthen their skills in operational management, team leadership and improvement.
The materials are intended to support staff in their day-to-day roles and future careers by providing practical tools that can be applied locally.
While some of the content includes basic improvement principles, its primary focus is broader:
- Developing operational management capability
- Strengthening team leadership
- Supporting sustainable improvement
The learning materials include a core module, focused on leading teams and leading improvement, alongside a range of specialty-specific pathway modules covering urgent and emergency care (UEC), cancer, outpatients, theatres and perioperative care, mental health, elective care, and diagnostics.
The core module supports learners to strengthen operational management capability, build thriving teams, and improve healthcare for patients. The content includes practical approaches to identifying and understanding systemic problems, improving operational performance, and embedding and sustaining improvements.
The pathway modules provide learners with knowledge and tools to enhance patient care and operational performance within their chosen clinical specialty
The materials can be used flexibly by individuals, teams or organisations, either as part of self-directed learning or to supplement existing local improvement and quality improvement training offers.
Over the last 12 months, more than 6,200 learners from 130 healthcare organisations have completed the core module, with over 1,600 also completing one or more pathway modules.
Learners have reported improvements in patient flow, waiting times, referral processes, clinic use and service efficiency, demonstrating the practical value of building operational improvement capability.
Evaluation data has shown strong learner outcomes, including improved confidence, practical application and plans to share learning with colleagues. For example:
- 85% of learners said their job performance would improve.
- 93% had a clear plan to apply their learning, and 94% planned to share it with colleagues.
- Confidence also increased in embedding and sustaining improvement, from 50% to 82%, and in applying practical improvement methods, from 65% to 87%.
Learning materials, facilitator guides and pre and post resources are available to support sustainable local delivery. Where local capacity exists, organisations are encouraged to continue using the materials to build a common language for improvement and maintain consistency across teams.
Learning outcomes
The materials support learners to develop:
- practical tools for dealing with day-to-day operational challenges
- skills to lead confidently and solve problems strategically
- a deeper understanding of operational management essentials
- confidence in using data to drive change – not just measure it
- methods to create a culture of learning, innovation continuous improvement
Organisations are encouraged to use the programme materials alongside their own quality improvement and improvement training offers to support staff in their improvement journey.
Frequently asked questions
The NHS IMPACT Operational Improvement Training Programme provides practical learning materials for clinical and operational leaders and managers.
The materials are designed to support staff to improve healthcare, build thriving teams, strengthen operational excellence and make a tangible difference to patients’ lives.
Learners can use the materials to build skills in operational management, improvement, strategic thinking and team leadership.
The content supports staff to tackle challenges creatively and systematically, helping to improve performance, productivity and the way services work for patients and teams.
The training materials are available for learners to access individually as part of self-directed learning.
Organisations can also use the materials to supplement their own quality improvement or operational improvement training programmes, or to support locally facilitated learning.
Learners are encouraged to speak to their line manager, organisational development team or local improvement lead about how best to use the materials in the context of their role, team and local priorities.
Core module
The core module focuses on building thriving teams where autonomy and belonging support operational excellence.
It provides practical approaches to identifying and understanding systemic problems, improving patient care, strengthening operational performance and productivity, and sustaining improvement.
Pathway modules
Learners can access pathway modules based on their role, local needs and career aspirations:
– Elective module
This module supports learners to contribute to elective recovery by improving timely access to elective care for patients.
Learners can use data to identify challenges and opportunities, explore operational fundamentals, and consider practical approaches to maximising capacity and improving access to quality care.
– Urgent and emergency care module
This module supports learners to understand improvement opportunities across the urgent and emergency care pathway.
It covers national priorities, data analysis, and practical improvement ideas to support patient flow, resource allocation and more effective care.
– Cancer module
This module supports learners to understand and improve the cancer pathway.
Learners explore the patient journey, take a patient-centric approach and consider where their role sits within the pathway, alongside key challenges and opportunities for improvement.
– Outpatients module
This module supports learners to analyse and improve outpatient services through understanding the pathway, key metrics and practical improvement strategies such as optimising referrals, patient communication and clinic templating.
– Theatres module
This module supports learners to understand and improve theatres and perioperative care.
Learners explore the patient journey from referral through to surgery and recovery and consider practical approaches to optimising theatre utilisation and improving services.
– Mental health module
This module supports learners to analyse the patient journey, identify challenges in inpatient pathways and apply practical improvements to enhance care and support a positive and therapeutic environment.
– Diagnostics
This module supports learners to improve diagnostics through national priorities, analysis techniques, and practical improvement approaches.
It helps learners consider demand and capacity, patient experience, and operational efficiency.
The materials are aimed at frontline clinical and operational leaders and managers working across acute, community, mental health, ambulance and primary care settings.
They are particularly relevant for staff working in, or alongside, operational pathways such as elective care, urgent and emergency care, cancer, outpatients, theatres and perioperative care, mental health and diagnostics.
No. The materials are suitable for learners who are new to improvement as well as those with previous experience.
The content includes practical improvement principles but is primarily focused on operational management, leadership and applying learning in day-to-day work.
There are no formal entry requirement or prerequisites.
Learners should complete any recommended pre-work before accessing or using the module materials.
Further information can be found in the relevant pre-session or delegate materials.
There is no required funding contribution for learners to access the materials.
Organisations should consider how staff will be supported to take time to engage with the learning and apply it locally.
The core module materials are designed to support approximately 1 full day of learning.
Each pathway module is designed to support approximately half a day of learning, with around 1 hour of pre-work anticipated for each module.
Learners and line managers are encouraged to discuss the time required to access the materials, reflect on the learning and apply it in practice.
The materials are available through the NHS Futures platform. Please note that NHS Futures requires a log-in.
Access to NHS Futures is managed and monitored separately. The platform is generally intended for NHS users and relevant partner organisations. Requests from other organisations may require additional review and senior approval.
The materials can complement existing local quality improvement, and improvement training offers.
While some content may be familiar to learners with previous improvement experience, the programme has a wider focus on operational management, team leadership and practical application in clinical and operational settings.
Organisations are encouraged to use the materials alongside local offers to strengthen operational capability and build a consistent language for improvement.
Yes. The core module is relevant to community providers and has been developed with input from a range of contributors, including from community health providers.
There is not currently a dedicated community health module. However, all pathway modules include transferable skills that can be applied in community contexts as well as hospital settings.
Modules such as urgent and emergency care, mental health and outpatients may be particularly relevant for colleagues working in community-based roles.
Local leaders are encouraged to agree which pathway modules are most suitable for their teams.
The materials can be used by individuals, teams or organisations, depending on local needs and capacity.
Where organisations choose to use the materials as part of a locally facilitated session, a maximum group size of around 25 learners for the core module is recommended to support interaction and discussion.
Learners accessing the materials individually will need appropriate access to the online materials.
Where organisations use the materials as part of a group session, they should consider what equipment, and access learners will need to participate fully.
For general queries, please contact england.improvementdelivery@nhs.net.
The programme materials can help team members build practical leadership and operational improvement skills, that support better performance, stronger team working and improved patient care.
Learners can develop skills in:
- strategic thinking and problem-solving: identifying and addressing key operational challenges
- team leadership and development: building high-performing teams and fostering collaboration and innovation
- data-driven decision making: using data to inform action and understand the impact of improvement
- operational excellence: streamlining processes and improving the use of resources to support efficiency and patient care
The benefits can extend beyond the individual learner by supporting improved processes, shared learning and a stronger improvement culture within teams.
Line managers can support learners by:
- agreeing time for them to access the materials and complete any pre-work
- helping them identify which pathway modules are most relevant to their role and local priorities
- providing access to any data, information or local context they may need
- encouraging reflection on how the learning can be applied in practice
- maintaining open communication and discussing any questions or support needs
Line managers can help learners apply their learning by:
- identifying opportunities to use the tools and approaches in their day-to-day work
- supporting local improvement projects or tasks linked to the learning
- providing ongoing guidance, mentorship and feedback
- recognising the learner’s contribution and the impact of applying new skills
- encouraging them to share learning with colleagues and wider teams
Open communication between learners and line managers is encouraged to ensure expectations are realistic and the learning can be applied effectively.