Improvement Cymru Academy: what next by Lisa Henry Programme Lead: Improvement Cymru Academy

When we launched the Improvement Cymru Academy in November 2019 our aim was to provide NHS staff with the tools, support and confidence to improve quality together knowing that #Togetherwecan.  Fast forward through a global pandemic where NHS Wales staff have worked tirelessly to rapidly change services and processes to meet increasing demands in an ever evolving landscape showing Together We indeed have.

With the demand for NHS Wales services at its zenith, Improvement skills are vital to help equip our colleagues with the tools and support they need to improve their system and services to provide the highest quality of care in Wales in a timely and safe and reliable way.

Our vision:

The vision of the Improvement Cymru Academy is for everyone in NHS Wales to have access to high-calibre improvement skills, resources and a supporting capability framework.Our approach is to work alongside organisations to create the conditions, make the connections and build the capability of improvement as a core skill across the whole system

New mode of training delivery

To meet the needs of our learners during the pandemic, we have transformed our delivery to a virtual landscape, blending virtual sessions and webinars, with asynchronous learning, via the Academy Learning Portal, thus supporting a wider range of learning styles. 

We aim to take this further, with a suite of resources available to suit in-depth learning, just-in-time coaching, and accessible toolkits, including an improvement measurement platform, which can be utilised by all staff, and organisations, without having to commit to a full learning course.

New Improvement Courses

We aim to build on the success of IQT and move from scattered areas of improvement skills to provide and build a supportive connected environment for improvement to spread system-wide. 

Our bronze, silver and gold IQT courses are being replaced by a new suite of Improvement courses called the Improvement series:

This is the Academy Cwtch:

Teams undertaking their improvements will be supported by local improvement coaches with skills to support and nurture these teams on their improvement-learning journey.

Broader aspects of Improvement training are also under development, under the banner of Fundamentals of Safer Care.

To truly embed improvement skills throughout NHS Wales, the capability to deliver; coach and mentor improvement needs to be sustainably embedded within organisations.  To achieve this the Academy will work alongside organisations, building a network of quality-assured improvement trainers, coaches and mentors who can deliver and support improvement training locally.  Every health board has nominated a Faculty Lead to join the Improvement in Practice (formally known as IQT Silver) Faculty, see below for the lead in your organisation:

Elizabeth HanlonVelindreElizabeth.Hanlon@wales.nhs.uk
Vince BagloleWASTVince.Baglole@wales.nhs.uk
Melissa BakerBCUHBMelissa.Baker@wales.nhs.uk
Rebecca ThomasCTMUHBRebecca.L.Thomas@wales.nhs.uk
Laura KeighanSBULaura.Keighan@wales.nhs.uk
Howard CooperPowys thbHoward.Cooper@wales.nhs.uk
Hannah GraingerWelsh BloodHannah.Grainger@wales.nhs.uk
Nick TysonC&Vnick.tyson@wales.nhs.uk
Gethin PughHEIWGethin.pugh@wales.nhs.uk
Caroline WhittakerPHWCaroline.Whittaker@wales.nhs.uk
Claire HeireneNWISClaire.Heirene@wales.nhs.uk
Geraint WattsABUHBGeraint.Watts@wales.nhs.uk
Nigel HughesNWSSPNigel.Hughes2@wales.nhs.uk
Rachel TraskABUHBrachel.trask@wales.nhs.uk
Mandy DaviesHDUHBMandy.Davies3@wales.nhs.uk

Coming soon

Our new courses will be launching soon.  We look forward to sharing our courses with you and helping you to improve NHS Wales.  If you would like to discuss our plans and/or courses we would love to hear from you.  Please contact

Dominique Bird:  dominique.bird2@wales.nhs.uk  Head of Capacity and Capability

Lisa Henry: lisa.henry@wales.nhs.uk Programme Lead for Improvement Series

Margaret Rennocks: margarte.rennocks@wales.nhs.uk Programme Lead for Fundamentals of Safer Care