Build on firm foundations.
Identify the leadership, roles, skills and support you need before investing in a new improvement programme.
Improvement System Reviews
Make improvement easier
to lead. And deliver.
An independent review of the structures, skills and support that help your people improve care. Understand what is working, identify what needs attention and agree practical priorities for action.
When a fresh perspective helps
Is your improvement system
helping your people succeed?
By “system”, we mean how improvement is organised and supported: its leadership, governance, people, methods and learning.
Find what is holding progress back.
Explore why projects stall, training does not translate into practice or teams struggle to access the help they need.
See whether the parts connect.
Understand how local projects link to strategic priorities, oversight, demonstrable benefit and learning across services.
We work alongside your own staff, including established improvement teams. You can retain your existing methods.
Three reviews.
A clear purpose for each.
Start with the question you need answered. We agree the depth, organisational coverage and outputs before work begins.
| Review | Choose it when | The decision it supports |
|---|---|---|
| Improvement Healthcheck | You need a broad view of your arrangements, or a starting point for building them. | Where should we focus our effort and investment? |
| Focused System Review | You have a defined concern, such as governance, portfolio oversight or shared learning. | What needs to change in this part of our system? |
| Capability Review | You want to understand the skills, development and practical support your people need. | How should we develop and support staff to improve care? |
Improvement System Reviews
Choose the review
that answers
your question.
For health and social care providers establishing improvement or strengthening an existing approach. Choose a broad review, a focused question or a closer look at staff capability.
Our experience of building and leading improvement systems informs the questions we ask.
Your system. An independent perspective.
Each review gives you findings, recommendations and priorities to act on within your own approach.
Want the big picture?Improvement HealthcheckSee what’s working, what’s getting in the way and where to focus next.
An independent view of how improvement works across your organisation. We look at how leadership, culture, priorities, methods, governance and staff support connect, and whether measurement, oversight and learning help the work move forward.
What you can take away
- A written picture of your current arrangements, including strengths and gaps
- Strengths, gaps, friction, duplication and risks, including links to quality and performance, clinical and corporate governance and risk management
- Prioritised recommendations, a practical action roadmap and a leadership discussion of the findings
Need a closer look?Focused System ReviewTake a closer look at one part of your improvement approach.
Explore a specific organisational concern without commissioning a full Healthcheck. The brief might focus on governance, project selection, portfolio oversight, measurement and reporting, roles, practical support, sustainability, or learning and spread.
What you can take away
- A defined review of the part of your system you want to understand
- Findings grounded in the available evidence and staff perspectives
- A focused written summary, practical recommendations and priorities for action
Do your people have what they need?Capability ReviewUnderstand whether your people have the right skills, support and development arrangements.
Look beyond the training catalogue. We review what different staff groups need to improve care, from awareness and local delivery to coaching and leadership, and how well your current arrangements help them put learning into practice.
What you can take away
- A picture of capability needs across staff, improvement leads, coaches and leaders
- Findings on access to support, development pathways and the application of learning
- Priorities for a practical development plan, with gaps and duplication clearly identified
A review stands on its own. If you decide you need a complete approach with implementation support, we can explore the HealthIMPROVE Partnership. The recommendation depends on what your organisation needs.
From a clear question
to a useful next step.
A proportionate review, shaped around your context and the decisions you need to make.
Set the question and scope.
Agree the services or sites covered, people to involve, evidence needed, outputs, timescales and fee. A focused brief keeps the review manageable.
Look beyond the paperwork.
Review relevant documents and examples of work, and speak with leaders, improvement staff and local teams. Where relevant, agree how people receiving care can contribute.
Make sense of what we find.
Bring the evidence together, check factual accuracy with you and distinguish strengths, gaps and unanswered questions. Recommendations reflect the scope and evidence available.
Turn findings into priorities.
Discuss the findings with your nominated leaders and agree which actions deserve attention first, who could own them and how progress could be reviewed.
What you receive
A clear assessment.
A practical way forward.
A written review and a discussion of the findings, shaped around the question you commissioned us to answer.
The proposal sets out the deliverables in advance. For a Healthcheck, that includes a prioritised action roadmap; focused and capability reviews concentrate on their agreed area.
An Improvement System Review is consultancy, not a regulatory inspection or a guarantee of compliance.
Your review, at a glance
Evidence you can discuss.
Priorities you can act on.
- The current pictureWhat is working, what is missing and where arrangements are disconnected.
- The evidence behind itFindings linked to the information reviewed, with limitations made clear.
- Recommendations in priority orderPractical changes and the reasons for putting them first.
- The next decisionsSuggested ownership, dependencies and a basis for reviewing progress.
Your approach.
Your next decision.
You can use the findings with your own staff or other partners. There is no requirement to adopt IMPROVE™ or commission further work from HealthIMPROVE.
Support beyond the review.
We can discuss a separate brief for practical support. Scope and fees are agreed afresh, so the review remains useful in its own right.
Explore practical improvement supportWhat would a clearer picture help you decide?
Tell us what is happening, the question you need answered and any timescales. We’ll help you define a useful review before proposing the scope and fee.