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Every day our people make a difference. We save lives, we improve lives and we bring new lives into the world
Our Strategy
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Help shape the future of your hospitals
We are developing a new long-term strategy and we want the people who know us best to help inform it. Patients, staff, visitors, and anyone from the communities we serve – we want to know what matters the most to you.
Over the last three years, the Trust has used its People First Strategy to shape everything from leadership and culture to patient flow and recruitment.
The strategy is due to come to an end in March 2026, and with changes taking place across the NHS we are inviting the public to support the development of our future strategy through a session at our Annual Public Meeting or by sharing what you think is working, what needs to change, and the ideas we should explore by filling in a survey.
Do you run or attend a local community group?
We’re keen to hear from our local community. If you’re part of a community group, we would appreciate you talking to those that attend about our strategy refresh and encouraging them to share their views. We’ve put together a toolkit that you, or someone in your group, can use to start a conversation.
People First Strategy Refresh - Shaping Our Future Together.pptx [pptx] 43MB
People First strategy
Our strategy to deliver outstanding health outcomes and patient and staff experience
At NUH, we put People First. It is our commitment that everything we do, no matter how large or small, should always contribute to improving health outcomes and experiences for our patients, our staff and our communities.
People First is also the name of our organisational strategy, which was first published in 2023 following extensive engagement with staff, patients, volunteers and partners.
One year on, it is a timely opportunity to take stock of progress, review changes in our environment, and set our focus for the next year ahead (2024/25).
NUH People First Strategy - 2024/2026
People First
Our mission — what we are here to do
Our vision — where we want to get to
Our priorities — what we will deliver
Quality patient care
We will work together to deliver high quality care for our patients, families, carers and communities.
Our focus this year:
- Embedding our Quality Strategy to improve patient outcomes
- Quality Improvement Portfolio delivering CQC recommendations
- Improving safety through better use of data, intelligence and insights
- Demonstrating a responsive culture when things go wrong through learning and improving
- Listening and learning from patient experience and collaborating with people and communities to improve quality and access to services
- Fundamental standards of care and embedding a ‘just culture’ of learning and continuous improvement
Patient flow
Patients will consistently receive timely care and there will be no avoidable delays.
Our focus for this year:
- Focus on frailty - working with our system partners to deliver care in the most appropriate setting and support patients to leave our hospital when they no longer need our services
- Reducing length of stay to support effective utilisation of resources through using technology to support modern medical and surgical practice, working with primary care to ensure appropriate referrals, and minimising internal delays to care delivery
- Improve theatre productivity to maximise the number of patients we can treat through our resources
- Utilising Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) data and principles we will apply best practice to reduce variation
Retention and recruitment
We will become the employer of choice by creating an environment that supports the recruitment and retention of staff.
Our focus this year:
- Embed a robust approach to workforce planning and workforce transformation to ensure our services are delivered in the most efficient and effective way
- Embed changes to team job planning to provide a greater link to productivity
- Introduce e-rostering for medical staff
- Develop and expand apprenticeship offer
- Provide a candidate focused approach to recruitment
- Improvement in retention rates
- Reduce agency cost and usage
Culture and leadership
We will create a culture where staff feel safe, supported and included, where individual differences and variety is valued and where everyone has equal access to the same opportunities.
Our focus this year:
- Implement the workforce inclusion strategy
- Launch and embed the trust values and behaviours
- Develop and launch leadership competency and development framework, including a collaborative leadership programme
- Support the cultural elements of the financial sustainability programme
- Finalise the education strategy
Financial sustainability
We will be financially secure, making best use of resources that contribute to a sustainable healthcare system.
Our focus for this year:
- Workforce transformation – premium pay, rostering, role re-design and updated dashboards
- Productivity – reduced length of stay, improved outpatient, theatre and diagnostic utilisation
- Standardise, centralise, and digitalise – do things the same way across the Trust, consolidation of the delivery of a service or offering to a single team/unit and lever efficiencies through the application of technology
- Service reviews – management and admin structure review, clinical service reviews and corporate service reviews
- Financial grip, control and efficiency – maintain best practice grip and control as measured by external checklists. Deliver traditional divisional and corporate efficiencies
Our values | what we stand for
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Kind
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Inclusive
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Ambitious
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One Team
Find out more - www.nuh.nhs.uk/values
Making it happen | our interlocking strategies
Clinically-led strategies
- Urgent and emergency care - to ensure timely access to emergency care and reduce the risk of delay-related harm and moral injury to staff
- Planned care - to provide safe, timely and effective services through a patient centred, collaborative and system wide healthcare approach
- Specialised services - leading for excellence in specialised services
People First - Clinically-led Strategies 2024.pdf [pdf] 529KB
Enabling strategies
- Quality: To demonstrate that everyone knows how they contribute to quality of care at NUH
- Estate and carbon: To facilitate the delivery of a clinically led, modern, fit for purpose Healthcare Estate that responds to the needs of the patients, our staff and the strategic priorities of the organisation
- Partnerships: To provide a framework of identification, management and oversight of our partnerships
- Research and Innovation: Our ambition is to be an outstanding centre for research, including research innovation, education and training
- Workforce (R&R): Become the employer of choice by creating an environment that supports the recruitment and retention of staff
- Workforce (Inclusion): Putting people first to feel safe, supported and included
- Communications and Engagement: We will support delivery of People First priorities by providing people with the information they need (inform), recognising, showcasing and celebrating the work of our staff (recognise) and building relationships that improve understanding, confidence and trust (relationships)
- Digital and Information: To use digital, data and technology to support our staff in delivering the most efficient and effective care for our population
- Medium-term financial strategy: To deliver a high quality enabling service, with easily accessible information supporting NUH and the ICS with continued financial sustainability that benefits our patients, our people and our partners