Our ‘board to ward’ scheme operates in our general hospitals and aims to encourage our teams of people on the ground to develop safety and quality priorities specific to them, and to take the lead on quality improvements.

‘Board to ward’ goes hand-in-hand with our vision, values and priorities and allows staff to really focus on what they want to achieve for patients in their particular area or department. The initiative involves having a board on each ward which provides a single focal point.

This aims to improve engagement and communication on the ward and highlight:

  • The local priorities of the ward
  • The vision and values of the trust as a whole
  • Show the ward’s performance against those local and organisational objectives
  • Empower all staff in conversations about priorities and safety and quality – with all ward staff encouraged to participate and understand their priorities
  • Engage staff in continuous improvement

Those wards which are currently piloting the scheme have their own dedicated visual board outlining their own safety and quality goals so the whole team can see. The boards allow teams to measure, week by week, if they are closer to achieving their goals, and what successes or issues have arisen since the last meeting. It provides an opportunity to focus on the issues that matter at ward level, with staff having ownership in deciding what their priorities should be, and how they can achieve them.

One of our elderly care wards was the first to use board to ward and is using the tool to focus on dementia training, providing a more dementia friendly environment for patients, improved nutrition, falls awareness, and training healthcare assistants on recognising sepsis.